A recent post on Libcom.org opined that this blog, the online home of Worker-Dandyism, has a 'trust fund Marxist feeling' to it. Some wag also wrote, presumably humorously, that the WDI was 'soon to merge with the Association of Proletarian Thoroughbred Racing Horse Owners' . It took me a couple or three Whisky Macs to compose myself after such insult but I feel I am now ready to reply to such crass and baseless allegations. I will refrain from questioning the credentials of anyone on said forum as to do so would be the mark of a fink.
I presume that a trust fund Marxist is similar to what we used to call a champagne socialist; someone whose class is at odds with their professed political convictions. How on earth a member of the working class seeking an improvement of his class is seen as some sort of paradox- in the same way as a proletarian race horse owner would be- is beyond me. The comment was most likely an off the cuff remark written somewhat in jest and I am therefore happy to leave the duelling pistols in my sock drawer but it does reflect a wider belief that people should know their station in life. Such Victorian attitudes are, strangely, just as common from the left as from the right, or so my experiences with certain sections of the online anarcho community would lead me to believe.
Should we, the proletariat, surrender any and all ambitions of betterment? Should we wallow in the gutter as slaves to circumstance? Must we slouch in rags? Are we to abandon the finer things in life to the exploiters? No wonder the left are almost universally derided by the working class if those are the prevailing attitudes! Total social change is the goal of any true red but what of us until then? Revel in glorious, self-righteous melancholia? Don't be such fucking martyrs.
Of course, this blog is written with an air of joviality and japery but know this: we are committed to progressing the cause of the working class, albeit in our own minuscule and ridiculous manner, and feel no shame for doing so.
I really do despair of some attitudes on the left. You would think, given what we are up against, (in this country alone), that anyone who was even remotely interested in social and political justice and equality would be welcomed with open arms. But sadly it's not the case.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I too shall muddle on in my own fashion, and if I fancy a glass of champagne along the way I shall jolly have one. If that means I'm not a 'proper' leftie, so be it!
Great post. I could not agree more.
ReplyDeleteThe assertion that taking upon a particular aesthetic such as yours makes one a sort of reactionary faux-leftist is somewhat ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThey're just envious that you have created a blog which manages to mix politics with humour and style, an art the rest of the Left forgot long ago.
ReplyDeleteAs an afterthought, I would say that the games of "isn't his family a bit too wealthy to be a Marxist" reminds me a lot of the "isn't he a bit too dark?" that goes on in far right circles. And both feel equally irrelevant to outsiders. No, keep publishing this blog, and I'll keep promoting it to every lefty i know (and I know MANY).
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