I've always believed I was working class, growing up, my mum and step dad brought their council property under buy to let, we went to the cinema rather than the theatre, except for pantomimes at Christmas, I went to state schools and we had free school dinners paid for as I recall with a plastic token, and having to let the school secretary know.
Politically, my family were 'small c; conservatives and I tended to live inside my own head, supplemented by comics, computer games and books. My discovery of political consciousness happened when I was in the Royal Navy, when I found myself at the sharp end of global politics and started asking why I was stuck for months on end at sea, enforcing a no-fly zone against a country that, as far as I could see, wasn't hurting anyone I knew.
(Not to say, that I disagree with intervention, but it has to be for the right reasons. When you sell weapons and training to a country you later invade, that may well be realpolitik but I wonder if other solutions are ever presented.)
But yes, I do consider myself working class. I tend to see people as individuals, but to deny that in this country, a class system exists is a fallacy. In fact, Grant Morrison once characterised that we have as rigid a caste system as India, with the attendant discriminations but it is invisible to those who cannot see it. I don't use this to characterise this as that other people are sheeple, the parts of my brain that store thoughts like this have rendered me useless in so many other areas. ( In fact, in any post-apocalypse scenario, leave me, I have no practical skills and I would be better off as a source of protein.)
The wonderful trick played upon us, is the idea that we are now all middle class and that means that we can be dissuaded from pursuing activism in pursuit of equality by a simple societal ego-massage. Middle and working class people don't send their children to public school, the middle class actually are in the top 10% of earners and well fuck it here is a guide for you -
Do you work for a wage? If so, you can reasonably be considered working class.
Are you salaried and your position relates to the management of others? Then you are middle class
If you are reasonably considered to be in a position of influence and have control over the means of production, then you are upper/ruling class.
So, it is a wonderful trick because most of us would consider ourselves middle class, it sounds more pleasant and aspirational does it not? Yet those of you who consider yourselves middle class and are actually working class are part of the problem, in such the same way minstrels and house negroes harmed race consciousness, so does this aspirational sleight of hand harm our social consciousness. Not that I blame you, we all should have goals to better ourselves, but consider that you should look inside of yourself for happiness, it requires less compromise on your part and it sustains long after the fact.
The game is rigged, but you cannot lose if you do not play. If you can step away from it, you can see how divisive and poisonous the whole thing is, how it has been used to prevent a fairer and more equal society, to keep things exactly as they are, which benefits only the smallest portion of society. Trinkets to keep us from seeking out the real treasure. How do you do this? Irony helps, but you can educate yourself and you can ask questions, you can get involved with something as simple as an email, but the time will come when people will tolerate no more, and you should consider whether you want to be a house pet or a lion. Hear me roar.
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