The working class has gone through various episodes of history, dialectically transforming and strengthening itself from the successive wombs of slavery, feudalism, capitalism and socialism.

Its position as a distinct class becomes more obvious in the capitalist system, within which the modern working class (comprising the bulk of the productive members of society) has been subjected to conditions that make them a highly productive and progressive class.

At the same time, though, they are subjected to the highest level of exploitation and degradation.

Production relations

As the demand for profit by the capitalist class increases in tandem with industrial expansion, an intermediate class of people - the middle class - emerges to serve the growing needs of capitalists.

This is followed by the complex fractioning of these classes into respective sub-classes, each with its own lifestyle. Their distinct characteristics then become diluted and they are led to behave as if they are independent of any economic relations.

The capitalist class owns and/or controls the means of production (resources, capital; shares; land); and technology (extractive, agricultural, fishing, industrial, construction, communication), services, marketing, etc.). It is able to maximise profits by controlling and exploiting the workers.

To the capitalists, workers have o­nly their labour to sell and are merely a commodity that is subjected to market fluctuations.

The unfortunate fact is that escalating prices, high service charges and shrinking wages render it practically impossible for workers to maintain harmony within their own grouping.

Prevailing conditions are such that their children may eventually become the main source of cheap labour for current and future capitalists.

This o­ne-sided exploitative relationship is so overwhelming that, with time, the dichotomy between capitalists and workers has created a similar dichotomy of contradictory values and characteristics that merely reinforce and reaffirm the paralysing grip of capitalists over society.

They accomplish this through their influence over the leaders of the State (government) who legitimise control through tactics of force and consent as stipulated by the ' divide-and-rule' policy, a legacy of the colonial and imperial masters.

Thus such a relationship makes o­ne class perpetually superior to the other. This dichotomy takes the forms of various contradictory relationships.

Among others, these arise between the strong and weak; rich and poor; intellectual and menial; theory and practice; economic and social; leader and follower; individual and community; urban and rural; force and consent; agitation and propaganda; tactics and strategy; destruction and construction; indigenous and non-indigenous; and the religious and non-religious.

Such dichotomy manifests and legitimises itself in national policies and programmes and has resulted in untold misery, discrimination, subjugation, persecution and confusion among the people.

State role

Historically, the State (government) came into being, to reconcile the conflicting needs of the exploiter (capitalists, landowners, renters etc.) and the exploited (workers, farmers, fisherman, mining workers, plantation workers etc.) with the intention of curbing oppressive, dehumanising and destructive tendencies.

Unfortunately the leaders of the State are not neutral or impartial. They are directly or indirectly dependent o­n the exploiters, not o­nly to strengthen their political power base but also to seek (or beg!) the exploiters' assistance to industrialise and develop the country.

Under such circumstances, more often than not, the State tends to defend (or apologise for) the exploiters and to continuously assure them that their desire to accumulate profits will not be challenged.

Thus the State becomes the capitalists' tool (or proxy) to legitimise exploitation and oppression. Such legitimisation is promoted by tate agencies through superstructures like religious institutions, education system, judiciary, cultural indoctrination programmes, security forces, prison system, and parliamentary system..

In short, the invocations of altruistic and humanistic virtues by the leaders of the State are mere empty words drummed up to lull the people into believing that there is genuine freedom, justice and democracy in the country.

The media, in turn, are effectively manipulated or coerced to act as agents of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda.

Employing the services of the intellectuals can strengthen the success of such propaganda. If we trace history, we will find that intellectuals are instrumental in giving credibility and legitimacy to new ideas, the socio-political system(s), leadership or organisations. They are also capable of making oppression more palatable for public consumption.

These depressing scenarios may be reason enough for the poor and the oppressed to feel that the country is meant for the rich and the powerful, and that they (the poor and oppressed) are mere appendages of the capitalist system, destined to be manipulated at will

The exploitative relationship that affects individual workers, farmers, fishermen or miners in specific production units also occurs at the regional level (urban-rural, industrial-agricultural); and at the international level (rich and poor countries).

These linkages lead to exploitation and the eventual redundancy or erosion of political boundaries o­n a global scale.

Slaves of capitalism

The obsession of capitalists to acquire more profits and power is the result of their constant fear of losing these.

It has dialectically transformed capitalists from the original masters of profit to slaves of profit - an inevitable product of their own design.

To overcome their obsessive fear and to prevent their eventual demise as capitalists, they have to:

* Intensify exploitation of their workers for more profit so as to give them added advantage/edge over competing capitalists;

* Ensure that the lesser capitalists continue to remain their agents (to secure the necessary production items for them at reduced prices) rather than become competitors;

* Compete, manipulate and sabotage other equally strong capitalists (or groups of capitalists) so as to 'steal ' their markets and cripple them in the process;

* Control and manipulate the leaders of State agencies to ensure that they remain loyal to capitalist demands for uninterrupted profit accumulation; and

* De-politicise the issue of exploitation through the media by relegating all social problems to the inadequacies of individuals rather than the aberrations of the sosio-economic-political system.

Capitalists cannot effectively carry out such complex activities by themselves and must employ experts, consultants, professionals, specialists and semi-professionals (supporting staff such as clerks, technicians and supervisors).

Thus the importance and growth of the middle class increases in serving the needs of capitalists and their respective exploitative derivatives. The remuneration is so lucrative and gratifying that the middle class is willing to ignore or override ethical considerations.

Power of monopoly

As the obsession to acquire more profit grows, capitalists will logically try to reduce or eliminate competition by owning and/or controlling all industries (resources, manufacture, construction, services, marketing) relating to the production of specific products.

This leads to the birth of monopoly capitalism where there is an obvious tendency towards the concentration and centralisation of power and wealth in the hands of a few capitalists.

They will then proceed to tighten their grip over other capitalists (and society) by owning and/or controlling financial institutions so that their competitors cannot have easy access to financial loans and credit facilities. They know that loans are absolutely necessary for capitalist expansion.

Monopolising various industries engaged directly or indirectly in the production of specific products also means more profit. So now they can fix the prices of their products, independent of market forces.

Since there is no competition, they do not have to spend money to renew or upgrade their technology. Quality may therefore drop. Due to demand, they can still turn out products and reap mega profits.

Such moves by monopolists seem logical for the purpose of maximising profits. In reality, however, these run contrary to the principal doctrine of capitalism that strives for free competition as a check and balance to control quality, price and production.

Thus when the monopolised products (especially heavy industries) become overly expensive and are of relatively low quality, there is a disincentive to buy. A temporary slowdown in purchases, however, will not affect financially stable monopolists.

But they will try to create artificial demand or even cut down production or withhold (hoard) supply. These efforts will eventually fail because decisions (to fix prices, quality and quantity of products) are arbitrary and are no longer subjected to competitive market forces.

Furthermore, they no longer compete with other capitalists and will feel secure in the belief that others are totally dependent o­n their products.

Their understanding of the intricacies of the more advanced form of capitalism continues to diminish not o­nly because of their reduced involvement in daily production activities (now handled by technocrats), but also because of their inclination to control shares in big businesses (that concomitantly own subsidiaries and diverse business enterprises) to expand the profit margin.

Parasitic cycle

Thus the role of capitalists change from acquiring direct profit (by exploiting their own workers) to becoming monopolists who acquire indirect profit by squeezing lesser capitalists who continue to be directly involved in production.

As such, monopolists become parasites of other capitalists who in turn parasite o­n the labour of their workers. In short, human civilisations have grown fat o­n profits generated through the blood, sweat and tears of exploited masses.

In the long run, such monopoly over prices and products will affect related industries that desperately need such products as 'building blocks' or accessories to produce other industrial machinery and downstream products.

Unfortunately, prices fixed by monopolists are beyond the means of other capitalists. Since monopolists are interested in maximising profits, they tend not to be bothered by or not fully aware of the impact of their tendencies o­n the national economy.

Such move can eventually create a chain reaction (usually irreversible) to cause an economic slowdown that leads to an economic crisis.

When all capitalists from diverse industries start to withdraw their capital from the market for fear of current and future losses, an economic depression sets in and unemployment becomes rampant.

The capacity or the urge to produce is brought to a halt. Monopolists will also withhold their capital under such conditions.

Capitalists and monopolists may even invest in other countries where resources and labour are cheap, which begets a mixture of colonialism and imperialism.

Often, economic crises are fabricated by an industry or groups of industries so as to get the State to legitimise price hikes, retrench workers, get special concessions, deny other competing capitalists, or neutralise the demands of strong workers' movements (unions).

If capitalists fail in their attempts, then they will consolidate their position and threaten to invest their capital elsewhere. Such a move could destabilise the political system.

A this critical juncture, the country is vulnerable to any form of collective agitation and is ripe for political (inter and intra) takeover.

More often than not, the takeover fails to materialise simply because there is no organised body to lead these 'spontaneous' (informally organised) movements.

However, the nature and composition of such movements have to be studied so as not to be trapped by the false notion that people are ready for a total change when in fact they are merely demanding changes in relation to immediate needs.

Increased activity of such movements may also be due to emotionally charged innocent people being dragged into the conflict between competing interests of capitalists/reactionary groups.

Capitalist mould

It is also interesting to note that social agitation by intellectuals and professionals from the middle class tends to closely follow the cycle of economic booms and crises.

Unfortunately, when the economy recovers, we do not hear from these agitators any more except to note that they are as busy as capitalists, trying to make more money and to re-establish their former positions in society.

These so-called progressives are trapped within the capitalist mould and react opportunistically when their economic interests are threatened.

However, there also exists a small number from the middle class who are genuinely concerned for those oppressed.

They continue to work to educate, train, conscientise and help workers to organise themselves especially during the peaceful periods of economic booms, so that the people can effectively articulate their demands in times of social economic and political crises.

It is interesting to note that, as they move to transform people, they themselves become transformed in the process. This dialectical relationship has existed since the beginning of time.

The concept of unity of opposites - primordial unity of Tao, Ultimate Unity, Samsara, Tawhid; synthesis; praxis; transformation of the systems from slavery to capitalism; revolutionary potential of workers; decline of capitalism; climatic changes; attraction of opposite electrical charges - revolve around dynamic dialectical relationships that lead to more progressive levels of complexity, sophistication and harmony.

But if mass movements are not guided by progressive forces, then either reactionary groups take control (by using emotional, sectarian and ultra-nationalistic manipulation) or capitalists consolidate their position (by forming temporary allies with other capitalists and reactionary groups).

They will eventually eliminate opposition o­nce they attain power. The repercussion or backlash is more serious for progressive groups, which will lose confidence in their leaders or will be brutally eliminated by capitalists and reactionary allies.

The economy may pick up again with strong incentives offered by the government, coupled with the assurance of unlimited supply of cheap labour and neutered unions.

Financially stable monopolists and those capitalists who are not totally affected by the economic crisis will have a head start in accumulating profits, thereby making themselves extremely powerful.

Competition amongst the unemployed workers to accept any job offer will continue to depress wages.

World wars, imperialism, selling of arms to countries at war, inciting wars, forming allies with the enemies to seek temporary gains, economic sanctions and the manufacture of products with rapidly changing models and/or with products having a short lifespan (through built-in obsolescence) are resourceful ways by which capitalists avert the impending downfall of capitalism.

Capitalism will continue its cycle of destruction for humanity. It will split societies, perpetuate social ills, aggravate poverty and lead to the systematic destruction of the environment unless concerted efforts are made to prepare the people early to organise themselves and to consciously build a society that is not based o­n exploitation, vanity, greed and environmental destruction.

Dr NASIR HASHIM is the national chairperson of the yet-to-be-registered Parti Sosialis Malaysia.