The meaning of Christmas.
Christmas, the vast, commercialised festival of selling and consumption is upon us again. It’s supposedly a time of peace on earth and goodwill to all, but there is precious little peace on earth to be found, and very little goodwill for the working class.
Christmas is a time of delusion when lots of us reflect that if we only had the spirit of Christmas all year round, and were kind, and nice, and generous to each other all the time, then all the world’s problems would be solved.
This delusion fosters the idea that the troubles of capitalism are caused by the fact that people are bad and, if only people were better, then the world would be a better place too. In reality, people should be asking themselves why they behave as they do, and why the world is as it is.
We need to realise that there is nothing essentially wrong with the vast majority of people. When we get a chance to relax, when we are given the time to try to live like sociable human beings, we enjoy ourselves. Perhaps, it is the fact that this is what a lot of people try to do at Christmas. Some, for a few days anyway, actually succeed, and they put it all down to the Christmas Spirit.
The fact is though that it is the conditions of living and working under capitalism which largely make us who we are for the rest of the year. Tired out and bludgeoned into senselessness by dead-end, low paid bullshit jobs, with idiotic, bullying bosses on our backs; or struggling hopelessly below the poverty line on benefits, means there’s not much spirit left for goodwill, and no money for generosity. We just have enough energy to get through day to day.
This outmoded and insane social and economic system ensures that poverty exists in the midst of plenty, and unaffordable slum housing, hunger, pollution, illness -both mental and physical, and destruction of the environment are the gifts we receive all year round.
Anyone who preaches peace and goodwill without calling for an overthrow of capitalism have yet to demonstrate how these objectives can be realised, and are fooling themselves and trying to fool you.
This longing for peace on earth and goodwill can only be fulfilled only through anarchism and a social system based on human needs, not profit. A social system that will see us working together, living together and loving together, not just for one day a year, but every day.
So here is our gift to the ruling class this Christmas – the same gift we give them every day of the year – our hatred.
To everyone else – the message of love and peace and sharing, the message of anarchism and solidarity.
The fight for anarchism is the fight for peace on earth and goodwill to all.
Merry Christmas to all the anarchists, dreamers, malcontents and misfits – let’s make it the last one under capitalism.
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