In this episode of Back in the USSR I continue to discuss my book, Proletarian God: Building the Socialist Future, focusing in particular on class consciousness and how the ruling class in capitalist society instills false consciousness in the working people it oppresses and exploits: "Just because the working man or woman is materially bound to oppose the interests of the capitalist does not necessarily spur him or her to actively work for the overthrow of a class system that keeps working class people in bondage. From the rise of slavery in the early years of civilization, to the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the modern world, those who support the interests of the ruling elite have understood their dependence on the labor of the masses and have worked tirelessly to keep working people divided, repressed, weak, docile, indoctrinated, in conflict with one another, and unaware of their shared class interests in opposing the overlords who keep them in chains."
Music by Killing Joke, Marxman, Bruce Cockburn, and Fannon Holland.