Where there is democracy, there is inevitability insecurity for the capitalist class. True democracy places power with people and in such circumstances the few who hold power become threatened. The “threats” to elite interests from the possibility of true democracy has always required to be neutralised by “social engineering” through educational institutions, religious and philanthropic foundations, public relations and advertising agencies and , of course all the various means of mass media, press, radio, tv and film. Political, economic, and cultural agencies all sought to defend the principle of privilege. All have been used to protect the power of the wealthy from the potential of popular democracy. Yet the threat of democracy has remained a constant, persistent and pervasive.
Is it a surprise that the Robber Barons, the Carnegies and the Rockefellers of the world, endowed educational departments that chose to study the 'social questions' of their time and subsequently, promoted reformist solutions that did not threaten the capitalistic nature of the social order, such as promoting “company unions” over “autonomous unions” undermining the freedom of labour to organise and oppose the social order as a whole.
After what became known as the 1914 Ludlow Massacre where women and children were murdered by hired guns of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, the Congressional Walsh Commission set up to investigate the slaughter published the Manly Report concluded that the Rockefeller “charitable" foundations were so “grave a menace” to society, that “it would be desirable to recommend their abolition.” The Commission’s founder, Frank P. Walsh, explained: “...the creation of the Rockefeller and other foundations was the beginning of an effort to perpetuate the present position of predatory wealth through the corruption of sources of public information...”
They were attempts to undertake “damage control” for the Rockefellers and cultivate allies. Through the educational system, the social sciences, philanthropic foundations, public relations, advertising, marketing, and the media, At he capitalist class of the world developed a unique and complex system of social control and propaganda .
Is it a surprise that the Robber Barons, the Carnegies and the Rockefellers of the world, endowed educational departments that chose to study the 'social questions' of their time and subsequently, promoted reformist solutions that did not threaten the capitalistic nature of the social order, such as promoting “company unions” over “autonomous unions” undermining the freedom of labour to organise and oppose the social order as a whole.
After what became known as the 1914 Ludlow Massacre where women and children were murdered by hired guns of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, the Congressional Walsh Commission set up to investigate the slaughter published the Manly Report concluded that the Rockefeller “charitable" foundations were so “grave a menace” to society, that “it would be desirable to recommend their abolition.” The Commission’s founder, Frank P. Walsh, explained: “...the creation of the Rockefeller and other foundations was the beginning of an effort to perpetuate the present position of predatory wealth through the corruption of sources of public information...”
They were attempts to undertake “damage control” for the Rockefellers and cultivate allies. Through the educational system, the social sciences, philanthropic foundations, public relations, advertising, marketing, and the media, At he capitalist class of the world developed a unique and complex system of social control and propaganda .
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