THE HEAD-FIXING
INDUSTRY
This is the opening
and closing of pamphlet by John Keracher of the Proletarian Party of America
first published in 1930s yet still relevant and pertinent to today’s world of
media manipulation. The full pamphlet can be read on the Libcom website. https://libcom.org/library/head-fixing-industry
The much used term, "public opinion" is little
understood by the average person. On first thought, many are inclined to
believe that it is the opinion of that aggregate of human kind, commonly
referred to as "the public." Let us see whether or not such is the
case. What is public opinion? Does it really exist? We say "Yes" and "No."
That considerable influence is brought to bear upon social
questions by what is called "public opinion" goes without saying. It
is not a thing of air; it does not exist merely in the imagination. Quite the
contrary, it is a power of considerable magnitude—a real live social force. And
yet we do not hesitate to say that "public opinion" is not PUBLIC
opinion at all. It is, at best, the opinion of a very small minority—we say, at
best, for the reason that in many instances, particularly in matters pertaining
to the labor movement, it is but an artifice whereby it is sought to mold the
public mind favorably to the interests of the ruling class.
To comprehend this misnomer fully, one must have some idea
of the source of "public opinion" and how it is formed. The public is
divided into two classes, the working class and the employing class—the class
that PRODUCES the "nation's" wealth and the class that OWNS the means
of producing such wealth, the mines, mills, factories, etc.
It is quite obvious that the interests of these two classes
are not identical. The employers and the workers get their incomes in different
way. They are opposite in every
respect. The one class, on the average, is "well to do," many are
rich. The other class is not at ail "well off," many are in poverty.
The conditions under which the workers live are such as
should cause them to arrive at opinions different from those arrived at by the
rich- Yet the masses of the people, although poor, think the thoughts of the
rich, champion the arguments of the rich, and, if need be, defend with their
last breath the interests of the rich. "Public opinion" is, at best,
only the opinion of the rich, but the majority of the people dont know it. You
will say, "How is it done?"
It is the result of America's greatest industry.
"But," you will say, "what is America's greatest industry?"
Well! It is not the coal industry, nor the oil industry, nor the automobile
industry. It is not building, nor shipping, nor railroading. No, it is none of
these. America's greatest industry is the—Head-Fixing Industry….
Working-Class
Education
Public opinion, as we have endeavored to show in this
pamphlet, is only capitalist opinion. The most effective way to combat it is to
put forth, in opposition, workers' opinion. But how is this workers' opinion to
be formed? How is working-class opinion going to become "public
opinion"?
The working class constitutes the vast majority of the
population. This majority has a means at its disposal, propaganda. The
individual worker carrying the message of working-class emancipation to his
fellow worker is a powerful factor, especially if put to work systematically.
Speaking from working-class platforms, in halls and on street corners, and die
printed word, the periodicals of the workers, by the workers and for the
workers, are all effective means of reaching the masses.
There is also at work a still greater force than propaganda,
a force that is bound to shape "public opinion." Social evolution is
at work. Its great economic pressure is bearing down upon the workers and
forcing them to think. It is sharpening the struggle between the classes,
between those who own the means of production and the class that must work for
those owners in order to live. In a word, experience, the workers' everyday
experience, is the greatest force working toward their social awakening. To
give the awakened workers greater understanding of their class interests, to
impart information in relation to the social system under which we live, is the
object of such a pamphlet as this. Also, the labor press, particularly its more
advanced section, is useful in teaching the lessons of organization and action.
Every means at the disposal of the working-class movement must be made use of
to enlighten the masses and to convey the necessary knowledge of their class
problems and the nature of the historic task that the proletariat is confronted
with.
The class-conscious workers, the vanguard of the American
proletariat, are now pressing forward with a mighty movement, and a powerful
propaganda and educational press for the purpose of winning the workers away
from the poisoned propaganda of the kept press of Wall Street. Mass meetings,
street-corner meetings, classes on labor questions, leaflets, pamphlets, books,
or any other means at our disposal, must be fully utilized. The personal
agitation of the already awakened workers is particularly valuable, as our
class is so numerous and the master class so few and getting fewer.
Let us bend every effort to the end that working class
opinion may prevail, to the end that working-class ideas, opinions in the interest
of the vast majority, will ultimately become public opinion. We must fight the
head-fixing industry of the capitalist class to a finish. We must expose its
shams, its fraudulent claims, its hypocracies and perversions. Against its
"holy" humbugs, we must hurl our simple truths in relation to history
and the real part played in social evolution by the class which does the
world's work. We must un-fix the
workers' heads by imparting real knowledge and driving out the falsehoods of
capitalism's head-fixing industry.
It is only through thus exposing the class nature of the
head-fixing industry that we can prepare the workers' minds for the need of a
revolutionary change. The workers must be taught that their slavery is based
upon the private ownership of the machinery of production and distribution.
They must be brought to a realization that their emancipation from wage slavery
can only come as a result of the means of production and distribution being
transformed from the status of capitalist ownership to that of social
ownership. The common ownership of the mills, mines, factories, etc., is the
goal of the modern working-class movement. The political overthrow of the
capitalist class is the first step toward this objective.
In this struggle, the power of thought is a mighty weapon.
Let us learn to wield it more and more effectively. Let us bring the
revolutionary ideas of the modern proletarian movement to the front, so as to
uproot capitalism and establish a new social order. Let us sweep away, not only
the head-fixing industry of capitalism, but also sweep away the system of
profit making that is served by the head-fixing industry.
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