This posting is a response to the financial scandals that are being highlighted in
Ireland. The scandals have involved prominent politicians, the government, business people
and state officials.

There has been constant commentary and discussion in the media concerning the various
scandals. The scandals and the media exposure tell us nothing that many people would not
have suspected all along. What is of more interest is the way in which the corruption was
organised. The media has been of some value in exposing how the scams were organised. The
scandals can be exploited by revolutionaries to expose to the working class the way in
which the bourgeoisie and its friends  maintain and increase their wealth. The scandals
are also of interest concerning how the bourgeoisie and its friends are related to the
state.

However the amount and kind of coverage in the media may be reaching saturation so much so
that many people may be becoming weary of the matter. But perhaps there is bourgeois
method in this media obsession with these scandals.

In the first place even if some of the perpetrators of "tax crimes" are sent to jail and
forced to hand over any appropriate moneys this is of no concern to the working class. It
makes no difference whether they are jailed or not. Such a decision will not render living
conditions better for the working class. Even if arrangements are made to prevent or at
least make it more difficult for these prosperous individuals to engage in white collar
crime it is of little concern to the working class. It will certainly make little or no
difference to the working class. What does the working class care whether one section of
the capitalist class cannot steal from another section. Such a matter is an
inter-capitalist squabble of little or consequence. The most that revolutionaries can do
is expose the real class nature of the issue. Consequently, to a degree, Irish
journalism's obsession with this matter is merely a prurient interest in the details of an
inter-capitalist squabble. The trade unionists who call for tax rebates because of these
scandals etc are betraying the cause of the working class. They are suggesting that what
amounts to no more than one set of capitalists taking wealth from another by illegal means
is an issue for the working class. In that way they deceive the working class as to the
real nature of the issue and thereby offer the working class a politics that is a
distraction from real class issues. The working class cannot be interested in how the
given amount of surplus value is distributed among the different capitalists. The working
class cannot be interested in ensuring that the capitalist state is configured in such a
way that this surplus value cannot be stolen from one set of capitalists by another. Such
matters are merely bourgeois matters.

For the trade union leadership to moralise about the illegal activities of members of the
bourgeoisie declaring that it is outrageous completely deceives the working class as to
the real nature of the capitalist state and capitalism itself. It completely undermines
any chance the working class have of developing class politics.

It generates the false impression that the state is concerned with fairness and equity.
This is to grossly distract from the class nature of the state. The capitalist state is
not concerned with achieving fairness in the taxation system. Instead the state is
concerned to make the working class pay for its class oppression by the state.

To declare as a section of the trade union leadership do that the working class are
entitled to a tax rebate from any moneys secured by the state as a result of these
scandals is merely a confused way of looking for a reduction in tax. To fight for higher
wages as a response to the tax and other financial scandals is just an ideological way of
seeking more wages. It merely deceives the working class as to the real nature of
capitalism and the state. It reinforces the already existing illusions that the working
class entertain as to the nature of the state. Instead of these scandals being exploited
by the leadership of the working class to expose the class nature of the state the reverse
is attempted. The scandals are used to further reinforce the ideological illusions that
the working class entertains concerning the nature of the state. Consequently nothing is
learned from the scandals. The very value of the scandals for the working class is denied.
What presents itself as a great opportunity to highlight the class nature of the state is
missed. Indeed the opportunity is used to achieve the very opposite --to conceal the class
nature of the state. This means that the entire value of these events runs into the sand.
Bourgeois journalism and the mass media through their continuous coverage and analysis of
these events have assisted in preventing the working class from arriving at the correct
political conclusions. This has been the ideological significance of journalism in all of
this.

The bourgeois media in their discussion and criticism of the scandals essentially stress
the illegality of it and the moral injustice of it. They stress the need for punishment
and arrangements that will prevent this from happening again. They talk about the
subjective character of theses individuals --their corrupt, immoral and greedy
characteristics. They never indicate that it is in the nature of capitalism to breed these
characteristics and this conduct. They never indicate that capitalism and its state are
not concerned with fairness and equity. Instead they reinforce this bourgeois liberal
ideology that merely covers up the source of the problem. They talk about Fianna Fail
being more corrupt than the other parties as if there was an inherent tendency for FF to
be more corrupt than other bourgeois parties.

In this way bourgeois journalism ring fence the scandals and the problems associated with
them so that the working class are hindered when it comes to drawing the necessary class
lessons from the events. Bourgeois journalism creates a certain kind of ideological
culture that prevents the working class from drawing revolutionary conclusions from them.
In this way the mass media perform an invaluable service for the bourgeoisie that allows
scandals and crises to break out without their catching fire in such a way as to challenge
the system. This of course is their ideological function. In this way the bourgeoisie can
have problems revealed and solved without their necessarily catching fire.

On the other hand the specific character of the working class at a particular point in
time is a decisive factor in all this. If the working class are in a passive even
reactionary state or mood the bourgeoisie can wash their dirty linen in public with less
chance of its leading to instability and the consequent development of the class struggle.
Indeed a period when the working class are in a more passive state is the optimal time for
the bourgeoisie washing its dirty linen in public. It is the best time for the bourgeoisie
to sort out its problems without fear of the crisis or shake-up leading to a direct
challenge by the working class.

Indeed the scandals that are emerging may be surfacing because of the kind of objective
and subjective changes that have been occurring in Ireland. The changing character of
capitalism in Ireland may require that these anomalies emerge. The growing power of
finance capital in Ireland may demand that the sycophantic element within Irish capital be
atrophied or reorganised so that capitalism can operate in a more streamlined way in
Ireland.

Warm regards
George Pennefather

Be free to check out our Communist Think-Tank web site at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/



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