Re: [Marxism] England Football Supporters

[Jscotlive@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 18/06/2006 15:24:09 GMT Daylight Time, ian@xxxxxxxxxxx
writes:

Also,  the English working classes are oppressed people as well. To explain
away  their attachment to their team as 'an attachment to Empire and
imperialism  which pervades the English working class, resulting in a
national  chauvinism which allows British governments to continue to engage
in  imperialist military  adventures to this day and get away with it' is too

easy and a bit of a cop-out. The attraction of nationalism to the working
classes is a powerful force that we as Marxists have to deal with somehow  -
holding our hands up in despair and contempt won't get us  anywhere.



Reply:

Yes, they are oppressed economically in their own nation. However, they  do
derive a sense of national pride in the fact they come from a nation  steeped
in a history of war and the national prestige to be had from Empire. Of
course, it is a false consciousness, but no less a powerful motive force for all
that. It is this false consciousness, heightened through the medium of sporting
events like the World Cup, which distracts them from their oppression.

As I said in a previous post, English fans are I think unique in the way
they support their team by invoking the Second World War and even the Battle of
Trafalgar in the form of Nelson's message ' England Expects' to his fleet
before  going into battle.

Finally, I wasn't holding my hands up in despair. I was making an
observation. I take the view that we should be orientating towards the  
progressive
forces among the working class, not pandering to the backward  sections such as
those you may typically find on football terraces who chant  racist and
nationalist songs. They should be challenged, not pandered to.

JD

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