In this discussion article, Sebastian Osthoff analyses capitalist education and argues for student/worker control of universities, as a step in the direction of a complete abolition of capitalist logic within education.

When talking about fighting cuts in higher education we must first consider the fact that education in capitalism is a commodity, as is everything else. The specific of education as a commodity, as far as we are talking about education for the working class, is that it can be seen as a factor contributing to the value of labour power. So by cutting (higher) education, capital not only profits through immediate savings but also by cheapening labour power. Higher education cuts therefore are fulfilling an economic interest of capital as such. Saying this, we must also be well aware of the fact that there is no moral right for education. Capitalism as a system has no use for morals as such and only dances to the tune of the law of value. The struggle against higher education cuts is therefore not a moralistic one, but a matter of class struggle through and through. So when we are fighting for free education we are mainly wrangling with the capitalists over the price for the education commodity. If we are demanding free education it is not because we would have a certain “right to be educated” but solely because it is possible for capitalism to afford free education and because it is in the interest of the working class NOT to pay for education.

By questioning the price of education, we have not left the capitalist framework at all. In several countries in Europe there still is free education. Even in England there used to be free higher education, until tuition fees were introduced in 1998 by the Labour Party government. This also shows that no capitalist party, not even Labour, which still tries to appeal to the working class and has its major social basis in the working class, will defend free education.

The crisis of higher education is the crisis of capitalism.

As mentioned above, as communists we do not look at education as something outside or above capitalism, but an integral part of this system which is based on the continued exploitation of the working class by a small minority of capitalists. From the beginning of capitalism as a historic phase onwards, the education system was subordinated to the needs and interests of capitalism. Education for the working class was extended with the increased need of capital for skilled workers, especially due to the introduction of new capitalist machinery. This is in fact a decisive moment for the character of education under capitalism. In capitalism, as opposed to all former modes of production, all boundaries for the development of the means of production, meaning machinery and new techniques of production, are broken. Not the sky but the social relation in which these means of production rest has become the limit. The relation between worker and capitalist has become the only hindrance for the constant revolutionising of the way how, and with what machinery we produce. The requirement for this is a class of workers who are able to constantly adapt to these changes and therefore possess a high and comparatively universal qualification. The function of education in capitalism is to produce such workers, but this is by far from its only function.

Building on what has been said above we can understand the flourishing of higher education in the imperialist core countries of Western Europe and Northern America after the Second World War by the combination of three factors;

1. The relative wealth and stability of Capitalism beginning in the 1950s due to the massive destruction of Capital in Europe during the second World War which proved to be very profitable, especially for US capital. Economic prosperity is the basis capitalism needs to make any kind of concessions to the working class.
2. The need for new specialists, engineers etc. Generally speaking highly skilled workers within the new emerging industries. Especially as a result of the “revolution of automation” within the booming “consumer goods” industry, especially in the car industry.
3. The class struggle situation after the Second World War. The Bourgeoisie tried its best to prevent a situation like the one after the first World War where the Proletariat had risen in Europe and in Russia were even able to take power (they did so for example by systematically bombing the working class areas in German cities, instead of bombing arms production plants or the railways leading to the concentration camp Auschwitz, of which existence the allies knew since 1944). Despite this, the working class rose up in several parts of Europe, like in France, Greece, or in Czechoslovakia. Due to these circumstances the Bourgeoisie saw itself forced to make a large amount of concessions to the working class which are summarized in the concept of the welfare state.

Beginning with the recession of the 1970s and the constant economic crisis afterwards, the Bourgeoisie lost more and more ground to uphold these concessions. From the 1980s onwards a general attack was launched by the ruling class against the workers worldwide, finding its expression in the Reaganomics, Thatcherism, or more generally in what is falsely called Neo-Liberalism (in fact there is nothing new nor anything liberal about Neo-Liberalism, it is just the way the Bourgeoisie tries to solve economic crisis in phases of general economic downturn). But the attack was not solely aimed at the gains and concessions the working class was able to extract through struggle from the capitalists in the previous phase, it was also an attack against the working class itself and its organs of struggles, the trade unions and the radical left. This attack was only soothed down a little when capitalism was again able to make immense profits by the integration and market liberalisation of the former “socialist”, in fact Stalinist camp.

Now with the new crisis beginning in 2007, the Bourgeoisie has again fortified its attacks on the working class and has to get rid of the last vestiges of “class-neutral” politics. As time passes, the Bourgeoisie has no more profitable interest in providing higher education for large parts of the working class. Also due to losses in capital profit the bourgeoisie is no longer willing/able to allocate these shrinking profits to higher education, which means that the struggle for these benefits becomes even fiercer and has less and less opportunity to fulfil itself under capitalism, the very system causing all this crisis. So the pure necessity to defend our gains made in the previous struggles points in the direction of overthrowing the system and installing a much better social order, socialism, which is no longer subordinated to the needs of capital to produce profit, but to provide a better future for all of humanity.

The character of education under capitalism.

Apart from simply educating people into specialists, the capitalist University fulfils a whole lot of different tasks for the Bourgeoisie. The fact that there are separate bodies in society only concerned with education is in itself a symptom of a society where manual and mental labour are separated from each other. This in itself is a problem for us, as specialisation leads to a narrow, one-sided formation of a human’s abilities. Sure, not everybody can be a neurosurgeon or a rocket scientist, these tasks require years of training. However, nobody should be exposed to mind numbing productive labour all her/his life either. A society should have an interest in raising the general intellect of its members as much as possible, surely this is no option for a society that operates according to the logic of profit.

Further, the Universities are today controlled by the state and the state is by no means a neutral institution but the firm instrument of the ruling class. The state directly uses the power it exercises over universities to reproduce capitalist ideology. With the recent university reforms, the trend in higher education is a more and more standardised system with curriculums dictated by the state. The space in universities for critical thinking which was created in the aftermath of 68’ is therefore set to shrink. This is only in the interest of the Bourgeoisie for it allows them not only to bind education more closer to immediate business interests, but also allows the state to penetrate deeper into students minds with their ideology.

So from the above we can see that the capitalist state is in crisis. Especially under a Conservative government (although we should have no illusions in any other capitalist political party) education will increasingly serve no other purpose than to prepare the student to fit into Capitalism and try for a high salaried job, which become ever more elusive. It should be evident to all, that we don’t want to go to university simply to improve our job qualifications and our chances to sell our labour power, but to learn about something we are interested in. Therefore we must argue for the independence of universities from the state apparatus, so that the state is not able to dictate curriculums and structure the whole of higher education in its interest.

That is only possible if we fight for workers and students control of the universities. Lecturers and students know best what they want to teach/learn and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to decide these issues in a democratic way. Universities shouldn’t be controlled by people who are just worried about their own salaries and their privileged positions. Instead there should be committees representing all interested groups in the university; lecturers, students, university staff and the local community. The state should only be involved to that point that it is providing financial resources.

Not only would this be the only way that a critical and independent university education could be guaranteed but it would also be a step into the direction of a complete abolishment of capitalist logic within education. Following that capitalism is not able to provide us with the education we need that is the direction we need to take. Surely universities are not isolated islands. The only way to fundamentally change the character of education from a tool in the hands of the capitalist ruling class into a means to improve humanity as a whole, is the complete overthrow of the capitalist system through a working class revolution.

Political Leadership.

The crisis of capitalism is going hand in hand with a crisis in political leadership. As seen in the struggle against higher education cuts, all parties support the cuts, but not all parties have the luxury of opposing them in words. The ConDem coalition is only doing the work which is in the interest of the whole capitalist class. After all, tuition fees were introduced by a Labour party government. The question of political leadership thus becomes vital for the working class. Only a determined revolutionary party of the working class, which does not participate in the management of this defunct system but actively works to overthrow it, can solve this crisis. Such a party can only be formed by the working class itself; so the first and foremost duty of the radical left is to bring back revolutionary politics where they belong, to the workplaces, the factories and the working class communities.