Last week’s riots revealed anger but also the weakness of our class. We must inspire disaffected youth with a vision of a different society, says Callum Williamson

Urban riots, such as those we witnessed over four nights last week, rarely result in a positive outcome for our class and at worst can lead to tragedy. The killing of Mark Duggan at the hands of the police sparked the unrest, which was fuelled by the social decay inseparable from capitalism with its ingrained inequalities and injustices. Four have died since, over a hundred have lost their homes, more than a thousand people have been arrested and many injured. We have to look at why this has happened, what the likely consequences are; and what the events have to tell us about the tasks of communists and the demands we must make.

Usually the death of a suspected criminal at the hands of the police would not cause such uproar, as the state’s monopoly on violence is generally supported by most. However, tensions between local youths and the police had already been high by the time of Duggan’s death on Thursday August 4th. Rumours about the circumstances of the incident -including eyewitness claims which contradicted the police’s initial statement that Duggan had fired upon them (we now know he did no such thing) spread quickly, and when hundreds joined the protest outside the local police station two days later, there was tremendous anger. Those present have said that the police dealt with the situation very poorly and their handling of the situation contributed to what was to come.

A scuffle between a teenager and a police officer supposedly ignited the scene and began a night of running battles between youths and the police. How the scene ended up in a running battle is disputed, but within hours the face of Tottenham’s streets had been dramatically altered by the burnt out carcasses of police cars, buildings, and a bus The following night also saw skirmishes between police and youths in nearby Enfield. Monday and Tuesday saw rioting spread to cities including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool. In Birmingham three Asian men were killed in a hit and run incident whilst attempting to protect small local shops; some have suggested that the incident was racially motivated. The capital saw much more widespread unrest, with looting, arson and clashes with police in many of the most deprived areas of London.

The reaction from almost all corners was one of outright condemnation, with the concerted forces of the political right managing to soundly win the public debate in the immediate aftermath of the rioting. It has taken time for forces on the left to articulate anything but a shallow analysis of events focussed on relative deprivation and the impact of cuts.

The BBC demonstrated once again that its supposed neutrality is a façade for its role as the ideological arm of the capitalist state. Almost every interview involved a mainstream politician, affected shop-keeper or state official and so served to create an impression that there was no-one in society who could feel any empathy for the dispossessed and disaffected youth. On the rare occasion that an interview took a different course, you could be sure that it would not get replayed.

Howe: BBC savage voice of reason

A prime example of this was the interview involving Darcus Howe, which has over 4 million views on YouTube, in which he expresses the frustration of young black Britons, such as his own grandson, facing both police harassment and a dire lack of opportunities. The reporter’s bias was apparent in the phrasing of every question and in every nuance of her voice. It is unsurprising that in such an environment journalists of the open right felt sufficiently emboldened to write whatever came to mind. The Daily Mail’s Max Hastings spoke for the most hate-filled reactionary sections of society in his article on August 10th when he claimed “My dogs are better behaved and subscribe to a higher code of values than the young rioters”. Hastings went on to write that “They [the rioters] respond only to instinctive animal impulses- to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others”.

This media reaction is a reflection of two things. Firstly, it reflects the sordid ideology held by the ruling class, which legitimises hierarchy through insisting on the moral and intellectual superiority of the rulers over the ruled. The expression of such ideas also reflects the use of a moral panic around a disorderly “underclass” to restore the ideological hegemony of the capitalists. The riots are being used by the police, media, bourgeois politicians and capitalists to rally large sections of society around the existing social order. Two weeks ago the eye of public scrutiny was fixed on the corruption of police, politicians, and Murdoch’s empire, not to mention the crisis of the capitalist economic system and the government’s cuts. Now the national conversation has been shifted (at least for the moment) on how best to police what the Prime Minister calls “the worst of Britain”. Now we are supposed to rally around the patriarchal nuclear family, the police and the “Big Society” whilst at the same time supporting threats to axe the benefits of the ‘undeserving’ poor.

In reality, there are many factors behind the riots. Poverty and the inability of many young people to attain expected levels of consumption are causes. It is no coincidence that the rioting took place in areas such as Tottenham with high youth unemployment, and not in Cameron’s constituency of Whitney. Equally, in an age where supposedly the individual has freedom and choice, a life of wage slavery working at McDonald’s for minimum wage is not an attractive prospect. The reality is that the majority of people have very little power over their own lives. When the youth take to the streets, they belong to them. For that night, the police, their manager from work or their benefit assessment officer hold no power over them. They attain liberation for a brief moment. Equally it is impossible to ignore the genuine hatred and distrust between the police and the young people in urban areas. This has everything to do with the role of the police under capitalism, being primarily to enforce and support the system of private property. The police are given the unenviable job of keeping in line those whom the socio-economic system has failed. This requires the organic growth of a culture of contempt amongst the police for those who are most likely to commit crime: capitalism’s victims. Equally, among the working class youth in areas where the rioting has taken place, the police are regarded as the enemy or at least a legitimate target at which to vent their anger. The majority of crime on display during the rioting was not utilitarian (eg. theft), it was an expression of anger.

So what can we expect as a result of recent events? Firstly, the police will undoubtedly see at least some reduction in the scale of the cuts aimed at them. Almost all sections of the media and the mainstream political parties are demanding it. We should also expect the police to step up the level of violence they use in such situations, as it is now clear that their superiors and those in Westminster will support them. A military approach to policing, if it develops, may well lead to more riots, as it did in the 1980’s. There has also been a lot of talk about “traditional” values and support for the family. The Conservatives will certainly hope to keep this on the political agenda in the UK for as long as possible. The rioting may well resuscitate the government’s all but dead “Big Society” initiative, with the likes of Bishop McCulloch claiming that the “me-first” society is responsible for the rioting. This is a half-truth. Of course what the Bishop wants is for the masses to flock back to the Church for moral education.

What communists call for is not just the defeat of the view that “there is no such thing as society” but also for the material reality in which we find ourselves to be transformed. Collectivist, “we’re all in it together” rhetoric is empty if the economic system simultaneously demands dog-eat-dog, individualistic behaviour and decreasing standards of living for the majority. Real solidarity and co-operation comes from below and is born of struggle.

Communists must reiterate some basic minimum demands in the face of the unrest. These include: Access to jobs at trade union rates of pay; access to public housing; votes at 16; youth and sports centres to be made available; and the police, judges and magistrates to be made accountable for their actions and decisions. However, only when the working class takes control of the productive processes of society will people have the basic control over their lives which can enable a greater fulfilment and self-development.