Lumpen Proletariat

Most people I know who are, or have been, on benefits at some time in their lives  would rather be working and have a job - even those on disability benefits.

But I would also have to say that there are significant numbers of our fellow citizens who are not interested in having a job - because for them welfare has become a lifestyle choice.

In other words they are happy to receive relatively little by way of a disposable income - with their housing costs being paid by the state - in preference to going out to work for a living and the possibility of earning not that much more than their regular benefits cheque.

The fact that I know of several people in exactly this situation speaks volumes about the state of the benefits system - which has been in a mess for years.

In fact one particular individual I can think of hasn't worked for almost twenty years - has raised children while surviving on state benefits - but works from time to time for cash in hand, but only when it suits of course.

Now how you tackle this situation is a complex problem - because it's not always easy or even possible - under the law at least - to distinguish between someone who is genuinely looking for a hand-up and a route back into work - and another person who is simply trying to milk the system for all it's worth.

But in order to do something more practical than just wringing your hands - the first step is to accept that some folks are 'at it' - and have been for a long time.

I was reminded of a negotiation in Edinburgh manyyears ago - to change the way in which the city's housing caretaking service was delivered - poor as it was at the time.

The caretakers were relatively lowly paid - the service to tenants was awful and, generally speaking, everyone working in the system saw the other parties involved (i.e. management, tenants or the housing caretakers) - as the 'enemy'.

The outcome of the negotiations represented a 'win win' situation - in  my eyes anyway - because the tenants got a new 24-hour and much improved service - and the housing caretakers (union members) received a 25% increase in pay.

The downside of the big pay increase was that people were required to work for it - deliver a reliable and professional service across a new shift pattern - which ran over 24 hours and  7 days a week.

I wasn't in the least surprised when a significant number of the caretakers opposed the planned changes - because for the first time in a long time their cosy lives were being disturbed.

And the people involved preferred their cosy lives to a 25% pay rise - which would have taken years to acquire through the normal annual cost of living increases.

So the scene was set for a show down with the reactionary element of the union membership - which was achieved by some straight talking and a refusal to be bullied by threatening behaviour - or emotional blackmail.

In Marxist language you would call these union memebers the 'lumpen proletariat' - people who had losy respect for themselves and who would, if they could, neither work nor want.

The lumpen proletariat are still with us today - both in-work and out-of-work - some may even be quite well paid, but for sure they won't get off their arses - just because you ask them to, however nicely.

Not in my experience anyway.