Leeches, scavengers and other parasites have a rather bad rap in our society. True, they live off the labour and lifeblood of others. But while vultures feed on the carcasses of dead animals, at least they care for their offspring. Vampire bats can drink up to half their bodyweight in blood, but at least when their stomachs are full they fly away and leave their prey alone.
The same cannot be said of Gina Rinehart. Rinehart now has $29 billion, making her the world’s richest woman. Last year her wealth grew by over $51 million every single day. Every minute, Rinehart “earned” almost $36,000. The yearly income for full-time workers on the minimum wage is just $30,640.
To point out this obscene inequality, we are told by political conservatives, is the “politics of envy”. There are two main arguments they are trying to encapsulate in this phrase. The first is to deny the existence of any genuine class divide or class struggle in Australia. So The Australian argues:
In a nation that prides itself on egalitarianism, where worker and boss rub shoulders at the beach and the tall poppy syndrome keeps power and egos in check, the politics of envy has never been, and should not become, part of our civic conversation.
But Australia is not egalitarian. Bosses have private beaches on the doorsteps of their waterfront mansions so they don’t have to mingle with workers. The tall poppy syndrome doesn’t seem to have prevented the mining magnates from arrogantly imposing their every opinion on us, with the mainstream media (which they increasingly own) always happy to broadcast the latest pearls of wisdom from these philosopher kings and queen.
The second, more fundamental argument, is that these billionaires are actually society’s “wealth-creators”. Rather than attack them, we should aspire to be like them, and thank our lucky stars they have descended from the heavens to bestow us with their resources. Again, The Australian argues:
Mining magnates, whose investments build wealth, drive exports and create hundreds of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, are prime targets in the politics of envy.
But just what role does Gina Rinehart (or any other boss) play in “building wealth”? She certainly doesn’t dig any iron ore out of the ground, nor does she maintain the machinery that is used. She doesn’t work in the kitchens to feed the miners, doesn’t sew their clothes, and doesn’t help to transport this precious commodity to the ports or load it on ships to China. She pays other people to do all that.
Now if I go to McDonalds and buy a hamburger, I don’t walk around telling people I created the hamburger. That would just be weird. But different rules apply if I own McDonalds. Then all of a sudden I am seen as personally responsible for all the hamburgers created in every outlet in the world, not to mention a champion of the people for creating thousands of jobs. I am like a god who can perform miracles of creation with my giant bucket of money.
In reality, what conspires to give the capitalists this power is their control of the means of production. As long as Rinehart owns and controls the land, raw materials and machinery associated with iron ore mining, then she can employ the labour of thousands of others, yet still privately appropriate the product of their labour. In other words, rake in the profits produced by others.
The mining workers, who didn’t inherit multi-million dollar fortunes, can only sell their labour to a capitalist like Rinehart. The wealth they produce for their boss far exceeds what they get paid in wages, even if wages are relatively high. If bosses can no longer make a big enough profit from the workers they employ, they sack them and scale down production – just as the Australian mining companies did in their thousands when the global financial crisis hit.
This is what Marxists mean by exploitation: the daily and hourly theft by billionaire bludgers of the only real wealth-creators, the working class. Envy doesn’t begin to describe it. All the trillions blown on bankers’ bonuses and bailouts, mansions and Maseratis, cocaine and caviar, belongs to the workers of the world.
We want it back.
