The chief visible product of leftism is a feigned egalitarianism. While Marx and his disciples claimed to create a classless society, the reality was of course quite different. There are always the insiders, the ones who scheme and maneuver, who look out for themselves and their friends.
And while this behavior is part of a universal human condition, it’s most pronounced in socialized economies where the state is the gatekeeper from which all blessings and curses flow. And the “new class” loitering by the gate always takes care of itself – first.
Milovan Djilas had the temerity to identify these loiterers in The New Class, his 1957 book about Communist hierarchy. Djilas, a Yugoslav communist, rose through the ranks to become Titov’s second in command in Yugoslavia’s postwar hierarchy before falling from favor for his dissident views about communism and the Nomenklatura running the show. Tito imprisoned Djilas in 1954 after Djilas publicly expressed his views and Djilas later smuggled the manuscript of The New Class from prison where it was eventually published in the West.
Djilas’ message – as fresh today as in the 1950s – is that overreaching government creates a new class, the select few who position themselves to dispense all largesse while living far above the masses. And as Djilas observed, the Nomenklatura and the bureaucrats surrounding them become the reason for the government’s existence, thereby pitting themselves against the great mass of people in a smoldering civil war of privilege and resentment.
Can we see the seeds of the new Nomenklatura in our own day? Take a look at the British Parliament, which is currently wracked by scandal surrounding the perks and privileges enjoyed by its members. As reported in the UK media, the scandal has cost the Parliamentary speaker his job and the members’ right to regulate their own affairs. As noted by the UK blog Samizdata, there is an ‘enemy class’ at work:
This whole saga demonstrates the truth of the thesis that politicians increasingly have come to regard their own interests as set apart from the country as a whole. It adds to the notion, put forward by Sean Gabb, of an “Enemy Class” that is quite consciously at odds with the more conservative (small – c) values of the country. Of course, there has always been an element of this – it is naive to imagine that Parliament ever quite met some Greek ideal – but it is now in a particularly bad way.
Let’s hope Mr Martin sees sense and takes the proverbial bottle of whisky and the loaded revolver into his study. He will be the first Speaker to be ejected from his role in more than 300 years. Not a record to be proud of.
And as Wretchard points out (via Instapundit), we can hear the same distant thunder in our own country.
NEVADA GOVERNOR CRITICIZES OBAMA’S “RECKLESS COMMENTS:”
The cancelled conventions and meetings have cost the Las Vegas economy over $100-million, not including gaming revenue.
“I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this Administration,” Gibbons said, “President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments.” Governor Gibbons noted, “President Obama is coming to Las Vegas to raise campaign cash for Senator Harry Reid, apparently our money is good enough for the President, but our tourism, jobs, and economic future are not.” Gibbons added, “This is politics, pure and simple, President Obama stood for change, but all he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada.”
I tend to think that Milovan Djilas would see right through Hope ‘n Change – and instantly recognize a member of Nomenklatura.
