By Peter Johnson
January 10, 2001
The bourgeois propaganda machine has for decades of pushed the hollow idea that we must all be "individuals". We are told that if we succeed in life, it is because we are smart, strong, winners. If we fare poorly, then it is only because we are stupid, lazy, losers. We are told that it is a virtue not to follow the crowd – that we must be independent thinkers and choose our own path. Never mind economic reality or personal potential, we are told that if we will it, we will find a way. And if we don’t find a way? Tough luck!
Now the ruling class is surprised to find that millions of people actually believe this! Due to stagnant recruitment, the US Army has unveiled a $150 million campaign and a new slogan, "an army of one", abandoning their long-used slogan, "be all that you can be." They hope this new slogan will appeal to potential recruits 18 to 24 years old who are strongly "independent".
But who makes up the army? Soldiers are in effect workers in uniform. They live and work in proletarian conditions. They learn skills which they will then apply as workers once they leave the service. They learn military skills which will be of great use in a revolutionary situation. The army is made up of a disproportionate number of Latinos and Blacks, and poor people in general. These people often can’t find jobs in the real world, so they join the military in order to get out of poverty, learn a career, get money for college, travel the world, etc. The majority do not join in order to kill the workers of other countries, or be killed by them! And they certainly do not join in order to put down a civil "rebellion" – like a strike or revolutionary movement involving their parents, brothers, and sisters.
The new ad features a lone combat soldier running through the desert who says, "I am an army of one, I have become better than who I was." The absurdity of this is clear to anyone with a brain! An efficient army is the very opposite of individualistic! In order to function as an effective fighting force, a military unit must have complete discipline and unity. Any soldier who goes off and does what he or she wants will be considered AWOL or be court-martialed! Of course the Army recruiters don’t really believe that soldiers are "an army of one", but they have created a monster, and must now deal with it. In order to recruit young people into their war machine, they have to approach them as "individuals". Never mind that from day one they will be made to look, act and dress like everyone else!
And what about bourgeois individuality? Are the "billions served" at McDonald’s "individuals"? Are the millions of Coca Cola drinkers "individuals"? Are the millions who listen to "alternative" (never mind that they make millions in profit a year!) music "individuals"? Are the people wearing "Property of Guess" T-shirts "individuals"? Are the millions who get their news from corporate owned CNN or Time-AOL "individuals"? Are the millions who are in debt up to their ears buying identical cars, TVs, furniture, houses, etc., "individuals"? Are the workers at McDonalds or KFC or Tower Records or any other chain expressing their "individuality" when they wear their identical uniforms to work?
The army, which is an arm of the bourgeois state, has to act like the rest of bourgeois society in order to grow its business. It hires advertising agencies and specialists in appealing to minorities. They even offer bonuses to the advertising company if they exceed recruitment goals! It has to appeal to the material interests of the youth in order to get them to join. It offers college tuition and "212 ways to be a soldier," a new slogan highlighting the variety of career training specializations they offer. They recently offered a pay raise as a way of keeping troops in the service – and loyal. The US military is spread far too thin across the face of the globe, and its morale is currently very poor. In the past, part of the appeal in joining the military is the idea of joining a brotherhood, a family of like-minded individuals, patriotically defending "our" country from its enemies. So it is the height of irony that they have switched gears and are now appealing to each soldier as an individual!
The irony in all of this is that humans are not a species of individuals! We did not make it to the top of the food chain because we are strong or fast – we are in fact among the weakest, most ill-put together species on the planet - but precisely because we cooperate. Capitalist society is extremely socialized as far as our living and working conditions are concerned. Capitalism has brought us together in cities, in factories, in apartments, forced us to defend out rights in unions and political parties, etc. We produce wealth socially – no one can build a car alone! We need miners, designers, engineers, factory workers, etc., etc. just to produce one car or even a glass of Coca Cola. In a car we bring together labor and ideas from around the world into a single product. It is clear that we produce goods socially – but what about the surplus wealth? It is not appropriated socially, but privately – by the capitalists. And that is the fundamental economic and social contradiction we need to resolve. We need to bring production and appropriation into harmony – by socially appropriating the wealth created by the workers using the already socialized means of production - so that the surplus wealth can be used democratically in the interests of those who produce it.