How The Left and Right Bourgeoisie Hide Behind A Social Justice Warrior Mask

Marcuse, one of the prominent figures of the new left, conceptualised that minorities would substitute the working class as agents of the revolution and carry the promise of emancipation. 

In truth, the intellectual elites were revealed to be the new revolutionary agent that carries this promise of emancipation. Following the late ’60s social conflicts, the cultural codes of the bourgeois libertarian consumer, Homo consumericus libertarian, dominated in Western societies.

Homo consumericus libertarians strive to fulfil their selfish motives without hindrance. Society must adapt to their whim. The never-ending quest to satisfy their individual desires takes the form of unethical libidinal consumption, a type of consumption inherent in the neoliberal capitalist system and appanage of the upper classes.

Indeed, although the quality of life of the working classes improved dramatically thanks to the rationalization of the means of production (Fordism, Taylorism), their type of consumption greatly differs compared to the libertarian bourgeoisie.

While the lower classes predominately consume basic and household goods (television, fridge, vacuum cleaner, etc.), Homo consumericus libertarians indulge in conspicuous consumption, an ostentatious consumption of luxuries, and a consumption of standing.

For instance, as explained as early as 1973 by the French philosopher and sociologist, Michel Clouscard, in “Neofascism and Ideology of Desire”, buying a car for the working class boils down to buying a basic household good. It is a need to commute to work, a necessary acquisition in order to assume the imperative of production. 

Contrastively, for the libertarian bourgeois, due to their economically privileged status, buying a car equates to allowing an indulgence, a luxury, a guilty pleasure. It is a conspicuous consumption, a consumption of standing.

In summary, as per Clouscard’s words: “Just because misery drives a car does not mean it is no longer misery” i.e. even if the standard of living improved dramatically in Western societies, the lower classes still battle to consume what they produce. Meanwhile, the cultural elite, the unproductive classes, are able to reap the fruits of productive labour.

Clouscard also foresaw the political shift from the social (class struggle) to the societal (race, gender, sexuality…) in the late ’60s would be a disaster for the lower classes. The libertarian demands carried by the intellectual bourgeoisie against a society deemed archaic and traditionalist related to lifestyles, private values ​​and individual fulfilment, rather than the fate of workers. 

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The libertarian emancipation promoted by the new left put a veil on the economic oppression of the productive classes which was gradually forgotten, erased from the collective unconscious and the political and social discourses. 

Moreover, the indigenous working classes were demonized by the cultural elite, accused to renounce their role as agents of the communist revolution by participating in the capitalist economy in reason of their access to the consumption of basic and household goods.

The libertarian bourgeoisie wallowed in unethical consumerism whereas the negative of mass consumption (overconsumption, pollution…) was placed on the productive classes’ shoulders. 

Likewise, the cultural elite ordered the working class to follow injunctions to a certain asceticism (don’t drive your car, eat less meat…) while allowing minorities, the new agents of the revolution, to emancipate through perpetual moral transgression (e.g. promotion of the “gangsta rap” values: drugs, criminality, materialism…).

What those libertarian cultural elites, ironically thinking of themselves as anti-capitalists, failed to appreciate is that their model of unethical consumption, promoted as a revolutionary act, incontrovertibly supported the implantation of neoliberal policies. 

As conceptualised by Michel Clouscard, there is an objective collusion between the proponents of unhindered enjoyment and the proponents of liberal economics (“Capitalism swung to the left politico culturally and swung to the right economically and socially”). The new left libertarianism and right-wing liberalism have been revealed to be two sides of the same coin. They are a duplicate ideology: libertarian–liberalism.

The debate surrounding immigration offers a good illustration of this objective alliance. Indeed, the doctrine promoted by the libertarian bourgeoisie advocates for individuals to be able to fulfil their selfish motives without hindrance. As such, borders and immigration controls are understood as oppressive measures against the freedom of movement for all, the right for individuals to roam the earth without constraint.

Such doctrine is a benediction for multinational businesses which, instead of having to relocate in a Third World country to benefit from the cheap cost of labour, can conveniently at their doors exploit a large supply of foreign, flexible and docile workforce unaware of the extent of their rights: the “capitalism reserve army of labour” as described by Marx.

Mass immigration allows multinational companies to engage in social dumping – paying migrant workers below the standard specified by law to increase their profits – and to put pressure downwards on salaries, thus reducing the labour and social standards for the indigenous working class.

What’s more, some multinational companies shamelessly advertise their support for mass migration to appear virtuous.  Similar to the strategies of “greenwashing” – the marketing tool used to persuade the population that their objectives and policies are environmentally friendly – they cover their exploitation of the workforce (abuses, collective redundancy, child labour, etc.) with a moralistic libertarian polish. 

As an example of such an unscrupulous stance, a well-known ice cream brand openly promotes left-libertarianism values, especially when it comes to immigration.  And even criticized the British government policy regarding migrants arriving by boat from France in 2020. Yet, this company has been accused of employing child labour and its dairy suppliers were denounced for exploiting illegal migrants.

We could say that, in some way, the libertarian–liberalism ideology has brought forth a new form of colonialism, a reverse colonialism, a postmodern colonialism.

Indeed, in the 19^th century, for the universalist Republican left, colonization would serve to spread the Enlightenment philosophy all over the world, to bring “civilization” to the “savages”. After, the Berlin Conference of 1884 between European countries to set the sharing of Africa, Jules Ferry, the French Republican prime minister, declared before the Chamber of Deputies: “it must be said openly that the superior races have a right vis-à-vis the inferior race. I repeat that the superior races have a right, because there is a duty for them. They have the duty to civilize the lower races…”. All over Europe, secular Republicans shared the same opinion.

The economic right, as far as it was concerned, was only looking to capture new markets to expand its commercial empire. The orthodoxy of the time, Christianity, thought it would get its share through evangelization.

And so, under the guise of humanism and universalism, the left allied with the economic right plundered the resources of the entire world behind a benevolent and civilizing mask.

Nowadays, the new left, in its Western contempt, seeks to bring the “savages” to the “civilization”. Supranational political structures such as the EU set the rules and the sharing of migrants between countries. The economic right benefits from the import of cheap labour. The orthodoxy of the time, wokeism, thinks it could get its share through intersectionality.

And so, under the guise of humanism and universalism, the new left allied with the economic right is plundering the vital forces of the entire world behind a benevolent and civilizing mask.

Libertarian–liberalism is the union between the left bourgeoisie hiding their privilege of class and the right bourgeoisie hiding their exploitation of class behind a commitment to social justice causes.