Josh Asker, Editor of the Socialist
47% of people aged 13-27 think: “The entire way our society is organised must be radically changed through revolution”, according to a Channel 4 report ‘Gen Z: Trends, Truth and Trust’. Other reported findings reveal a deep mistrust in establishment institutions and a sense that ‘the system is rigged against us’.
Any wonder? What has this generation experienced but what the report calls “polycrisis”? British capitalism is unable to offer any prospect of a decent future for young people. The world today is more volatile than it has been for the vast majority of the last century – epitomised by Donald Trump’s second presidency and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. And any attempts to avert climate crisis are hamstrung by competing capitalist profit interests.
Any survey is only ever a snapshot or series of snapshots of what is a dynamic and constantly changing world. The report doesn’t give much insight into the changing outlook of young people, but it does compare some figures with survey results from those aged 45-65. Even more of that group – 69% – agree there is ‘one rule for them and another for us’, and 33% want ‘revolution’ too.
In fact, an erosion of trust in establishment institutions is a feature for all age groups – that includes a hollowing out and erosion of support for the establishment capitalist political parties. Most of the electorate didn’t vote for either of the two main parties at the 2024 general election. Labour was elected with the votes of just 20.1% of the electorate, the lowest of any government since 1918.
Generation what?
Under the patronising heading “A confused generation”, the report correctly observes that young people’s views, in any generation, can be fluid and everchanging owing to developing and changing life circumstances. But young people being more likely to change their minds about things doesn’t mean older generations don’t change their minds on things too, they do!
Huge numbers of Muslim voters switched from backing Labour at the general election, for example. In the 92 constituencies where Muslim voters made up more than 10% of the electorate, Labour’s vote fell by 34% – such was the anger at Labour’s support for the actions of the Israeli state against Palestinians.
The experience of a Labour government acting in the interests of the capitalist class – attacking pensioners’ winter fuel allowances and promising continued austerity – has undoubtedly already changed the minds of many about what this Labour government represents.
Increasingly, workers and young people will be brought into struggle with this government and it is in the experience of class struggle that people’s outlook can be radically transformed. The experience, first-hand or otherwise, of the strike wave has left its imprint on working-class and young people with the overwhelming lesson that striking works.
Reaction and revolution
If people’s outlook is dynamic and based on the experience of a changing society with all its contradictions, then it is also contradictory. 52% of young people think “the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge, who does not have to bother with parliament and elections”. But also, 73% think democracy is a ‘very’ or ‘fairly good’ way of governing the UK, for example.
Coexisting with the increasingly widespread desire for ‘change’ are all kinds of reactionary ideas that are used and perpetuated by the capitalist class to try to cut across working-class unity. The report points to divergent views between young men and women on women’s rights, for example. However, it is still a small minority of young men and women who think “feminism has done more harm to society than good”. And on almost all social issues studies show views becoming more socially progressive.
That there is such a widespread desire to ‘radically change the way society is organised’ is extremely positive. A desire to change things has to be part of the process of organising a force capable of affecting change.
Who can change society?
The experience of the strike wave gave a glimpse of the potential power of the working class and its central role in all aspects of the functioning of society. It is the force that will bring about change.
Over six million workers are already organised in the trade unions. The leaders of two trade unions, RMT and CWU, created ‘Enough is Enough’ at the beginning of the strike wave, drawing the support of half a million people to sign up, many of them young people wanting a new left-wing party. Unfortunately, the RMT and CWU leaders mothballed it and instead called for a vote for Starmer’s Labour at the general election. But the huge swell of support ‘Enough is Enough’ received is an indication of the political authority trade unions can have.
That’s why the Socialist Party argues for the trade unions to spearhead the fight against Keir Starmer’s attacks, and as part of that to take steps towards developing a new mass workers’ party.
By engaging in the struggles of workers and young people, including participating in the process of the working class developing its own political voice, socialists have a vital role to play in pointing to what kind of ‘revolution’ is needed and how it can be achieved.
The Socialist Party fights for the working-class majority to take into its hands the levers of power and ownership of the commanding heights of the economy. With big business and the banks nationalised under democratic workers’ control and management, a democratic plan of production could be drawn up to meet the needs of all, while protecting the environment. Internationally, working-class collaboration could replace conflicts and wars between competing capitalist states.
We have absolute confidence in the ability of the working class to transform society, with young people playing the most courageous and tenacious role in that struggle. If you have a desire for radical change in society and are looking for an organisation serious about fighting for it, then join the Socialist Party.
