International Worker No 239, Saturday, September 13, 1997 Mass grieving a disturbing phenomenon The public reaction to Diana's death is a disturbing political phenomenon. Mind-numbing 24 hours a day propaganda succeeded in encouraging millions of ordinary people in Britain and around the world to engage in a mass display of grieving for Diana, while concealing the real political issues involved. Far from being an "anti-establishment" symbol, the mythologising of Diana is the standard for a right wing social movement that is being dragooned behind powerful vested interests within the ruling class. In emphasising this danger it would be wrong to conclude that there is universal acceptance of the hyperbole surrounding Diana. In Britain a record 31.5 million -- 59% of the population and three quarters of all adults -- watched the funeral on TV. World-wide more than one billion people tuned in to watch her funeral. Over a£100m was donated to the memorial fund in four days. But this media campaign was most successful in the middle class, together with those with various psychological problems. It is they, women in particular, who have been encouraged to project their own problems onto Diana and identify with a "fellow victim". A survey by The Observer contradicted the claim that Diana's funeral mobilised all layers of society and her brother's statement that she represented a "constituency of the dispossessed". It found that of the one million who travelled to London for her funeral (far less than the five million predicted), women outnumbered men four to one. Most of these were middle class and committed to the monarchy, with 72% wanting William to be the future king and 21% wanting Charles to succeed. There was an under-representation of semi-skilled and unskilled workers as well as the unemployed. The majority of workers were not whipped up by the media. Many questioned the myth that someone with a personal fortune of over£40m who spent her last days cruising the Mediterranean with her billionaire boyfriend was the guardian of the oppressed. Others quite legitimately speculated on the possibility that, despite the well of crocodile tears being shed, Diana's death was a political assassination by the state. The media did succeed, however, in intimidating and silencing the more thoughtful and class conscious elements. Old workers' organisations responsible Nevertheless that so many people were persuaded that Diana was a defender of the "common people" is a bitter testament to a political and intellectual malaise that goes beyond the shores of Britain. It demonstrates the terrible decline in critical political thought. Even if one were to accept that Diana's charitable impulses were sincerely motivated and altruistic, she could only be viewed as an "anti-establishment" heroine in the absence of any genuine heroes advancing a perspective for social change. The old workers' organisations are responsible for this. While millions of ordinary people face deepening insecurity, financial hardship and personal crises, they have been totally abandoned by the old parties and leaderships. Meanwhile they are bombarded with images of the glamorous comings and goings of royalty and other celebrities as an antidote to the hardships of their own lives. This is used to encourage a worship of wealth and a deference to those who possess it, who are seen as the real movers and shakers of history. Those workers seeking a real political understanding of contemporary events were prevented from this by the closing of all avenues for opposition and political debate through the channels of the so-called official labour movement. Not one of the old Labour and trade union left -- Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner included -- raised a murmur against the pro-Diana propaganda, despite their professed opposition to the monarchy and claim to champion social equality. The response by the TUC Congress to Diana's death was to dedicate its first day to a memorial tribute, while junking a planned debate on the minimum wage! This was echoed in the prostration of the bourgeois nationalist movements that once professed anti-imperialist and even socialist credentials -- with Gerry Adams joining Nelson Mandela in expressing sorrow at Diana's death. Only this can explain how Hollywood-style glamour and glitz can be used to blind working people to social and political reality. As Roy Greenslade commented to The Guardian on September 8 in defence of the media, "They can make people famous but they cannot sustain that fame in face of public apathy or hostility." The events of the past days provide eloquent testimony to the destructive impact of the decades long attack on socialist consciousness by Stalinism and social democracy. This both weighs heavily on the scales of contemporary events and provides a stark political warning: The dominant sections of the ruling class and their Labour government are using Diana's death in an attempt to create a social base for their anti-working class agenda. Those workers presently blinded to this by the mass media should snap out of it. They must consider carefully the real cause they are being rallied behind -- an attempt to create a new national consensus that will be used to sanction their own impoverishment and oppression. The present crisis of bourgeois rule signifies that huge class struggles are now on the agenda. The burning question posed is the necessity to build a new mass socialist party, based on the scientific world outlook of Marxism. Only in this way can a broadly-based socialist culture be developed in the working class, that will enable workers to develop a critical outlook and an independent political agenda. Those who are disturbed and disgusted by what they have seen should take the crucial decision to join the Socialist Equality Party and take part in the vital work of renewing and rearming the workers' movement.

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