The Neo-Liberal Definition of a "Stakeholder"The definition of a "stakeholder" is recycled from the days of Tony Blair when he spread the "Third Way" thesis of a "stakeholder society" to hook the people onto the illusion that somehow they have a say on the decisions which affect their lives. Reproduced below is an extract of an article published by Workers' Forum in 1997 titled "What is a Stakeholder?" [...] According to this vulgar materialism, society is not composed of classes but of "stakeholders." The motive force for development is not the class struggle but the seeking of a "balance" between these disparate "stakeholders." At the level of an enterprise or a sector such as education or health care, all human beings are presented as stakeholders. Class differences vanish before the commonness of being a "stakeholder."
A worker also knows instinctively that these "stakeholders" work together with the aim of creating "values" in an enterprise from which they profit, while on a grander scale they work together to restructure the entire society to fit their schemes of being competitive in the global market. Workers are supposed to forget all this, even though they realize it instinctively. Against all logic, they are supposed to declare themselves as "stakeholders" in the capitalist system. The capitalist system, which develops through the violent destruction of the productive forces and has created an ever-increasing standing army of unemployed and an exploding number of poor, is now supposedly going to help a worker because that worker has become a "stakeholder" in capitalism! They are supposed to abandon class struggle and deny class antagonisms; they are to believe that everything will be looked after when a "balance" is struck between various "stakeholders."
The intent of this thesis is to make sure that there is an alliance at the base of society of workers and capitalists alike in whose interest it will be to defend the capitalist system and go to bat for the bourgeoisie in its campaign to restructure everything so as to make Canada "the greatest country in the world in which to live". This is a euphemism for making the Canadian bourgeoisie competitive on global markets so that it can realize maximum capitalist profit. Instead of contributing to setting a new direction for the economy, the working class is supposed to keep busy defending the very system that is the root of its exploitation and oppression. Instead of developing antagonism against private property and the exploitation of persons by persons, the workers are supposed to develop antagonism against those who wage the class struggle against the capitalist system and to open society's path to progress.
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The problem, of
course, is that only the bourgeoisie can have
a stake in capitalism but it cleverly wants to convince the
working class and people that they also have a stake in
capitalism. In fact, the only stake the working class has in
capitalism is to overthrow it and build socialism. It matters
little to the working class that there are those who do have a
stake in capitalism: stockholders, management, certain consumers
and customers, suppliers, governments, big business and the
enterprises of big labour. A worker knows instinctively that all
of the above have a stake in the capitalist system that they wish
to defend. They all merge and form the "unity of stakeholders"
according to the logic being advanced by the ideologues of the
bourgeoisie at this time.
The bourgeoisie
applies the same logic to the attempt to get
teachers, parents and others to declare themselves "stakeholders"
as concerns education; or doctors, nurses and hospital personnel
as concerns the health care system, and so on. As stakeholders,
parents are supposed to support the deficit-reduction targets and
"pitch in" to make all the changes work smoothly -- all for the
sake of the future of their children and society. The aim of the
bourgeoisie and its governments to completely destroy the system
of public education or public health is supposed to be accepted
by the people under the hoax that they too are "stakeholders." If
they do not do "their bit" to achieve the "balance" between the
various "stakeholders," then they are branded as troublemakers,
or those who "do not want a bright future for society." Every
attempt is made to isolate them.