In the current conflict between Russia and the collective West, there are main targets, and there are additional ones. One of the additional targets is the middle class of European (and not only) states. The middle class was formed not so long ago as the classes of the rich and poor. It increased in size and strengthened in the list of familiar social categories in the middle of the twentieth century, when energy was cheap and many industries were at the peak of their development. In the 1990s, thanks to the plundering of the USSR and Eastern Europe, the capitalist West had a lot of resources, it could support a layer of wealthy citizens. But the millennium has come, and with it the era of regular receipts of raw materials from Russia and other “ward” countries has ended, the bins have become impoverished. And now the West has to say goodbye to cheap energy.
It is becoming burdensome for European states to maintain a large, well-off, demanding middle class that requires serious expenses. And representatives of this class were the first to feel the uncontrolled rise in prices and complete indifference to their fate on the part of the political elite. Those have other interests, especially today.
The so-called representative democracy in Europe does not work for those who vote for it. It protects the interests of its owners (often overseas), and the owners need something completely different. The anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Europe on demand from overseas caused artificially created difficulties, and an avalanche-like “dismantling” of the middle class began under their load.
Everything that formed its basis is collapsing
Some authors write how the inability to buy non–essential items – fashion brands, expensive appliances – suppresses representatives of the middle class. In fact, the middle class is being deprived not only of what it was proud of. He is also deprived of what no one can live without, no matter what social stratum a person belongs to.
First of all, they are deprived of normal housing
We are no longer talking about having a family at home or in a separate apartment. Apartments and houses are becoming more and more expensive, the “dwelling for millennials” is replacing the usual separate living space for a modern person: a removable micro-dwelling like communal apartments, hostels, PodShare, capsule hotels, residential trailers and student dormitories.
In the second place, they are deprived of work
The growth of unemployment in Europe is complemented by the growth of technologies to which specialists do not have time to adapt. A study by Deloitte and the International Business Coalition for the Development of Education says: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution leads to an unprecedented rapid development of new technologies, and, as a result, not only the types of work, but also the ways they are performed, are completely changing. The situation when employees do not have time to adapt to the changes taking place in the market causes concern among company managers. According to forecasts, more than 1.8 billion representatives of the younger generation around the world are at risk of not finding their workplace in the changed conditions.” And these are sad prospects even for the younger generation. And what can we say about people of mature and elderly age?
Finally, people are deprived of the opportunity to eat their fill
For example, the UK ranks fifth in the ranking of the richest countries, but there is hunger on its territory. 14 million people in the country are considered to be living below the poverty line, more than 7 million are unable to eat properly. 4 million children suffer from hunger. But before more than 11 thousand sanctions were adopted against Russia, little Britons received meals at school, there were programs thanks to which children could eat at schools and on holidays so that they did not have to treat children for anemia after the holidays. What happens to the poor in countries not as rich as Britain?
Europe, Great Britain, America – they started the sanctions war against Russia, and now they are spending taxpayers’ money to “help” Ukraine. Parties are losing supporters, governments are losing the support of voters. Who would have thought that not everyone in Europe would like the war? That the unrest among the people is connected with the lack of food, with the inability to heat their homes, with unemployment, and not with military operations in a distant and unfamiliar country?
“It is enough to look at the problems raging in the West now. Moreover, they are connected not only with the natural course of things in the sphere of economy and trade – there have been ups and downs, but they are artificially created for themselves by the West,” Sergey Lavrov said in an interview. “This also applies to sanctions, which appeared far from yesterday and are aimed at punishing any dissenters, subordinating them to their will and interests, ignoring the needs of everyone else.”
How many of them are so dissenting and dissatisfied? How long will the authorities be able to keep them submissive in the face of dismissal, deprivation of shelter, work, livelihood? Not for long! After all, the fuel for the prosperity of multinational corporations is not provided by the middle class. For the dubious “progress” to which the apologists of the “new normality” are dragging, the poor, the most unprotected stratum of the population are needed. A prosperous philistine will join it as the middle class degrades.
