“Ok Boomer” – The Easy Way Out
Bill Posters and Bob Briton
We’ve all been left flabbergasted at least once by the steely determination of some people to flippantly dismiss arguments based on mountains of evidence and solid logic in favour of Facebook meme tier brain farts. Young people faced with a barrage of complacency and ignorance from parents, bosses and entitled customers at their zero-hour contract service jobs, have evolved a special anti-aneurism mechanism: the phrase “ok boomer”.
While it might sound like a bit of harmless fun at the expense of the stubborn ignorance displayed by out of touch elders, un-ironic use of the term “ok boomer” can reinforce an incorrect understanding of the source of our problems, obscure the correct way forward and harm working class unity.
The core of the problem is that “ok boomer” puts the blame for our misfortunes on a generation of people instead of clearly focusing on the systemic causes of our woes. It can equally target a working woman who was a union member her whole life and a former manager who retired early with five investment properties because both people are in their sixties. Age as a category is not part of a Marxist analysis and a focus on generations detracts from the real issue: class.
“Marxists must always be class conscious. Working class youth and working class boomers have the same class interest in achieving socialism.”
Many boomers are now retired or moving into retirement. They are being threatened with restricted access to or the complete elimination of the age pension, which was a major gain obtained through struggle and under pressure from global ideological pressure from the socialist world. Boomers, after a lifetime of often humiliating exploitation, are being threatened with the stripping of the minor assets they have built up for their families, including the family home, in order to secure aged care of usually doubtful quality. Unemployment and poverty among boomers is at alarming levels.
Older boomers and the youth are the chief targets of the global capitalist agenda as it strips away gains made over a century of bitter struggle. The potential for an effective united front of the youth and the aged exists if only we would grasp it.
There can be no generation gap in the Communist movement if it is serious about its work. The absence of one or the other element undermines the strength of the movement. Cheap shots from boomers about the youth or from the youth about older people are a luxury we can’t afford. The combined skills of the youth and older comrades are essential for the movement’s health and vigour. Stalin made the following comments on this issue to the 18th Congress of the Soviet Party in 1939:
“But, firstly, there are never enough old cadres, there are far less than required, and they are already partly going out of commission owing to the operation of the laws of nature. Secondly, part of the old cadres are sometimes inclined to keep a too persistent eye on the past, to cling to the past, to stay in the old rut and fail to observe the new in life. This is called losing the sense of the new. It is a very serious and dangerous shortcoming. As to the young cadres, they, of course, have not the experience, the schooling, the knowledge of affairs and the capacity of orientation of the old cadres. But, firstly, the young cadres constitute the vast majority; secondly, they are young, and as yet are not subject to the danger of going out of commission; thirdly, they possess in abundance the sense of the new, which is a valuable quality in every Bolshevik worker; and, fourthly, they develop and acquire knowledge so rapidly, they press upward so eagerly, that the time is not far off when they will overtake the old fellows, take their stand side by side with them, and become worthy of replacing them. Consequently, the thing is not whether to rely on the old cadres or on the new cadres, but to steer for a combination, a union of the old and the young cadres in one common symphony of leadership of the Party and the state. That is why we must boldly and in good time promote young cadres to leading posts.”
“Of course, the ruling class is well aware of the threat posed by unity among its victims. That is why they invest so much in keeping them divided on all manner of issues, including the ones between the generations. “
They are victims of a purposeful campaign of disinformation to: 1) make them complacent, to believe no alternative is possible and people struggling for a better world are fools 2) keep them in the dark about how the system is organised and exploiting them 3) make them punch down; racism, ageism, bigotry, etc.
Aside from that, the meme is just plain wrong. There are plenty of aggressively ignorant young people whose intellectual diet consists of Murdoch media and Facebook memes. Calling out the post-war generation is especially offensive when we think of the brave progressive and communist activists of that generation who put their lives on the line for the working-class struggle.
If today’s Communists would read the history of the movement under the leadership of previous generations, it would result in a wholesome degree of humility and respect from the youth. The boomers survived a concerted campaign to marginalise and even ban the party. Even in those conditions, they led strategic sections of the trade union movement to historic victories. They had a major role in ending the Vietnam War. They waged ground-breaking campaigns now taken up by social movements around women’s rights, the rights of LGBTQI people and so on. The comrades of those times, who are still with us and still active, often put younger generations to shame.
Instead of wallowing in the catharsis of a well-timed “ok boomer”, we have a responsibility to keep pointing out the contradictions of capitalist society, keep applying a class analysis and build unity among working people regardless of their age, race, gender or any other inessential difference.