Capitalism, Art and the Role of the Revolutionary Artist

image by Juan Pedro Flores Gonzáles

Article by Rob MacDonald

Art is not about the musings of a middle class dreamer or the exaggerated pontificating of an upper class gallery owner. Art is not something unattainable or always unaffordable for the working classes as capitalism would like us to think. Art is the concentrated expression of humanity, in all its sickness and all its health.

Art is not a secondary issue to revolutionary socialists who set themselves the task of changing society. Understanding and then harnessing art and the artist for the struggle against capitalism is key to inspiring a new generation.

The struggle for art expresses itself today in numerous ways. Fighting for facilities for young people, the right to leisure time for all, and workers' rights in the creative industries. It is also about defending and fighting for basic rights of the Artists themselves are often precarious workers.

To examine the role of capitalism and the artist within it, we need to look at the broader picture of where we have come from. Like a painter needs their brushes, or a photographer their camera, we also need tools: a historical perspective and political method. If we are looking at capitalism, the basic tools of Marxism are essential.

Marxism does not see the history of human development as a static thing - it moves from one place to another. Like a car, it needs an engine to do that. The motor in this respect is how humanity creates and distributes its wealth and resources - its economy. This is the basis of how society runs, and whose interests it advances, from early civilisations to the present day.

On top of this economic base sits the “superstructure” of our society - our governments, laws, traditions and so on. The glue that holds all this together is our culture; how we act together and how we react to our history. Culture is really the sum total of human experience in motion. In a certain sense, art is the physical expression of the position of a culture.

Art in its broader meaning not only plays the role of the glue of society, but also affects the progression of a society. Particularly in the advancement of creative problem solving. But it can only do this if the type of society we live in allows art to flourish, and freedom of human artistry is not hindered.

The Marxist approach also aids understanding of the artist’s process. There can be a focus on the “eureka” moment when producing art. This can be simple creative problem solving, or a great clarity of thought expressed in an artwork. Problem solving moments should not be seen as completely separate from the artist creating art, for they are linked. We are all artists in this meaning of the word artist.

But art is a much more complex and multi-layered phenomenon. Great art is often held up as created by a genius, which is a false and emotional response. Great art is just the pinnacle of that period. Yes it is created by a talented person, but it is only possible due to the things that passed before and alongside it.

The longevity of an artwork’s effect will depend on its social importance and whether it still holds relevance in different periods of history. Some artworks have longer lasting power and can speak through the ages and different epoch. Others are merely a reminder of where we have been.

Therefore, the history of art is the history of the societies and cultures that created it. Whether it is cave painting, classical Roman mosaics, religious paintings, or even Banksy’s street art, they all represent the societies they came from. Although they have a common artistic thread, the roles these art forms played were different in each case.

Cave paintings date back at least 40,000 years. Recent discoveries point to a still earlier period and wider geographical area than previously thought. They had a certain level of sophistication, and clearly played an important role in those early human societies. Those discovered recently in Indonesia were created in the same place for over 13,000 years.

Animals and hands are central to these paintings. This reflects the daily life of early humans and the methods they used to live, particularly the importance of animals and hands to the productive forces of the day. It is likely this art formed part of mystical beliefs and rituals that organised early societies’ existence.

Roman artists created beautiful mosaic floors. They were artisans who used mathematics and science in their work. It relied on geometrical forms and technological innovations like cement. The developments in slave economies and feudal societies created great marvels of innovation and beauty, especially in architecture.

But the role of much of this art remained elusive to the mass of people, and was largely used to iconise leaders and uphold the power of the ruling class of the time. This is no to say, of course, that folk art and protest art did not exist.

Fundamentally, it is the limitations of a civilisation’s economic and social organisation that cause this elitist tendency in art.

Banksy’s work is equally a reflection of society, but quite different in its message and approach to the dominant trends mentioned above. Why?

The development of capitalism changed art completely, launched an explosion of art and also changed fundamentally the way that art is viewed.

Capitalism massively developed the productive forces of society. This led to an explosion of new techniques, particularly in reproduction of images. New technologies turned upside down previous conceptions of art, culture and society as a whole. These developments increased mass participation in art, giving rise to a different public relation to art itself. Art became something more familiar.

There was also a massive explosion of genres and artistic movements, many in opposition to capitalism itself. These developments prised away art from the elite, and broadened its meaning and significance in society. Capitalism and the class struggle it engenders also created some “free time” to more sections of society than previously possible.

Contemplate the development of painting and theatre into photography and film - and then further, into the mass broadcast forms of television and the internet. A person can now, alone, produce on their computer an animated film. They can draw inspiration from the encyclopaedia of artistic and historical knowledge at their fingertips. And in a matter of seconds, they can send it across the whole world to be viewed.

Given this, we have to accept that art is a different thing to what it was in earlier civilisations. This element of mass participation/mass culture  in art has important consequences for the future of art.

In recognising this positive aspect of capitalism - its development of contemporary art - we cannot ignore the class-based nature of capitalist society. The final outcome is that capitalism exposes to us the possibilities of art, but then squashes it in a limited social framework.

The capitalist reduces art’s value to a commodity. Profit dictates what art is successful. Some Fine art is protected as a status symbol of the rich, but art as a whole is confined to the limits of capitalist philosophy, the need for profit.

Creativity is useful to the capitalist economy. But it functions on the level of class exploitation: artists and creatives make ideas, but these are owned and controlled by the wealthy parasites who make money from them.

Therefore, those in the creative industries find themselves in conflict with capitalism not just on an economic level, but also in the ability to truly express themselves. Capitalism as the dominant ideology crushes the living energies of humanity into a ‘marketable’ product.

Although good art still gets made, capitalism has reached the end of its historically progressive role - economically and artistically. We can see this from, on the one hand, some of the leading works of “modern” art. Many cost millions, rely on empty shock, and seem at best to preach despair.

Or there is the endless re-branding and re-packaging of art until all life has been drained from it, as seen in the worst commercial pop music. Human expression is reduced to a mushy pulp.

Many artistic movements of the last century have been inspired by the fight against capitalism, and reflected the social struggle that goes on within society. Great historical events such as the Russian revolution have also changed the approach to art. Many wonderful works were created during such periods. There are also hugely valuable lessons to be drawn from these movements and how they integrated or not with the social movements of their day.

Even ignoring the fact that doing art is a natural activity for all humans, millions today identify themselves as artists. They might work in creative industries, make original artworks, support the arts, or even devote themselves to an artistic hobby.

The mass culture of today invites us all to be artists. But the divisions of class society and narrow-mindedness of the profit motive deny us the opportunity to fully participate. The ability to engage deeply in art is taken away from the majority of the working class. The middle class too, although generally more able to participate in artistic endeavours, is increasingly denied these possibilities by the continuing economic crisis.

So the artist swells the ranks of precarious workers in order to work to live. Often there are no jobs in their chosen media. Often the way the artistic industries are organised, artists “pay to play” - that is, they pay to perform their art and receive no fee. This is particularly true in live music, comedy and art gallery culture, but runs across many artistic industries.

But this does not mean that art from the mass of people stops. The artist is often drawn far away from the need for profit when considering their art. Many artists participate seriously in their art. They do it to communicate.

Good art does not have to have a clear socialist message, or even a political subject. Many artistic movements today use urban and social decay as subject matter; others imagine a better world.

The artist needs to respond to society, and above all express how they view the world in their art. But, for the reasons discussed above, being an artist and attempting to express yourself puts you in conflict with capitalism, creating an alienation that only breaking with capitalism can finally resolve. Revolutionaries must address this alienation, and organise the fight against it.

And there is much to fight for. Today, art and culture is under serious attack; it is always the first thing to go in a capitalist crisis. There are numerous organisations that could organise artists and the defence of art.

Many arts workers are already partially organised in specialist or general trade unions. However, most unions are extremely limited when it comes to issues not ‘directly’ affecting their most-employed sections of members. Many artists are left out due to lack of work. They will usually have second or third jobs in unrelated precarious industries - also rarely unionised.

But with fighting leaderships in the unions in general, this could change.

There are also many artists’ collectives and political projects with the potential to organise to defend art, but these are often dissipated and act alone. There are community campaigns that fight to defend for local facilities, often connected to the needs of young people.

All these groups act partially to defend art and culture, but to be effective, we must build a generalised movement that can bring them together behind a coherent, fighting programme. For this reason, the struggle to defend culture goes hand in hand with the struggle for a socialist society.

Circumstances are causing more and more people to draw radical political conclusions. Many will choose art as one of their expressions of this. These people are important.

For socialists, art cannot be reduced to an abstract, philosophical issue. Capitalism is the master of propaganda, and uses artistic methods to enforce the lie that capitalism is the only model of human existence. In an age where almost anybody can reproduce quality material, it is remiss of us not to use all means at hand.

In our communications, we must aim to be at the forefront of human expression to spread out ideas - resources allowing. Why have socialism in black and white when we can do it in colour?

Leon Trotsky was a leader of the Russian socialist revolution, writer and lifelong fighter against Stalinism and its ideas. He understood the need to organise artists in one of the hardest periods for revolutionaries. He attempted to do so in the pamphlet Manifesto: Towards a Free Revolutionary Art, written with artists Anton Breton and Diego Rivera.

This early attempt did not flourish, but now has far more scope for success. Today a movement is perhaps more likely to come from struggling artists at the bottom than names at the top. Who link up the struggle for art with the general workers movement.

We need to understand the role of art in human life, both political and non-political. Genuine socialists never seek to control art or impose on artists; we seek to learn from art and organise artists. The struggle for socialism is a struggle which needs art.