BY SOPHIE FISCHER
Capitalists like to pretend that young people aren't really people at all. People under 18 are not allowed to drink, smoke, lease a house or even get a library card without "adult" permission.
There are many other restrictions placed on young people, such as the new laws in Queensland that prohibit under-18s from piercing their nipples or genitals. But there are also more subtle, more insidious methods which capitalism uses to alienate young people.
The most important of these is money. Under capitalism, money means power and poverty means powerlessness. The federal government erects huge barriers to young people gaining financial independence, and therefore gaining any genuine independence.
Youth unemployment is high, especially in regional areas. Yet young people have less access to social security. Unless they fulfil strict requirements, people as old as 24 are told by Centrelink that they are not eligible for Youth Allowance or NewStart, so they must live with their parents until they get a job. Unemployed workers who do qualify for Youth Allowance only receive around $377 a fortnight — a payment way below the poverty line.
Those young people lucky enough to have jobs are paid as low as 50% of the wage that older workers get, when they are doing exactly the same work. Young people are denied an "adult" wage until they are 21 years old.
Low wages are not the only form of control which capitalists exercise over young people. The working conditions in workplaces with predominantly young people are generally appalling.
Managers find it easy to intimidate young people because they are often not informed of their rights and are not unionised. The consequences of getting fired for a young worker can be devastating — if they are not eligible for the Youth Allowance it could lead to homelessness.
High unemployment, and particularly youth unemployment, is no accident. Capitalism needs an army of unemployed workers to survive. Low unemployment means that workers are not so scared of losing their jobs, and therefore will be more confident to join a union and struggle for better wages and conditions. When there is high unemployment, many workers are terrified of being sacked and therefore bosses have more control over them and can exploit them to a greater extent without being challenged.
[The author is a member of Resistance, the socialist youth organisation. Visit <http://www.resistance.org.au>.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 26, 2002.
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