The capitalist class.

The capitalist class comprises the owners and controllers of the means of production, distribution and exchange (the factories, banks, shops, land, etc.) and their agents.

People in higher managerial positions and in the upper echelons of the state apparatus, although they sell their labour power, are part of the ruling class because they act directly or indirectly on behalf of the capitalists, identify with them and often own substantial amounts of capital.

Even as a whole, the capitalist class is only a small fraction of the population. But within it, there is a still smaller minority exercising the dominant power - those who control the very big firms and banks, which not only exploit their own workers but operate at the expense of many smaller businesses, small shopkeepers and farmers.

Small enterprises are among the first victims in periods of acute crisis, many of them going bankrupt, being forced to close down, or being swallowed up by the big firms. When working class living standards are cut, small producers, shopkeepers and traders are also adversely affected.

There is, therefore, an objective basis for an alliance between the working class and many in these sections of the capitalist class. They confront a common enemy - the big British and foreign monopolies, including the banks.

There will be problems building such an alliance, because the smaller employers are in a contradictory position to both the monopolists and the working class.

Small businesses face the prospect of being squeezed out by the big companies, but are also often linked to them as suppliers, or as distributors of their products. They usually see it as in their interests to keep wages down for the sake of their profits, and working conditions are often worse in small workplaces.

However, the organised working class needs to show small firms that there is no solution to their problems in lining up with big business against the workers. It must seek to win them to the side of the labour movement, and prevent them becoming prey to right-wing and fascist propaganda.

This means campaigning for specific measures to assist them, such as cheap credit, restrictions on monopoly price manipulation, controls on rent, relief from high rates, the abolition of VAT, etc., as well as winning them for the wider democratic demands of the working class, including the struggle for peace, disarmament and environmental protection.