Aggression for Freud was an instinct. The more civilisation triumphed over instinct and by extension, Nature, the more repressed an individual felt. The force of this increased repression would generate more angst in people, making them become more aggressive, usually in violent outbursts. This was supposedly in contrast with living in less civilised conditions, where individuals would feel less repressed i.e. more inclined to give in to their instincts. Freud concluded, “Every individual is virtually an enemy of civilisation.” Thus, our instinctual drives were a threat to civilisation and had to be repressed for civilisation to exist. As Freud also theorised, neuroses would develop from repressing instinctual desires, which in addition to aggressive reactions, included sexual desire. Freud’s aggression is only part of a greater instinct amongst animals, the instinct for survival. We are aggressive about saving ourselves from danger. Why else would most of us go to work? So, we compete outside in the marketplace, trying to get in, to get a job. But our survival depends on keeping our job, after entering the marketplace. And so, we co-operate. Co-operation is essential for survival-this message is fortified subconciously with vicarious engagement in watching team sport. Once the job is in hand, instinctual aggression is vented in customer safe conditions of the stadium or living room. But, civilisation does not exist in a timeless, changeless historical vacuum, except in fixed concepts and empty abstractions of subjective idealists. However, even fixed ideas can be enlightening, now and again. Freud’s aggressive instinct does exist within the development of history, but it is also modified in its expression as civilised behaviour grows e.g.: abolishing chattel slavery; extending the franchise; social security measures like socially funded healthcare and so on…
Civilisation has been from the beginning a human endeavour rooted in our instinct to survive. It is linked with human developed class society which reinforces social relations of dominance and submission. There are three general types operating in this day and age: Those who would conserve civilisation wish to maintain law and order. Those who would destroy civilisation, want to turn back the clock and live in a near state of Nature, which would result in this day and age, in a Hobbesian war of "all against all". And those who would transcend class divided civilisation and move on to a civilised classless society, where desire is not repressed in the individual, in order to save the class system from destruction. The IWW is amongst the latter.
Team Player Larrikin to corporate high flyers
there you sit
on top of your childhood dreams
and a pile of money
playing footy
for your team
just as you did when
you were once a child and a teen
Oh what a time that was
The coach was stern
and you would learn
discipline while on the field
Well
sometimes you had to show
who’s boss
and your mates amongst
the working class
drinking mid-strength
in the stands
and together with the richer ones
behind the glass
and in the comfy seats
where the full-strength beer
and champagne flowed
all of them
would raise a cheer
when you rammed the other team
injuries galore
reconstructed knees and noses
shoulders too
cheekbones
hell
But you would soldier on
through the national anthem
then the game and then
“Advance Australia fair”
to the pub
where sometimes you were bad boys
in your corporate sponsors’ eyes
and those who drank champagne
and full-strength beer
at all the games
They’d diss your larrikin ways
being such an uncivilised
paddock-boy
suspension for
pissing on a public wall
or getting into common brawls
and like the Brit Police
in times afore
they’d taunt you in the news
with some national pride to boot
Loyalty to the bosses would be demanded
especially their image
“No tarnish please”
You’d become their public face
They’d turn on you
all claiming grace
For they’d want their markets
to be safe
for their children
and for yours
to make heroes out of
loyal servants of the game
who’d fight for them
and them alone
our team
our nation
when the time is right
not when it is wrong
When they issue orders to attack
other nations
other teams
and those who break their law
you know
the larrikins and all
