The title of the talk is conspiracy and class power and the key word in that title is the and. That is what your getting on the left lately is a debate in which people are saying we mustn't look at conspiracy we've gotta look at the broader institutional systems thats a argument being made by Alexander Cockburn, Noam Chomsky, Chip Burlay and any number of people and I think its a incorrect argument. Its not conspiracy or class power, its conspiracy and class power and I'm not going to talk about any specific conspiracies in any detail I want to talk about the relationship of conspiracy to the larger political economic context of the system.
Class power depends on a certain amount of conspiracy. It is logical that teachers, welders etc conspire for their self-interest. But we are asked to believe the ruling class, even when in policymaking positions, do not conspire for their self-interest.