(A gathering up of some of my previous remarks, published to further the debate towards a socialist outcome).

That is to say, how can it be that the society which is perhaps the most 'class conscious' in the modern world (indeed, is imbued with it, so that one cannot spend a day without having to think about it) is ALSO the society which has had the fewest successful social movements or revolutions, a society where even the basic concepts of liberty and equality are missing. Well, where are they ? Go through the constitution in its uncodified entirety and nowhere will you find any reference to such concepts.
Taken by themselves, there would be no dilemma at all, but to find the two existing in symbiosis does indeed raise questions that Marx did not foresee; this does not mean that Marx was 'wrong' per se, but rather that the particular capitalist society he analysed in-depth, turned out to be the most untypical, the one which proved able to perpetuate itself through its social weight alone. For a country with a dearth of radical sentiment, where socialism seems further away than ever, 'society' seems to be everywhere.
I do not, nor ever would dare to accuse the working class of being stupid; far from it, what worries me is that they seem perfectly familiar with both the basic principles of capitalism AND of socialism. Even the standard dismissive 'Im not interested in politics' is of course a political decision, and pressing the matter will generally reveal a wealth of political ideas, unfortunately none of them tending towards socialism. To persist in advocating socialist ideas will merely fuel more hostility, ofetn diguised as amusement, and a degeneration into personal accusations. (typically "Ive worked hard all my life, or "Where do you get your money from, then ?")
Where the avowed socialist groups make errors is that instead of attempting to establish an alternate basis for ideas, they merely seek to follow whatever the prevailing opinion is, ignoring both he more radical elements AND failing to address the needs of those suffering who do not necessarily correspond to Marx's typical 'worker'. Such recent crisies as witnessed in the farming sector, and the insane surge in property prices, all have been ignored by the socialist groups, when I suggest the issue is at the heart of British capitalism. To compound the problem, the British socialist groups exhibit a sheer snobbery that seems almost outdated in other areas of life; in any group worthy of the name, social status should be a secondary matter, to be drawn attention to as little as possible, but most are obseessed with it. Comrades, this is not healthy thinking ! How can you achieve social change when you worry about what the new applicant 'does' for a living' ?
British society is still living on a successful blurring of social catergories, which the more blurred they become, the more fixed. Simultaneosly broken up and remoulded, it sems doubtful that there are any preserves of thinking left free from the modern oligarchy. When did you last hear an orginal idea from anyone, or anyone prepared to listen to one you may have had ?
Capitalism is not necessarily money profits drawn from industrial manufacturing; this has never in fact been the predominant base of capital in Britain. Capitalisms power to grip society lies not in assembly lines per se, but in the extraction of surplus value from the commodity itself. This means that any human endeavour can become subject to capitalisation, such as money, agriculture, manufacturing, but predominantly, in Britain, through PROPERTY. Marx himself concurred.
Marx himself is far from dead; if so, why do mainstream newspapers still feel the need to prod a redundant corpse ? In the space of one week, both The Guardian felt it necessary to to state Marx was wrong ("All thats left is Reformism" by Stedman Jones) and The Financial Times to ponder that his economic theories are still valid ("Full Marx" by Niall Ferguson).
Profound social malaise has set in, and has only been assisted by the Labour government. Bringing no social change whatever, it proves as set and stern within its bright computer screens as did any dour Victorian nanny. Marxs essential point still rings true; that unless the workers begin to set about the task of their own liberation, capitalism may never go away...