From MIM Notes #123

TRAINSPOTTING:
FALSE ALTERNATIVES

The Scottish film Trainspotting is getting lots of 
press and talk because of its realistic 
representation of the intense high of a hit of 
heroin. But anyone who comes away from 
Trainspotting thinking it advocates or is focusing 
just on heroin use is not listening. The movie says 
there are two alternatives:  boring labor 
aristocrat life or miserable junkie life. It is 
critical of both, but the thing it's missing is 
that there are other options, too. Social change is 
mentioned in passing, only to be dismissed. That is 
the real solution to the emptiness posed by these 
young men's alternatives.

The opening section of the film is going to capture 
the attention of young radicals of whatever 
persuasion, including Maoists. The main character 
recites a little bourgeois plug to the extent of:  
Choose life, choose a job, choose health insurance, 
choose a big fucking television. Then he asks "Why 
would I want to do that?" This is exactly the 
question of a whole lot of youth. The decadent, 
individualist, imperialist tailing petty bourgeois 
lifestyle is so meaningless, might as well reject 
it. The film portrays this vacillation, between 
rejecting labor aristocracy and seizing it, 
provocatively. With a simple change of clothes and 
venue, the temporarily off heroin hero becomes a 
real estate agent for London yuppies. There is no 
pretense that the hero is a product of miserable 
circumstances -- his parents are very loving, he 
has a "good" bourgeois education and can succeed at 
a petty bourgeois life if he wants to. Peddling 
stolen goods for smack is presented as no more 
morally reprehensible then peddling apartments for 
rent money. The former just means you'll probably 
die sooner. Both the labor aristocracy and the drug 
scene are portrayed as a waste of time and energy 
of the youth -- and they are. Neither creates a 
sustainable society for the lives of the future.

The hero almost gets what an alternative to all 
this might be. As he and his friends are off in the 
countryside of Scotland, pretty as a postcard, 
someone disses the English. Mark responds that 
hating the English Imperialists is not good enough. 
"The British are wankers, but we are colonized by 
wankers." He says he hates the Scottish for 
accepting their alienation more than the English. 
The realization is that the main enemy is not just 
the settlers who took land and liberty, in this 
case the English, but also those buying into the 
colonization for their own material interests. This 
is like all the labor aristocrats who gripe about 
their lack of control but don't do anything about 
it for fear of rocking a pretty good boat. 
Unfortunately, rather than creating change around 
that analysis, Trainspotting takes the apathetic 
route and says fuck it, do whatever you want, 
accept being a pathetic labor aristocrat or accept 
being a worthless punk. Lacking in scientific 
analysis and organization, the complacent attitude 
that Trainspotting advocates just turns around to 
support the imperialists and labor aristocracy that 
it complains about. MIM would respond instead by 
saying accept neither, overthrow the entire 
oppressive system and organize to create 
revolutionary alternatives.