Ruling classes reabsorb slipping control faster than subordinates reorganize

Evidence

The crisis creates situations which are dangerous in the short run, since the various strata of the population are not all capable of orienting themselves equally swiftly, or of reorganizing with the same rhythm. The traditional ruling class, which has numerous trained cadres, changes men and programmes and, with greater speed than is achieved by the subordinate classes, reabsorbs the control that was slipping from its grasp. Perhaps it may make sacrifices, and expose itself to an uncertain future by demagogic promises; but it retains power, reinforces it for the time being, and uses it to crush its adversary and disperse his leading cadres, who cannot be very numerous or highly trained. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 834

Categorization

• XREF: The cadres advantage explains why the ruling class’s organizational head start lets it demagogically absorb crises — a mechanism Islamophobia readings will need for accounts of populist backlash. — connects to: Control systems grow faster than the liberating energies they constrain. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 143