Flat Fifth

Class is not an ancient or natural order—it’s manufactured. While we Marxists often speak in binaries like bourgeoisie and proletariat, the idea of class is much broader. Marx saw class as a group of people with intrinsic tendencies that differed from other groups in the society. But across the world, especially under British imperialism, class wasn’t just about capital—it was carved out through language with English as the gatekeeper. Those who spoke it were lifted into elite circles; those who didn’t were excluded, their native tongues and identities pushed to the margins. Class was not just created—it was linguistically engineered.

Before we look into Britain’s global linguistic domination as a result of their Industrial Revolution and therefore their massive colonial empire, it is essential for us to understand why English was such a great tool for their power. 

The British always had the tendency to try and oversimplify the world for their own sake. A single language eased governance across vast, diverse colonies, thus soon enough English became the language of bureaucracy, law, and education wherever they went. In multilingual colonies, especially like in India or Africa, English became essential for uniformity. However, the British also wanted something in addition to that: Exclusivity.

In the colonial era, English was projected as the most superior language. Let’s take Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education (1835) for instance. Thomas Babington Macaulay, a British official, wrote in his infamous minute, “A single shelf of a good European library is worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”. 

Throughout the British Empire, English was not just a language — it was a mechanism of control, installed through calculated policy at precise moments. In India, Macaulay’s infamous 1835 Minute on Education laid the foundation for an anglicized elite by declaring English superior to all native knowledge systems, a move cemented further by the 1854 Wood’s Despatch. In Ireland, the 1831 introduction of the National School System, with English as the enforced medium, began the slow erasure of Gaelic from classrooms and public life. Across Africa, from Nigeria (1882) to Kenya (1950s), English was institutionalized in education and governance, gradually locking native-language speakers out of economic and political power. In Canada and Australia, the imposition of English through brutal residential schooling erased Indigenous languages under the guise of civilizing missions. 

However as a result of this ‘mission’ the British created a durable class hierarchy between speakers and non-speakers of the language, silencing and excluding the non-speakers. This hierarchy still exists today in all post-colonial countries. Language became capital — and the British controlled the mint.

Language barrier has become a major hindrance to education of the masses. In Nigeria for instance,19.7 million adolescents aged 6 to 18 are out of school, partly due to language exclusion. In West and Central Africa, fewer than 20% of students receive instruction in their mother tongue and they perform 30% better when they do, yet up to 80% are educated in languages they don’t speak at home. 

In India, only 20-40% speak English fluently, locking out the majority from premier institutions, legal systems, and high-paying jobs. In Wayanad, Kerala, 66% of tribal students reported difficulties understanding the medium of instruction which resulted in high dropout rates. Speaking fluent English in India correlates with 34% higher hourly wages, while even limited English brings a 13% premium versus non-speakers.

The British didn’t just conquer land- they reshaped the very structure of who gets to belong, succeed, and lead. By making English the language of power, education, and law, they built a class system rooted not only in wealth or birth, but in speech. The empire’s true legacy is a world still divided- not just by borders but by tongues.