Santa Claus - the capitalist disenfranchisement of the poor

Santa Claus - the capitalist disenfranchisement of the poor

By Ranting Panda, 27 December 2022

In the words of John Lennon, 'so this is Christmas, for weak and for strong, for rich and the poor ones, the world is so wrong'. 

Is Christmas for the poor ones though? Lennon is correct that the world is so wrong ... it's wrong in its treatment of the poor, of the marginalised. And Santa, hero of the capitalist world, perpetuates the marginalisation of the poor.

Most people look forward to Christmas, if for nothing more than having a few days off. However, for children it is usually the biggest day in their calendar, often eclipsing even their birthdays. So what's wrong with this picture? Santa Claus. That's what's wrong with it.

Now, we could argue that Santa is based on the real life character of St Nicholas, a 3rd century monk who was also known as Kris Kringle. St Nicholas gave away his inherited wealth and spent his time helping the sick and the poor. 

While the modern day Santa also ostensibly gives away wealth to children across the globe, there is a big difference between the contemporary version and his 3rd century namesake. The difference isn't the obvious fact that one was real and one isn't, but more that modern Santa maintains a Naughty or Nice list in which he supposedly only gives gifts to the 'Nice' kids, the 'Good' kids. You may wonder what is wrong with that.

I'm glad you asked.

Santa Clause is not real. Ok, that may not be a revelation, however, that means that the parents or carers for children are required to step in for Santa. This may not be an issue for people who have money, but there's a lot of people across the world who don't have that much money. Therefore, poor kids are made to feel they are naughty, that they are bad.

The 1989 comedy, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, referred to this very situation. Clark Griswald's niece, Ruby, is from an impoverished family. She says to Clark that the previous Christmas, Santa hadn't brought her and her brother anything, so they must have been naughty even though they had tried to be nice all year. 

Santa Clause represents the capitalist disenfranchisement of the poor. While Christmas may be an exciting time for privileged children, for impoverished families it is a time of stress by either not being able to afford much for their children or going into debt to keep up appearances. 

Santa Claus's Naughty or Nice list reinforces negative stereotypes by stigmatising the poor as bad, naughty, misbehaved, and not deserving of his gifts.

Of course, Christmas isn't just about Santa and gifts for privileged kids, it is also meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. You may know of him from a book called the Bible. It is irrelevant whether you believe in Christ or the Bible. What is relevant is that Christmas is a Christian celebration. Yes, we can argue about the pagan roots of it, but Christmas by definition is about Christ. I'm labouring this point because Christ also preached a message of loving and caring for all people, not just rich or privileged people. Yet many who celebrate Christ's birthday also disenfranchise the poor by perpetuating the myth that those who don't receive presents from Santa must be naughty ... instead of acknowledging that those kids may be poor and in need of help.

Christ condemned the accumulation of wealth and preached a message of sharing and redistribution wealth. Christ was a socialist. The original St Nicholas or Kris Kringle also practised socialism by giving his wealth and time selflessly to those who needed it. As Karl Marx penned, 'From each according to their ability, to each according to their need'. Interestingly, this mirrors some bible verses, namely Acts 4:32-35:

32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Even the Old Testament got into the creed of sharing to meet people's needs. Exodus 16:16-18:

16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’” 17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Capitalism is about accumulation, greed and selfishness. Socialism is about sharing of wealth, selflessness and caring for the poor and disenfranchised, ensuring that everyone's needs are met. In capitalism, wealth is accumulated through the exploitation of others, particularly exploitation of the poor. Socialism achieves wealth for all through sharing the gains of fair productivity to meet the needs of all. 

The modern day Santa Claus is a capitalist misrepresentation of the original message of Christmas that was preached by Jesus and practiced by St Nicholas. It rewards the rich and demonises the poor. 

Every Christmas, privileged Christians will claim that there is a 'War on Christmas', because someone dares to say 'happy holidays' instead of 'merry Christmas'. Meanwhile, these very people have completely lost the message of Christmas, which was not to accumulate wealth, but to redistribute it, to care for the poor, not to exploit them, to love the poor, not to stigmatise them. Such a 'war' is a concoction of the rich who are more interested in fairy lights & flying reindeers, than they are in redistributing wealth or ending the exploitation of the poor. War on Christmas? As Guns N' Roses sang in Civil War, 'I don't need your civil war, it feeds the rich and buries the poor'. 

The avarice of Christmas and Santa's 'Naughty or Nice' list only benefits the rich and besmirches the poor.