I think the greetings are from the masses to the elite.
The ugly little success is that of the concentrations of wealth and power, who often use their own myths of self-made empires to convince the lower classes that their cooperation with the ruling classes will be rewarded by that same kind of success (this is hinted at in the ending quote). Everybody wants to get rich, few succeed, so for most people the capitalist dream isn't a reality but an ultimately unfulfilled promise which prevents people thinking about different kinds of social order.
I think the winter they speak of is the intensification of whatever forms of oppression are used by the ruling classes, which tend to galvanize (bring together) popular opposition, where before there was much more complacency. The privatization of (all) water in Bolivia springs to mind.
They half-sarcastically say their love (for the rich) is unconditional (and it is: if you look at it, people tend to see success as self-legitimating, and don't question its origins), and their hate can be utilized: the ruling classes foster racism, war, and things that divide people on superficial cultural lines rather than risk them uniting as the working class.
I think the greetings are from the masses to the elite.
The ugly little success is that of the concentrations of wealth and power, who often use their own myths of self-made empires to convince the lower classes that their cooperation with the ruling classes will be rewarded by that same kind of success (this is hinted at in the ending quote). Everybody wants to get rich, few succeed, so for most people the capitalist dream isn't a reality but an ultimately unfulfilled promise which prevents people thinking about different kinds of social order.
I think the winter they speak of is the intensification of whatever forms of oppression are used by the ruling classes, which tend to galvanize (bring together) popular opposition, where before there was much more complacency. The privatization of (all) water in Bolivia springs to mind.
They half-sarcastically say their love (for the rich) is unconditional (and it is: if you look at it, people tend to see success as self-legitimating, and don't question its origins), and their hate can be utilized: the ruling classes foster racism, war, and things that divide people on superficial cultural lines rather than risk them uniting as the working class.