Working Class & Marxist Theory

[FIPiranha@xxxxxxx]

I just received my first copy of the Marxism-Digest and am very glad to see
that such a forum
exists and has such active participation.  Unfortunately I apparently came in
on the tail end of the
"Academic Marxism" discussion and have only seen the 5 August 95 23:07
contribution by Chris
Burford and Paul C.  This looks like a discussion that I would very much like
to be a part of.

Personally, I am a gay woman from a very poor working class background
(plenty of oppression
there).  I have been active in Marxist politics for many years in spite of
the fact that many of the
"working class" organizations that I have been a part of have attracted few
working class people.

For many who consider themselves Marxists the working class remains an
abstraction -- often
idealized and rarely taken seriously.  Those who come from working class
backgrounds many
times find themselves on the receiving end of the subtle (and not so subtle)
scorn of arrogant,
petty-bourgeois intellectuals who believe that their class privileges
(especially their college
degrees) give them a superior understanding of Marxist politics.  Nothing
could be further from
the truth.  While working class people may not always express themselves in
the most eloquent
ways, the experiences of their daily lives give them a far deeper
understanding of the realities
analyzed by Marxism than any ivory tower existence.  The job of the
intellectuals is to bring
Marxist consciousness to the working class and to help to support its
struggles.

The arrogance of the petty-bourgeoisie expresses itself in many ways.
 Working class people are
often viewed as incapable or unwilling to do "intellectual" work, although
many are both capable
and interested.  These working class intellectuals are often told to stick to
their practical work and
to leave theory to someone else.  The same attitude is expressed more subtly
(and most often
unintentionally) by those who automatically assume that those from working
class backgrounds
are not involved in theoretical work.  As an example, look at the welcome
letter to this list:

>the list should be a forum for open engagement and enquiry with all aspects
of these Marxist
>traditions--and we hope that this will be in interdisciplinary engagement,
bringing together
>historians, economists, sociologists, artists, literary critics,
philospphers and so on.
>Furthermore, while it is anticipated that the list will be primarily
'academic' in nature, this is by
>no means meant to devalue or prevent contributions from activists or others
outside the formal
>educational system.

Obviously this statement was intended to encourage those outside of the ivory
towers to
participate.  But it unintentionally risks having the opposite effect by
triggering mistrust and self-
consciousness that are the result of a lifetime of class oppression of
working class people.  Why
anticipate a primarily academic list?  Why would we want it?  I certainly
intend to encourage all
of my working class comrades to participate in this list.  The "academics"
have a lot to learn from
us and I hope that we can learn from them.

To Chris B.:  What are the problems for class struggle that could result from
the riots being by
people on state benefits?  Also, the question about why middle class people
go into working
class jobs is a good one.  I would add another question:  Marxists talk of
the "declassed" petty-
bourgeoisie.  Do you think that those from petty-bourgeois backgrounds who
take working class
jobs become a part of the working class?  What is their role in the class
struggle?

Can someone send me a copy of the original article that provoked this
discussion?  My address
is FI Piranha@xxxxxxxx

Finally, my major interest is in dialectics.  Recently I have participated in
some debates on the
nature of contradiction and wonder if anyone here is interested in that
topic.  Let's start a
study/debate on Marx and Hegel.  That sounds like fun to me -- what do others
think?  Anyone
want to read Science of Logic?


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