Re: [Marxism] Skewering "Fahrenheit 9/11"

[Scotlive@xxxxxxx]

Carrol

The issue of class in this epoch is one which has resulted in a lot of
confusion on the far Left. Is the proletariat, in Marxian terms, all those who 
must
survive by the sale of their labour power? Is it only those who do so but have
no savings, assets, mortgage or investments? Or is it any of the previous who
consciously give their allegiance to the working class or, as the case my be,
the ruling class? Security guards work in deplorable conditions, with no
benefits or labor rights, yet their job entails protecting the property of the
rich. I've seen them chase away homeless people for daring to even walk past an
office block which they are paid peanuts to protect. I once worked as a
security guard in a shopping mall. We got a call that a thief had been 
apprehended
inside a supermarket. I got there to see the pitiful sight of a homeless,
Mexican kid who couldn't even speak English, sitting on the floor in handcuffs. 
The
othre guard on the scene told me to watch him while he went to meet the cops
who'd just pulled up outside. Soon as he left I unlocked the kid's handcuffs
and told him to run. I got fired.

I say this to illustrate the fact that we can't merely lump whole groups into
one class or the other. We must judge by the class consciousness of an
individual within these groups. What about workers who break picket lines, who 
scab,
for example?

To judge class in purely economic terms doesn't help. We must, I believe,
separate according to allegiance and not merely position in relation to the mode
of production.
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