class consciousness, false consciousness, mixed consciousness, etc

[slum]

Can I get some reading recommendations (or opinions) on the idea of working class "consciousness"? Is it just a way to talk about masses of people recognizing capitalists as their exploiters and working for their own interests? Did Marx or Engels write about this idea or is it a more recent theory?

If you believe the working class has to achieve "class consciousness" before there can be a social revolution, how is class consciousness built? My neighborhood Marxists say by organizing in small struggles that may or may not have an immediately apparent class element, gaining confidence when the struggle succeeds and learning more about how the state is the oppressive arm of capital when it does not. Do you agree?

Is this just another way to call workers stupid/ passive/ incapable of rule until some well-read socialist descends from on high to join their union? Most people I know are quite aware that they are being exploited, but they don't come to socialist (much less revolutionary) conclusions.

[Comrade #138672]

Marx didn't write anything about class or false consciousness. I believe it was Engels who first came up with these terms. Still, I believe Marx himself also believed in false consciousness, because of the way he talked about alienation, obscurantism, etc. False consciousness is like a collection of these terms. Class consciousness is the reverse of false consciousness.

Also, I think of false consciousness in degrees. When Lenin talked about the revolutionary vanguard being the most class conscious layer of the proletariat, he was implying that there were different degrees of class consciousness.

It is true that many people have some degree of class consciousness, but it is not enough.


My neighborhood Marxists say by organizing in small struggles that may or may not have an immediately apparent class element, gaining confidence when the struggle succeeds and learning more about how the state is the oppressive arm of capital when it does not. Do you agree?Yes, by their struggles, the proletarians become more conscious and learn to fight.