What is Workerism?

[Smash Monogamy]

I heard the term used around here mostly in a negative sense.

I even read someone using the phrase "fascist workerism", so I'm curious what your definitions of it are.

[Sinister Intents]

I heard the term used around here mostly in a negative sense.

I even read someone using the phrase "fascist workerism", so I'm curious what your definitions of it are.



Workerism as a negative cultural phenomenon

More broadly, workerism can imply the idealisation of workers, especially manual workers, working class culture (or an idealised conception of it) and manual labour in general. Socialist realism is an example of a form of expression that would be likely to be accused of workerism in this sense, but this also applies to Liberalism and Fascism, such as Franco's Falangist movement, which often used propaganda showing workers living and working in equitable conditions.
The charge of workerism is often levelled at syndicalists, but this is less justifiable. While governments have used workerism to exploit the working class, whether they are Communist or Liberal governments, Syndicalists owe their very existence to the existence of a working class which they supposedly represent. Traditional communist parties are also thought to be workerist, because of their supposed glorification of manual workers to the exclusion of white-collar workers.
This use of the term was the most common English language use during the twentieth century.

Lenin's accusations of workerism

V.I. Lenin charged a number of Russian socialists with being workerist for opportunistically following the political or cultural movements of the working class, instead of holding a separate Marxist political position.


From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workerism

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Communists are supposed to present a revolutionary programme to the proletariat, which means that they occasionally come into conflict with the present level of consciousness of the proletariat (i.e. opposing slogans like "British jobs for British workers"). Workerists, on the other hand, tail the present consciousness of the proletariat, even when it is reactionary, or is perceived as reactionary, particularly on national matter and matters of sex, gender and orientation.

Perhaps the most notorious expression of workerism in the American socialist movement is the quote of Tim Wohlforth, "the working class hates hippies, fags and women's libbers, and so do we" (his "Workers'" League).

Certain ultraleft currents call themselves workerist or operaist, but this is not the same phenomenon.

[BolshevikBabe]

Yeah, as Vincent said it's basically very close to "tailism" and the notion that the vanguard should act in a populist manner to the masses rather than working to change consciousness and bring proletarians to a revolutionary program. It's also traditionally very closely linked to Economism (in the original sense) and the notion that workers should focus on the economic struggle through unions and the like rather than aiming to take and hold political power.

[Comrade #138672]

The fetishism of working, the fetishism of the worker. It is reactionary, because it fetishizes labor, which is opposed to the emancipation from labor.

[exeexe]

When it comes to class consciousness workerism is the opposite of elitist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitism

Anti-elitism


The term elitism, or the title elitist, are sometimes used by people who are (or claim to be) not a member of an elite organization.[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitism#cite_note-2) In politics, the terms are often used to describe people as being out of touch with the average Joe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_Joe). The implication is that the alleged elitist person or group thinks they are better than everyone else; and, therefore, put themselves before others. It could be seen as a synonym for snob (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob). An elitist is not always seen as truly elite, but only privileged. The definition may have different appreciations depending of the political contexts. Since elitism may be viewed as something necessary for creating patterns of good intellectual or professional performance, it can be used also for maintaining conditions of lack of competition and privilege.