Intellectuals and the Working Class

[Faux Real]

Intellectuals and their philosophies/theory's on worker's revolution have the 'knowledge' necessary to help give notification to the working class about their present conditions, how they can act to try to change it, and act somewhat like a commander on a battlefield. They are not always separated and viewing society from the outside but it can be argued they are on another level of thought compared to the common worker.

The working class knows the 'facts on the ground', i.e. they're not separated from the worker's movements, protests, exploitation, and struggle. They can have their own philosophies, theories, opinions, and objections to the present system of capitalism and the world around them. They take the role of the "foot soldier on the battlefield".

My questions are, what exactly is the relationship between these two?

Who has more philosophical influence on society, if at all?

Which is more important to concentrate on? If any?

Should this power be balanced out between the two?

[JazzRemington]

It's important to focus on the working class, but one mustn't neglect intellectual pursuits. The relationship between intellectuals and the working class should be mutual. Intellectuals should take their knowledge and educate the working class by exposing the flaws in the capitalist system. Their point is to not lead them (like a vanguard) but to work with the working class and assist them in whatever they choose to do in a revolutionary situation.

[praxicoide]

It all goes back to the concrete circumstances of the separation of labor, particularly between the separation of manual and intellectual labor.

It is workers who in fact create knowledge, which is given form by the intellectuals. Under capitalism, the workers are dispossessed, because they lose control of the direction of the process, which is assigned to the intellectuals (understood as Gramsci in engineers, etc.)

Taylorization affects the intellectual sector as well, so that the "intellectual" duties become more and more akin to the manual operational tasks.

You then have the elite intellectual labor separated and fetishized into thinking that it originates itself through abstract reason.

I think its important to unite the two, because in socialism, the workers will no longer be dispossessed and will therefore have both intellectual and manual labor. This means that we mustn't either shun intellectuals or workers. Intellectuals should realize their abstract fallacy and reconnect with their material circumstances, and workers should reclaim their knowledge, already intuited in their class consciousness.

[Dimentio]

A social class which has bases of strength but is alienated will respond by with the speed of lightning create it's own ideologies to serve the fight for supremacy. Intellectuals are just the tail. Without active support of a social class, they are basically meaningless, although old ideologies could be picked up and revised to serve current struggles as well.

[piet11111]

Originally posted by [email protected] 04, 2007 09:35 pm
A social class which has bases of strength but is alienated will respond by with the speed of lightning create it's own ideologies to serve the fight for supremacy. Intellectuals are just the tail. Without active support of a social class, they are basically meaningless, although old ideologies could be picked up and revised to serve current struggles as well.
im not sure what you are saying here could you perhaps elaborate a bit ?