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View Full Version : Need arnswer to question on class.



Pirate turtle the 11th
3rd August 2008, 11:29
"Certain kinds of labour will be more desirable than others even in your anarchist
utopia. Classes will naturally emerge from this."

How should I respond?

Niccolò Rossi
3rd August 2008, 12:45
"Certain kinds of labour will be more desirable than others even in your anarchist
utopia. Classes will naturally emerge from this."

Classes are not based on the type (or enjoyableness) of labour performed.

Class is a special form of the division of labour in society, a social division of labour (that is differing relations to the system of social production) founded first and foremost (but not solely) on the control (of which ownership is a certain manifestation) of the means of production and labour.

Your friend here obviously does not have a solid definition of class (atleast in the Marxist sense of the word).

Rosa Lichtenstein
3rd August 2008, 12:55
Class is based on those who do the work, and those who do not do it, but live off the labour of others.

So, even if your 'friend' were right, and certain jobs were more 'desirable', since everyone (who is physically capable) will work, there could be no classes.

Moreover, since society will be fully democratic and open, no single person, or group, will be able to persuade all the rest that they should be given special consideration, and given all the 'best' jobs.

Rosa Lichtenstein
4th August 2008, 00:01
Of course, I do not wish to deny what Zeitgeist has said -- if we ignore issues concerning who owns and/or controls the means of production (factories, transport systems, energy generating plants, etc.) then what I had to say above would be incorrect, for it would mean that the non-working relatives of workers, for example, were part of the ruling-class! Clearly, such individuals do not own or control the means of production!

But, what I did say gets the broad brush strokes correct, I think.

Die Neue Zeit
4th August 2008, 01:22
^^^ Time for you to read Chapter 2 on "class," Rosa. ;)

http://www.revleft.com/vb/simplification-class-relations-t73419/index.html