File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_2001/aut-op-sy.0106, message 534


Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 19:49:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: commie zero zero <commie00-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: AUT: class  ((by (the) mechanics for disrepair))


more on class by yet another group, which i was
thinking might help this discussion along, if people
still want to have it.

also, sean: my understanding is that $60,000-100,000
is considered a "living wage" for a family of four.
so, by your definition, anyone who can get by is
middle class? very strange. 

but then again, i think discussion of wage amounts is
meaningless in a discussion of class. the fact that
someone is waged, and does not have the power to hire
or fire, to me, means they are working class. they
might be more-or-less relatively affluent, but they
are working class...

anyway... without further ado, here's (the) mechanics
for disrepair (
http://www.geocities.com/mechanicsfordisrepair):


Class.

The first thing we have to understand in order to
understand capitalism is class. Class is not an
economic category, as we are often led to believe.
Class is determined by much more than how much money
one makes. 

In order to understand class, we have to first
understand how we relate to the capitalist system
through the work that we do. Does the work you do
produce profit for someone? Do you receive only the
equivalent of a small portion (if anything) of what
you produce or enable to be produced? If you are a
blue or white collar waged-worker, a student, an
unemployed person, a homemaker, an artist, or a farmer
the answer is most likely a resounding "YES!”.

The second thing we have to understand in order to
understand class is our power-relation to capitalism.
Do you have the power to hire & fire people? Do you
have the power to create and/or enforce laws, start
wars, etc.? Do you have the power to impose
wage-slavery? Do you own and control the means of
production / reproduction? Do you have any real power
over the people who do any of the above? If you are a
blue or white collar waged-worker, a student, an
unemployed person, a homemaker, an artist, or a farmer
the answer is most likely a resounding "NO!”.

Answering "yes" to the first question and "no" the
second set of questions means that you are working
class, a member of what is sometimes called the
proletariat [1].  It means that the majority of the
fruits of your labor (whether that labor is producing
and distributing commodities or reproducing [2] the
labor necessary for the production and distribution of
commodities) are taken from you in exchange for a
fraction (if anything) of what you deserve. It means
that you have very little, if any, real social power
over the capitalist system.

Opposing the working class is the ruling class. The
ruling class are those who receive the majority of the
fruits of our labor, those who have the power to hire
and fire people, to create and/or enforce laws, start
wars, etc., those who own and control the means of
production / reproduction, etc. They are corporate
CEOs, upper and middle management, politicians, the
police forces and agencies, the WTO / IMF / World Bank
/ TABD / etc., all national governments, and more.

Capitalism is the struggle that rages between these
two classes. The notion of middle class is invoked by
the ruling class to obscure this struggle, but the
middle class is a myth. There has been no middle class
for a long time.

However, the working class does not sit idly by.
Through absenteeism, workplace theft, sabotage,
strikes, riots, insurrections, grassroots
community-building, workplace organizing and movements
against sexism, racism, homophobia and the destruction
of the environment, and much more, we fight the ruling
class. 

Capitalism does not change only in response to its own
needs. While the capitalist system is changed in minor
ways by the competitions of the ruling class, constant
working class attacks are the source of capitalism’s
major changes. The ruling class has to keep
reinventing capitalism in response to our attacks.
Every change in government (from "democratic"
republics, to fascism, to totalitarianism), every
change in management forms, every war, etc. is in some
way an attempt to destroy working class power. 
However, nothing they do can destroy the class
struggle (since class is necessary to capitalism),
they can only obscure the division, and momentarily
weaken us. 

It is important to note here that while the ruling
class is aware of the class struggle, and wages it
willingly, the individuals in that class do not always
work well together, have ideological differences,
compete with one another, and are sometimes unaware of
how what they are doing effects us. As an example:
black members of the ruling class from the US probably
do not often knowingly perpetuate racism. By being
capitalists, however, they must do so because the
system is set up to maintain and strengthen cultural
(and national) divides.


NOTES

1.  Members of the working class can also include
those from outside the class who have given up their
privilege and joined the struggles of the class.

2.   Reproduction is the process which enables
production. As an example a homemaker engages in
reproduction by making food for the waged members of
the household, helping to raise children who will
become new members of the working class, etc. 




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