The Unproductive Classes as Revolutionary Subject
Justin Aukema 28 August 2024 _______________ As all good Marxists know, only the “proletariat” is the truly revolutionary class that can guide capitalist society to a socialist one. But what is the “proletariat”? Definitions have defied many scholars and laypersons partly because the category itself is fluid. The broadest definition is any one who sells their labor power for a living or i.e. wage laborers. This is generally correct and undisputed. Yet certainly it is too broad to include all wage laborers and salaried persons since this would also include most of the professional-managerial classes as well. One further standard therefore is to determine the degree of imperative driving one to sell their labor power. In other words true wage laborers must sell their labor to live since if they don’t they will presumably starve. The basic rule therefore is savings. If one has enough savings to allow them to comfortably live without working for even a short time, they cannot be considered...
