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Marx'sUse of "Class"
BertellOilman
ABSTRACT
We attemptto derive Marx's theoryof class throughthe way he uses the term,rather
of his most generalstatementson the subject,whichis how
than throughan interpretation
class has usually been approached. "Class" is seen to referto social and economicgroupings
based on a wide variety of standards whose interrelationsare those Marx findsin the
real society under examination.By conceptualizinga unity of apparentlydistinctsocial
relations,"class" in Marxism is inextricablybound up with the truthof Marx's own analysis. Its utilityis a functionof the adequacy of this analysis.
573
574
At what point does a small businessman bourgeoisie,we can assume, have been
stop being pettybourgeoisand becomea sweptunderthe rug of "capitalist."Most
however,thepeasants
capitalist?How muchland does a peasant oftenin his writings,
have to own beforehe becomes a land- are referredto as a separateclass whose
distinctivequalitiesare aptly summedup
owner?
Shouldwe admitas classesall thegroups in thephrase,"class of barbarians."9
thereare stillotherelementsin
mentioned,
Marx's contradictory
attemptsto cateto place. gorizetheintelligentsia
is extremely
revealthe populationthat are difficult
Are farmlaborers,for instance,proletari- ing of the problems encounteredin a
ans or peasants? The inclusionof rural straighteconomicdivisionof society.Usuwage workersas proletariatis requiredto ally,he speaksofdoctors,lawyers,journalwriters,
and priestsas "the
give validityto Marx's claimthatthe pro- ists,professors,
and spokesmen"
letariatcontainsthe vast majorityof peo- ideologicalrepresentatives
ple in capitalist society.5He must have of the bourgeoisie.10
Referringto petty
Marx exbeen awareof thefactthatindustrialwage bourgeoispoliticiansand writers,
in capitalist plains that what makes themrepresentaearnerswerea clear minority
Germanyat thattime.6On at least one oc- tivesof thisclass "is the factthatin their
casion,Marx statesexplicitlythatfarmla- mindstheydo not get beyondthe limits
borers are proletarians;yet, the whole whichthe latterdo not get beyondin life,
of theproletariat
as that they are consequentlydriven,theoweightofhis treatment
to thesameproblemand solutions
workersin industryargues against this.7 retically,
it is of to whichmaterialinterestand social posiAnd,wheneverMarx particularizes,
industrialworkersthathe speaks.
tiondrivethe latterpractically."'1"
The relationship
betweentheintelligentBeyondthis,thereis an indicationthat
extendstheclass of prole- sia and the capitalistclass is further
clariMarx sometimes
peasantsas fiedwhereMarx says the ideologistsof a
tariansto includesmall-holding
well,as whenhe states,"The owningpeas- class are those"who make the perfecting
and of theillusionof theclass aboutitselftheir
ant does notbelongto theproletariat,
therewherehe does belongto it by his po- chiefsourcesoflivelihood."This,he claims,
sition,he does not believethathe belongs is based on a divisionof labor inside the
to it."8Marx's pointis thatbecause of his class betweenmentaland physicalwork.12
indebtednessto various capitalists, the Though it would appear to be general,
etc.,thepeasant Marx carefullyrestrictshis own applicamortgageon his property,
does notreallyownhis plot of land,and is tion of this principleto the bourgeoisie.
actuallyworkingforsomeoneelse. Bring- From commentssuch as these,the intelliing thepeasantryinto the proletariatmay gentsiaand the capitalistsstand forthas
similarat thecore,who are merehelp account for Marx's divisionof ad- brothers,
areas of capitalvanced capitalist society into two main ly specializingin different
classes; the landownersand the petty ist "work."'13
' Marx and Engels, The GermanIdeology,transIated by R. Pascal (London, 1942), p. 69.
'See Edward Bernstein,EvolutionarySocialism,
translatedby Edith Harvey (London, 1909), p. 106.
'Marx says, "The capitalist tenant has ousted
the peasant,and the real tillerof the soil is just as
much a proletarian,a wage worker,as is the urban
worker" (H. Meyer, "Marx on Bakunin: A Neglected Text," Etudes de Marxologie, edited by
M. Rubel [October,1959], p. 109).
8 Ibid., p.
108.
MARX'SUSE OF "CLASS"
575
Thoughtheyare usuallysubsumedunder their monetarydealings with industrialthe capitalistclass, this does not preclude ists.17
Marx, on occasion,fromascribingto the
Marx also speaks of a "lower middle
a status,notjust as a class,but class" whichincludes"the small manufacintelligentsia
as a clusterof classes. In Capital,Volume turers,the shopkeeper,the artisan, the
I, forexample,he speaks of themas the peasant."118This class,it appears,picksup
"ideologicalclasses."14 If Marx sometimes some members from all the economic
amongthecapitalists classes mentionedearlier.What is the criputs theintelligentsia
and sometimes
puts themon theirown,he terion by which Marx determineswho
is obviouslychanginghis criteriafordecid- belongsto thelowermiddleclass? Judging
a class.
ingwhatconstitutes
by its membership,
it could be income,
to capitalists,proletar- power,or even distancefromthe extremes
Besides referring
ians, landowners,petty bourgeoisie,and of involvement
in theclass struggle.
One last example:what are we to make
peasants,"class" is also used to referto
groupscarved out of societyon another of the group Marx calls the "dangerous
basis than theirrelationsto the mode of class," otherwiseknown as the Lumpencontain proletariat,whichis said to be composed
Such groupsfrequently
production.
membersfromtwoor moreof theeconomic of "the social scum,thatpassivelyrotting
classes dealt withabove. What Marx calls mass thrownoffby thelowestlayersof old
the "ideologicalclass," forexample,seems society"?19It is spokenof elsewhereas "a
to be based on the role thesepeople play recruiting
groundforthievesand criminals
in societyat large,ratherthanin produc- ofall kinds,livingon thecrumbsof society,
tion.The rulingclasses,anothersocial unit peoplewithouta definitetrade,vagabonds,
appears to have people withouta hearthor a home."20By
foundin Marx's writings,
been markedout by the same measure: what standarddoes Marx judge memberthoseindividualswho take part in running ship in thisclass? It seemsto be a gatherthe countryor who help decide how it ing place for all the unemployedpoor,
shouldbe run are its members.'5In Great though Marx's term,"dangerousclass,"
Britain,the rulingclasses are said to be suggestsa certainactioncriterionas well.
composedof the "aristocracy,""money- The Lumpenproletariat
sell theirservices
Thus, they to thebourgeoisie,
ocracy," and "millocracy."'16
who use themas strikeinclude both capitalistsand landowners, breakers,labor spies, and fighters
against
most of whombelong to the aristocracy. the workersin timesof revolution.Such
The "millocracy"refersto ownersof fac- are their actions which make them the
torieswhichproducematerialsforclothing: "dangerousclass."2'
and the"moneyocracy,"
or "financearistoc- The pluralityof criteriaMarx uses in
racy,"refersto bankersand the like, who constructing
classes is reminiscent
of presearn theirentranceintothe capitalistclass ent-dayconfusionon thissubject.It is not
as hirersof wage labor and by virtueof enough to argue-as some have-that
1 Marx, Capital,translated by Samuel Moore
and Edward Aveling (Moscow, 1958), I, 446.
576
Marx's idea of class develops over time, systemof classes." The otherclassesmenfor many of the complicationswe have tionedcan be made moreor less consistent
drawnattentionto are foundin the same withthisdivisionon thebasis ofhintsMarx
workor in writingsof thesame period.If drops but nowheredevelops.These hints
"subdivisions
readersof this articlewill checkthe cita- are foundin his expressions,
tions which correspondto my footnotes of classes" and "transitionclasses."24The
occupational,
1, 3, 9, 14,and 17, theywillsee a sampling formerhelps us comprehend
contradictoryincome,and functionalunits withinthe
ofthevariousand apparently
relauses of "class" in the volumesof Capital. threegreatclasses based on differing
The conclusionremainsthat,fora variety tionsto theprevailingmodeof production.
and shipbuilders
of purposes,Marx dividessocietyup in as Millocracy,moneyocracy,
ways,speakingof theparts are all subdivisionsof the capitalistclass,
manydifferent
in each case as "classes."
just as skilled and unskilledworkersare
Any attemptto explainMarx's practice subdivisionsof theproletariat.
class" can be
The conceptof "transition
muststart with the admissionthat Marx
uses this term loosely, often puttingit used to justifyleaving out of the more
of the class system,
forwardas a synonymfor"group,""fac- generalpresentations
tion,"or "layer."This was onlyin keeping those groupswhichare in the processof
with the impreciseuse of "class" which disappearing.Small-holdingpeasants and
us was typicalof petty bourgeoisieare among the classes
RolfDahrendorfinforms
WhereMarx speaksof "ruling Marx sees disappearingin his own day.25
his period.22
block to takingthisway out
classes," "groups" or "factions"could be A stumbling
for"classes' withoutany alter- is that "transitionclass" is a highlysubsubstituted
ation in the meaning.Marx himselfuses jective concept even withinMarx's own
any class, afterall,
"rulingclass" and "rulingfaction"inter- analyticalframework;
changeablyin one instanceto referto the can be viewedas passingout of the picsame people.23 "Groups" could also be ture, dependingon the time span under
substituted for "classes" without any consideration.We saw Marx claim that,
change of meaning in the expression in fullydevelopedcapitalism,onlya capi"ideologicalclasses"; and either"group" talistand a proletarianclass exist; thereor "layer" would serve for "class" where fore,if thisis the periodone has in mind,
Afterthe
Marx talksof the "dangerousclass." With all otherclassesare transitional.
all due allowance made for loose word proletarianrevolution,however,the capiusage, however,Marx cannot escape the talist class, too, disappears; and, when
moreseriousaccusationof havinga litter communism
arrives,the proletariatas well
and of dissolves into the community.All referof standardsforclass membership
changingthemwithoutpriorwarning.
if
ences to "transitionclasses," therefore,
The implicationsof this disorderfor theyare to conveyanymeaningat all, must
Marx's class analysisof societyshouldnot make explicitthe timeperiodunder conbe carriedtoo far,since Marx's tripartite sideration.
divisionof societyinto capitalists,proleMarx's only attemptto presenta contarians,and landownersis the prevalent nectedaccountof class appearsat theend
most
one, and it is also the classification
24Marx, "The Bourgeoisie and the Counterin keepingwithhis othertheories.Hence,
Revolution,"Selected Writings,I, 63; "Eighteenth
we may in fairnessdub it the "Marxist Brumaire,"
I, 253.
SelectedWritings,
2 Communist
Manifesto,p. 16. Many groups,
such as the pettybourgeoisie,fall into both of the
above categories;theyare a subdivisionof thecapitalist class and, for the period in which Marx is
writing,a transitionclass as well.
MARX'SUSE OF "CLASS"
577
Allthatconcerns
us is thatMarxthought
theydid,
'Unless otherwise
signified,
whatfollowscomes for thisbeliefwas an important
elementin his
fromCapital,III, 862-63.
construction
of classes.
578
MARX'SUSE OF "CLASS"
579
loosely,but it shouldhelp us comprehend There is a still more formidableobjection to Marx's use of "class." Besides
whatlies behindthisusage.3'
his standardswhenmovingfrom
changing
Whetherit was properof Marx to apply
thelabel "class" on thebasis of onlya few one groupto thenext,thesame group-as
of the relevantcriteriais open to dispute, indicatedby its popular name-may be
but thathe could not wait forall of them givenitsmeasureby a varietyofstandards.
to be satisfiedbeforeusing this termis Dependingon his purpose,Marx maymean
clear. Otherwise,he would have defined by "proletariat"all wage earners,the simhimselfout of the running,for even the plest and largestnet of all. Or he may
are occasion- meanthosewhopass one or any fewof the
capitalistsand theproletariat
ally seen to be withoutsome of the requi- income,cultural,political,and social tests
site attributes.He says of the proletariat, thathave beenlisted.Withtheshiftin criforexample,"Thus thismass is alreadya teria,thereis a shift,oftenof hugeproporto.
class in oppositionto capital,but not yet tions,in thenumberof people referred
The missingingredient This explains,of course,whysome groups
a class foritself."32
is class consciousness,the proletariat's -peasants, rural workers,intellectuals,
of theirlife situationand and shopkeepersbeing the prize examples
comprehension
theiracceptanceof the interestsand ene- -are sometimesfoundin one class and
in another.This objectionmight
sometimes
mieswhichaccrueto it.
proved
fatalforthosewishingto comhave
Elsewhere,Marx suggeststheproletariat
are not a class, because theylack a class- prehendMarx's viewsabout his contempowide politicalorganization.In a letterto rariesif certaintrendswere not apparent
Kugelmann,Marx speaks of his program in his use of class labels.Generally,
Marx's
of the FirstIn- commentson the proletariatonly apply
forthe GenevaConference
as helping"the organizationof to industrialwage earners,and his descripternational
theworkersintoa class."33In theCommuThese deficienciesare closelyrelated.Increased
linksthisup
nistManifesto,he specifically
class consciousnessadvances the cause of political
with the formation
of a politicalparty.34 organizationby creatinggreaterinterestin it, while
Insofaras class consciousnessremainsthe organizationalactivityheightensclass consciousness
achievementof a few,and beforesuch a throughthe propaganda it makes possible. Both
party exists,the proletariat,even in the deficienciesdisappearwith the furtherdevelopment
the capitalist mode of production: Marx says,
most advanced capitalisticsocieties,lack of
"The organizationof revolutionaryelementsas a
a class supposes the existenceof all the productive
forconstituting
two major qualifications
class.35A similarbreakdowncouldbe made forceswhich could be engenderedin the bosom of
p. 196).
of the capitalistsand, in fact,of all the the old society" (Povertyof Philosophy,
grounsMarx calls "crJq.p36
The most explicitstatementof this dualityoc35
3'
Communist
Manifesto,
p. 26.
580