The term, Working Class differs from Society to Society and from
generation to generation. I lean toward the Marxist definition, with
my own modifications. Here is the brief Marxist definition:
Marxist definition
- The working class (also labouring class and proletariat) is the
people employed for wages, especially in manual-labour occupations and
in skilled, industrial
work. Working-class occupations include blue-collar jobs, some
white-collar jobs, and most service-work jobs.
For my purposes I have an even broader inclusion. Anyone working to
support the Ruling Class is a part of the Working Class.
In my simple world there are only two Classes: Ruling Class and
Working Class. Of course there exist divisions within the two
Classes.
Within the Ruling Class the divisions usually occur when clashes over
whose interests should receive the biggest share of the Bounty.
The Working Class has been subdivided into many subgroups due to
special interests and also through misdirection by the Ruling Class.
The Working Class has divided itself into blue collar and White
Collar, or professional versus manual labor.
Beyond these divisions are those created through the need for jobs.
Employment is mostly controlled by the Ruling Class's needs. By
playing workers against one another, wages are held down and a united
front is avoided(read, A People's History of the United States, by
Howard zinn).
The Ruling Class also uses Status to divide the Working Class. The
designation of some labor as more valuable than other, earning a
higher financial reward, develops distance through snobbery.
Education is another device used to promote one group over another.
Also, the Ruling Class must take measures to prevent a united front
from developing. Deception and out and out lies help to accomplish
this end. For example, our history is built on the "Rugged
Individual", and the "Self-made Man". Labor unions are considered to
be controlled by Communists and Gangsters. Team work is pictured as
making men into sissies. And until more recent times, the great
American Heroes were White Males. Superman, Joe Palooka, the Lone
Ranger, and on and on. While we say stuff like, "The more the
merrier", or "two heads are better than one", our hero worship does
not reflect this. Although we do have one area where group power is
promoted by the Ruling Class. The FBI in Action, is an example. Law
enforcement such as the FBI, CIA and Special Services are often
depicted as unified actions. But even then there is often a single
White Male Star.
We would move more quickly toward a People's Government if we were
together on just who the Working Class really is. Try to think in
terms of anyone whose work, in main, supports the Ruling Class.
As my dad was fond of saying, "There is dignity in All labor."
Carl Jarvis
On 8/26/16, Alice Dampman Humel <alicedh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
the subject line says it…as I read all these messages about the working
class, I begin to suspect everyone has his/her own definition of it, and
that, of course determines all the rest…
And, it also often seems that the definitions shift and drift depending on
the particular point being made at any given time…
Thoughts?
