Wolff Responds: Who is the Working Class?

In this Wolff Responds, Prof. Wolff defines for us what he means by "working class" and provides an explanation for his use of the term to explain the uprising on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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[@torbjornjuliussen3556]

Class is your relation to the means of production.

[@rcmrcm3370]

Another definition, used elsewhere, of ...

[@jasonablah7702]

@@rcmrcm3370 what

[@johnlock572]

If you read follow the work of prof wolf and prof. Resnick, both uses the term class in relation not so much to the means of production but to the surplus that's produced in a society

[@torbjornjuliussen3556]

@@johnlock572 Thats why one always have to go to the sources. Karl Marx das Kapital vol 1, Chapter 1-4 and then Althusser/Balibar for ex and others. Its 1-2 years of reading and then you see that the professor is right, but only simplify the topic due to level of knowledge in his students. One have to start at the begining and begin at the start. For ex Mao in his works identified no less than 4-6 different classes within the Chinese peasantry. There are only 2 classes in theory. Workers and those who more or less lives of the value this workers produce. In fact its only work that can produce value. The process in wich capital comes to be is in the books above to start with. This teori determins how class/es are identified.

[@supremo6090]

@@johnlock572 but again the surplus will go to the owner of the means of production, whether you own it directly or the brand that controls it.

[@jake4024]

The foundation of this country is the working class.

[@junkman226]

Every country is comrade

[@rookmaster7502]

As is true with most countries, the founders were definitely not part of the working class.

[@rcmrcm3370]

The foundation of this country was theft, then slavery.

[@alexs3123]

Any country

[@SABRENOSE]

@@alexs3123 Marx describes members of the working class as making up the infrastructure of society, production

[@gemmahudack6182]

I have encountered "leftists" who actually said that only factory workers and farmers can be members of the working-class because "that's how it was in Tsarist Russia before the Bolshevik revolution." When I brought the fact that 80% of American jobs are service-based, he said "Yeah, but Lenin said only the factory workers and farmers are proletarians."

[@philipm3173]

🤦‍♂️

[@Lavabug]

Thanks for taking the time to address the misconceptions on twitter. It was getting out of control.

[@jeffengel2607]

If the boss pays you more than the other employees, you don't stop being an employee. The boss won't forget that; you and the rest of us can't afford to either.

[@rcmrcm3370]

Spot on. Some people have several bosses. a waitress who depends on tips for example.. The more employers, the more the misery for the employee. Often an employee can be an employer. Oh boy don't the Karens of the world love to shove it into the face of the waitresses, Uber drivers, her maid, and other service sector workers.

[@jakethebaker6946]

I always enjoy the way that Wolff talks; it's engaging as hell

[@chuckwilliams6261]

He has a pleasant tone of voice and cadence. I admire his ability to lecture with a condescending delivery, and not come off as an asshole. He's easily one of my favorite lecturers.

[@ray9081]

Jimmy Dore ❤️ Richard Wolf

[@dsmithprogrammer]

I'm happy to have found this channel recently. The video with Jimmy Dore was amazing. I'm glad there are still people paying attention to what is happening around us and have the courage to broadcast it!

[@sammyg.8532]

Wait...hell? Is engaging? Hell no! I'll try heaven instead.

[@Andrew-qi1bw]

Yep, I can listen to him speak for hours on end.

[@JuanMartinez-cr8wj]

Profesor Wolff thanks for the definition of working class. It is very important that we are in the same page when we talk about working class: 96 or 97% of us. Glad to see you at the Jimmy Dore's Show. Time for Unity. You are the best of the best!

[@torbjornjuliussen3556]

Would you please elect Wolff POTUS. It would be a good thing. Belive me!

[@a-dawghunchback6927]

I’d vote for him

[@mangaman6833]

I agree, the US needs gulags. A bolshevik style marxism is long overdue.

[@ungabunga3183]

@@mangaman6833 And some autocratic leader to kill us in the millions

[@TheWindGinProject]

Labor Party: A Labor Party would help educate workers on how they have been and will continue to be taken advantage of. This would allow workers to start to come together and help them understand how the media plays a huge part in dividing the workers. As along as the workers take the media bait and feel they must be a Democrat or a Republican; the wealthy maintain control via money / lobbying money to purchase all politicians. A Labor Party would have all establishment politicians taking workers much more seriously. This is what I think. What do you think? Thank You - Note: This is my second time to post this. I hope that's OK.??? I think the professor really came through in this video!

[@zofiajaneczek184]

Bargaining power in terms of salary negotiation has been done away with for the lower income classes a long time ago. Option A, take the crap job with whatever pay they choose to give you or option B hope and pray you can find better with higher pay and move on to the next haphazard job! Workers at all levels need to have that bargaining power back. At the lower end you don’t matter and you’re disposable but how many bodies does a company need to go through before there are no more left. Personally, UBI would “fix “ that issue and force employers to pay better because the REALLY bad jobs would be impossible to staff, if people had other opportunities and options available to them.

[@TrichordoKostas]

Don't get too excited, in australia we have a labor party and they're neoliberal scumbags

[@matthewingerson]

@Jon Cumberbatch Then they aren't really a "Labour Party" -- they are a party infiltrated by knaves. America's politics are similar. The "Conservative" employer-party is infiltrated by "neofascist bigots" who claim to be the party of traditions and families. The "Liberal" employer-party is infiltrated by "neoliberal conservatives" who claim to be the party of progress and workers. Their claims are nothing more than propaganda that is perpetrated by the leadership of both parties. This propaganda promotes the facades that are perpetuated by the leadership of both parties. Both parties have the same goals that are maintained by the same class of employers. Both parties prioritize employer-class supremacy and working-class inferiority. Both parties maintain a system of status-quo repression, suppression, oppression, manipulation, and exploitation. My explanation is just a short description, but the point is this: Just because people claim to be something, that doesn't mean that's what they are. The elected leaders and representatives of both parties vote and act nearly the same, even though they may speak differently. But actions speak louder than words, and people should be defined by their actions, not just their words. Both American parties are nearly the same party.

[@OmarZatin]

Would you please do a video speaking about what the purpose of police and the carceral system are for the working class? And how they are used to sub-divide the working class?

[@sebastiaanbaert8379]

Would absolutely love to see this

[@rosaluxemburg5901]

He is such an inspiration. 😊

[@spanosspanos]

Working class in today's context ought to also include the smallest of business owners and the self employed. If I own a deli, or a pizza parlor, or if I am a painter or plumber, although I may hire workers, those "employees" are not in a different class...

[@chastityrenee4682]

Found you from the Jimmy Dore Show.

[@fi0nner]

The economic and social interests of wealthy employees become tightly aligned with the bourgeois and the petty bourgeois. A lawyer or accountant earning 100k per year has a lot more in common with the ruling class than the working class. That guy is not joining a militant union any time soon. Him being a Republican is not "self delusion". It is rational alignment with his own economic self interests.

[@robertcox14]

Over 1000 pages of Marx's "Capital" is a Barrier To Entry for the under class to understand economic inequality. Richard Wolff and others have delivered many into a "sophisticated" understanding of the Priesthood of Eternal Growth Economics - growth at the expense of the working class.

[@beverly3397]

working glass = one income household that can't afford a decent living. Everyone else fails to help because they feel powerful living in their decent homes because they have two incomes. They even thinks if they invite you for a christmas meal that should hold you for a full year. They care not that you have no working bathroom, windows are shot, or that the electrical wiring is not working. Yet they will send you a picture of all they have achieved in remolding their house and expect praise while you suffer trying to heat your home with candles and turning your heat down to 50 every night and when you leave for work. So be it.

[@torbjornjuliussen3556]

But even more important is the theory of value=what capital realy is=from where it emerge=work. 🤜

[@armanmsa56]

Nice opening sound Prof. Wolff!!!

[@CarolPrice4p]

I like looking at how the books are arranged ☺

[@gennadykolotkov1279]

Спасибо за ликбез! Профессор Вульф на английском понятней объяснил, чем левые в России что такое рабочий класс.

[@linzierogers7479]

He's saying the same thing I have been thinking for a long time.

[@blackhorse11thACR]

Professor Wolf you are the best and teach us pawns how to understand economics and our history. I have bachelor degrees but you are the man. I am a Disabled American Veteran and agree with you all the way.

[@AprilWatters]

We live in a giant abusive relationship and the workers need to Stop being abuse victims. When do the workers get lifted up to be their own person? If all they do is work for and make the Corp/employer "richer", that's naturally going to make the Corps larger and tip the scale OUT of favor of the workers. A study of psych/health is greatly needed to show how healthy systems work

[@Joe00Cool187]

Things understood mr wollf, need no explanation! Salute.

[@DavidSanchez-vx4bv]

Capitalismo is declining and will end, not because the working class acquires consciousness of itself butm becuase of the intrisinc contradictions of the systems. However, in order to REPLACE Capitalism, is needed that a large portion of the working class has that consciousness. If Capitalism declines and there is not a working class movement, we may end in a power hole situation, that may lead to more suffering...

[@jasonchen9645]

Professor Wolff is absolutely correct that there is always a small group of people who control power and wealth....but alternative systems were put in place around the world where the vast population were all equal, which resulted in that same population being equally poor and completely dependent on the government for substance. That is why we don't have that here. No one likes the way the system has gone, but we all must remember history and be careful what we wish for because we just might get it and "equality" may end up being something very different than what we would all like it to be.

[@safirahmed]

Another definition of class could be described as overall wealth. Working class the 99% of the population. Ruling class the 1% of the population.

[@capitalistholocaust3128]

I view class in terms of order-givers and order-takers.

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

The working class is simply the section of working people who dont make or barely makes a profit from their labor. The majority of the working class make a profit from their labor, therefore, they dont consider themselves to be exploited, nor do the have a proletariat consciousness, nor do they care about having worker control and socialism.

[@volvolakaemma9209]

Doesn't matter. Not owning means of production, working class. As long as you need to sell your labor to survive, you are working class. The part of the working class who doesn't feel like it now, will start to feel as upwards transfer of wealth proletarianizes them as well

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

Wrong. Management loyalties lie with the owners. They will never be proletarianized.

[@greggsenne1268]

Labor sellers vs. labor buyers.

[@politicallil7060]

Very good economist

[@collybeans586]

@B Badenov thats the dumbest comment I have ever read.

[@MrRedwolf1234]

Professor Wolfe. Every time I hear you I learn things that gives me a clear analysis of our society. Thank you. And to everyone it is the Marxist interpretation is so illuminating!

[@williameason1194]

Talk to doctors now and many would say they are working class. Bring a lunch, stay all day, go home at the end of their shift. Times have changed. Corporate power is still acending. Talk now is to have minimum wage increases vary regionally. Further efforts to keep poorer regions poor. Industry in the USA South has not brought that area the prosperity they thought it would. Waitresses still earn $2.13 per hour in "right to work" states, guaranteeing minimal social security, both in their check in retirement and in society. Most working class agree with this, not understanding what it really means to them.

[@batman5224]

I’ve always been confused about how working class is defined. Some people think it’s defined by how much money someone makes, but I don’t think that’s necessarily accurate. For example, some plumbers make a great deal of money, even though they are usually classified as working class, while school teachers, most of whom make very little money, are usually considered to be part of the white collar class. Secondly, someone who owns a lot of land doesn’t necessarily belong to the upper class. Some people are land rich, but cash poor. For example, I’m going to inherit a lot of land, but I lack the resources to do anything with it.

[@jeffengel2607]

People have a lot of different sense of class. That's fine. The trouble is when you don't understand that the other person is not using it the way you have in mind. It can be enemy action when they're insisting on sense A when the theory you need to understand what's going on is sense B and sense A is the one that keeps popping up in your mind.

[@sebastiaanbaert8379]

It's typically defined by relations to the means of production. ie: the owner of a factory of shoes would be part of the "employer" class and the shoe makers, those being exploited, are the "employee" class

[@deezeed2817]

Let me try and explain, Richard Wolff has a 1st worldist view of class, Karl Marx used to talk about exploited workers and capitalists but this view of class only was valid in his time, Class has evolved due to globalisation and imperialism. People in the 1st world aren't exploited but they are alienated (this is crucial distinction to make). Exploitation is a phenomena of capitalism where workers are paid barely enough to survive the working day, This of course does not apply to 1st world workers. Why is this possible? Because 1st world people are net beneficiary of imperialism, An example is a retail worker who sells shoes in footlocker, That retail worker may not feel the job is exciting or fulfilling BUT the fact of the matter is that the worker has minimum wage and the ability consume the products being sold on that shelf, So who's exploited? The answer is the factory worker who isn't paid a minimum wage and not guaranteed any of the benefits of living in the 1st world. In other words that retail worker appropriates the labor of the 3rd world factory worker so they they don't organise and even support and back imperialism. Understanding this relation between you and having a global view of class will hopefully allow you to see the bigger picture of how capitalism has adjusted and why it has built mechanisms to survive crisis.

[@keithrodgers1030]

If you need to work to support yourself you are working class. Office , factory , self employed contractor etc. Some kind of delude themselves into thinking their in a different class. Employee or employer , lord or serf , master or slave.

[@fi0nner]

Yes but, wealthy employees can still become aligned with the ruling class because it's within their economic self interests. It's not "self delusion" for a lawyer to align with the right wing. It's entirely rational and within his financial self interests. Wolff is missing this nuance. Not very Marxian to dismiss this factor.

[@reubennb2859]

Ten years ago, 60% of republicans on one state were polled as being against inter-racial marriage. There are still people alive who are old enough to have thrown rocks at black people during the civil rights movement in the 60s. Class consciousness is gonna be so hard to get when so much of the lower middle class is like this, but we gotta have hope

[@davidalexanderlourie4371]

The working class have been thought of as those who do manual labour, including the trades. Those who would join a trade union. However the middle class I was once told, are those who can support themselves by living off investments. This would make many employers working class as well. Richard Wolffs definition is useful but could be refined to employers who can afford to employ managers.

[@j.p.200]

Yes

[@edoardofontes1679]

Very good interpretation

[@renardleblanc5556]

Taking a moment to appreciate the layers of layers of class stratification in Capitalism... When I was working McDonalds kitchen, I got paid $5.50 an hour (CDN). *My* boss was a franchisee, and took orders from Corporate Office... Corporate took directions from the CEOs. abt 50 workers at the location, maybe 100 locations regionally, all funnelling profits to maybe a dozen boardmembers, who worked for the majority shareholders, whoever those guys were/are. That's Capitalism: a pyramid scheme with more class/structure than the Luxor hotel.

[@victorialeif9266]

We need a politician who can speak like prof.Wolff. He tells stories! People love stories, and need to see themselves in in them, and feel like they're being heard. We need a big national story about what we're going to build together. When prof. Wolff mentioned Jeffery Bezos taking a trip to the moon, It reminded me of how NASA was a national endeavor.It was a source of national pride. We need that again.

[@X3._.n3]

Would you consider the self-employed part of the employer or employee class?

[@ivanlaws622]

Of primary concern is the corruption of politicians, which starts with campaign contributions that make the politician kowtow to the contributor. A favorite tactic of many Oligarchs. Another tactic has been to create the Social Normalization of Unethical & Immoral activities give the credence to then create laws that justify the Criminal Activities. This cycle can be STOPPED, by you. If not the USA will be a tyrannical dystopia with a population of Working Class Peasants and a Oligarchy of Aristocratic Overlords.

[@charlesthomas540]

In that Capitol crowd there were employers as well as employees. This is not to mention that many people who could be considered employers sympathized with that group. I still think that a simple class distinction as an explanation for the attack in DC and for subsequent potential attacks is disingenuous. If you do not acknowledge the power of social issues (such as systemic racism) rendered in their historical context, I think any so called solutions are doomed to fail. Although I don't believe that this is simply about white supremacy, it remains a powerful issue that has never been adequately dealt with in this country. Many people (including blacks, latinos, whites, asians and others) don't realize they have negative attitudes and beliefs about those with whom they have very little social contact. Confronting these issues will be difficult. It is easier for people to just ignore them and pretend that the best solutions are economic. I have always believed that there is an interaction between race and class as opposed to one being more explanatory of distress than the other in a linear way.

[@PatrickCordaneReeves]

Employer vs employee divide doesn't include landlords, who extract money from others merely from owning property. This is why property vs propertyless is more useful (my opinion).

[@IzitAllGoUnder]

To an extent, but workers or employees can also be property owners, their homes, even vacation homes and rental units. Landlord to tenant is more like a contract or agreement, you can use my property as long as you give me an agreed to amount in return. Although, not always a fair exchange.

[@PatrickCordaneReeves]

@@IzitAllGoUnder Personal property, such as your car or house, is not what's in question. Private property, that which is owned for the purposes of making profit, such as large areas of land, houses beyond the one you live in, or factories, is what this dichotomy refers to. Keep your toothbrush, but don't expect to extract value from someone else's labor just because you own the place. Thus, property vs propertyless. Those with capital and those without.

[@rcmrcm3370]

Landlords are a class of employer, the people who rent from them have to do work (produce money) to pay rent, it's just like piece work. In the old days, waiters paid the restaurant owner to have a position in their restaurant, certainly they were employees. One could also be an employer and an employee, simplest example is an executive who also has a maid working in his home, but there are many more complicated examples, that open up once a little analysis is done.

[@PatrickCordaneReeves]

@@rcmrcm3370 Think you've explained how the employer/employee dichotomy isn't a good one. Appreciate it.

[@rcmrcm3370]

@@PatrickCordaneReeves No problem, but remember it's the relationship, not the person, Dr. Wollf is writing about. The weak minded like to stick to one label in their relationships: wife, child, boss, co-worker, but life's complicated. Dr. Wolff is providing clarity on a particular slice of life.

[@jackri7676]

Did your view change since New Departure in Marxian Theory? Because if I recall my reading correctly, you viewed class in strictly value related terms. Those who live by producing surplus, and those who can live by extracting or working with surplus. The two class processes that surround surplus value seemed to be your approach to class based analysis back then, but perhaps I haven’t read far enough yet. Love the video nonetheless!

[@dylan8131]

This helps me understand the logical thread of Prof Wolff's analysis of the Capitol insurrection. thank you Mr Wolff. However, I still think that economic story is only a fractional part of the story. The vast majority of Wolff's working class did not turn to violence. A huge part of Wolff's working class voted democrat. Therefore, class is not the common denominator. I'd suggest that the effects social media, and the Trump cult of personality are better places to look for prescient explanations of these events.

[@BelieveWhatyouwant]

Both sides are full of it!!!!!

[@LordKorgyab]

I absolutely agree with this. I often wonder how we will manage to awaken our "right wing" brothers and sisters to the fact that they are voting for the party that has its boot heel directly on their throats. I understand why they are confused but I don't see any easy way to turn that into enlightenment. Maybe professor Wolff will explain that to us some day. That would be my ask profwolff question.

[@jasonablah7702]

Working class Pub/Dem have the same struggles. Seems like Conservatives are on Team Trump over GOP. People at the top's worst fear is for the working class of all backgrounds to unite. Hence why pit people against each other and stir racial tension.

[@volta2aire]

If you think *primitive accumulation is a good thing,* you are either a thief or a capitalist. You are not a member of the working class. "The problem of *primitive accumulation of capital* concerns the origin of capital, and therefore of how class distinctions between possessors and non-possessors came to be." Wikipedia

[@Invading-Specious]

I work with alternative community mostly in squats/social centros. no dependence of money however more re-use in otherwise empty workspaces. Its for me the ultimate place to be, otherwise i would be just another slave or enslaved to substances designed to finish us off. peace!

[@shawnfrey]

But will we ever get to a more fair working class system with everyone picking the pocket of the worker thereby reducing their motivation to continue working... I don't think so.

[@jermainemyrn19]

What he says seems like common sense, but it isn't common knowledge for most Americans why?

[@evanshaffer4481]

The Cold War basically ensured that communism/socialism would never be an allowed system in the US because it “threatens” capitalism. The government made it their mission to deny and suppress these ideas for decades and still does to this day (though we are seeing progress).

[@ec8107]

@@evanshaffer4481 the propaganda is strong. They have successfully bound capitalism to the constitution. If you asked most Americans, they would probably agree that capitalism equals constitutional freedom.

[@ragnar3434]

I feel like the term we're looking for is petite bourgeois.

[@fi0nner]

Petit bourgeois just means small business owner. Shop keeper, small landlord, etc. But wealthy, middle class, employees can still become aligned with the ruling class because it's within their economic self interests. It's not "self delusion" for a lawyer to align with the right wing. It's entirely rational and within his financial self interests. Wolff is missing this nuance. Not very Marxian to dismiss this factor.

[@narancauk]

Prof you have forgotten Communists :) :) :) .......................... Europeans and non EU.

[@TheDavid2222]

I always refer to Trotsky's "Fascism: What it is and How to Fight it." There is a distinction to be made between the proletariat, lumpenproletariat, and the petite bourgeoisie. These classifications denote the relation of the groups to the means of production, and are not arbitrary.

[@Tacklepig]

Lumpenproletariat has historically always been a term referring to unemployed and poor people in a derogatory way, I don't think classifying people who are less well off as subhuman really gets as anywhere.

[@TheDavid2222]

@@Tacklepig The term was used explicitly by Marx and Engels and every other classical Marxist. It is a scientific classification, not a moral one.

[@rcmrcm3370]

Useful they are, but do remember Dr. Wolff is saying his definition is needed to understand his writing, and can be useful in other analysis. He isn't claiming it is universal, just needed to understand him.

[@rcmrcm3370]

@@Tacklepig Any term used to define that class as Marx used it will eventually through miss-use become seen as a slander. Just like moron, imbecile were originally scientific terms. I don't recommend shouting that term at people, mostly as they won't understand it, but it's appropriate to use the term in a chat around a topic raised by a professor famous for his writing on Marx.

[@volvolakaemma9209]

My analysis is, it is petit bourgeois trying hard not to be proletarianized as capitalism is crumbling around them. Happened everytime fascism rears its head to restore capitalism

[@paladinsorcerer67]

So called "professionals" are the monied middle class. I sense that they don't consider themselves to be working class. They subscribe to the dichotomy of "those who have alot of money" (them) vs "those who dont have alot of money" (most other people). When they come up against someone who has alot of money, but isnt a professional, they switch over to "those who are intellectually superior" (them) vs "those who are intellectually inferior" (most other people). This is the basis of their belief in the meritocracy - it works great so long as it benefits them. One more thing, I really enjoy Professor Wolff's videos, but I wonder how he rectifies his education at ivy league colleges against his political beliefs. I am not trolling, I wonder how anyone can reach the beliefs that Professor Wolff is lecturing on, when the system that he came from is hostile to them. Much thanks for all of Professor Wolff's many efforts.

[@549BR]

If you receive a pink slip and are laid off, you're working class. If you issue the pink slips, you're not working class, but probably middle or upper middle class.

[@bryan17293]

Learning Class learning class issues.

[@JohnnyJPatt]

I think I’m more of a nationalist populist than anything else. I support the idea of free universal healthcare, universal basic income, and free access to all levels of education. “The same as most Democrats do” But at the same time, I want a secure border, the right to keep and bear arms for self defense, freedom of speech, to peaceably assemble, etc. I want a secure border and strict immigration laws not because I have anything against immigrants, but because I want American citizens to get the biggest peace of the American pie as possible. I have no interest whatsoever in sharing that wealth with foreign nationals. Otherwise we will have to do it for the entire world and any value our country may have once had will soon become impoverished and destitute. Making equality an oxymoron. Plus I don’t want citizens surrounding our border communities to have to live with crime and drugs coming from the drug cartels, terrorist threats etc. Some liberals may not like this view but China 🇨🇳 runs their country in this exact same manner. They don’t tolerate incursions on their borders and they certainly don’t share their wealth with illegal aliens.

[@artiechung]

Wait, I don’t understand how Doctors are employees. I Guess he only means doctors hired by other doctors or hospitals? Do Doctors who own their own clinics counts as employees?

[@SABRENOSE]

No they own a means of production but they are dominated by the ideology of insurance and medical manufacturing

[@antennawilde]

The left is often correct on their criticisms of the right, just as the right is often correct on their criticisms of the left. But this is too confusing for people who do not understand how the political game works, so they pick a side and cheerlead their team. But the truth is that both parties hide behind the same curtain, while the people forever twist in the wind.

[@narancauk]

Prof you have overlooked one thing! USA did not have a war for 4 Trumps years...And that has not happened ever.

[@narancauk]

@Temporary Account Which ones??

[@lorastojanovic]

I admire Professor Wolff's intellect and passion very much. However, in this video he seems to operate under the tacit assumption that the Democratic Party is on the side of the working or the 'employee' class and that the Republican Party on the side of the 'employer' class. I believe that this assumption is horribly wrong - both parties are firmly on the side of the 'employer' class. In fact, although the Democratic Party is trying to pretend that they are on the side of the employees, there are good reasons to think that the Democratic Party is even more on the side of the employer class than the Republican Party because they persistently support the interests of the globalist capital, while at the same time imposing white racism and male sexism as problems that are more serious than the capitalist exploitation, which currently they are not. (In fact, this narrative has only served to normalize anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, and furthermore it works in favor of the interests of the employer class because it divides the employee class - just note how big corporations are leading the bandwagon of the public fight against the alleged systemic white racism and male sexism). This is ultimately extremely harmful for the interests of the 'employee' class, and many members of this class have started to feel abandoned by the Democratic Party, and some of them have even turned toward Trump - not because they support capitalist exploitation, but because they are against globalism and moral panic of anti-white racism and anti-male sexism. Without appreciating all this, it is not possible to properly understand the rise of Trumpism and the further decline of the political power of the employee class.

[@vivalaleta]

Wolff is quite aware of the Corptocracy. The blue side plays the hero on the side of the people. In order to fool some they must throw out a bone now and then. The red side act like the sociopaths they are and still have fans.

[@thoremblem3625]

Would someone like the manager at the local McDonald’s franchise still be considered part of the employer class? Or is this an example of someone from the working class who’s been given a title and control over a handful of other people as a way to manufacture their consent for capitalism? I just struggle to see how a manager that’s making $40k/yr and only has a handful of people as employees could be considered not working class

[@rcmrcm3370]

@B Badenov Being logical is your problem, this is an EMOTIONAL issue (used by capitalist) aimed at dividing people. You're a dupe, plain and simple. Either use logic or be prepared to live long frustrating life continuing to lick your masters' boot.

[@matthewingerson]

Thor, you are quite correct. A manager is an employee. They are given their job by an employer. The employer gives the manager a different title, some authority, and greater compensation than other employees to obtain and maintain the manager's loyalty. But some managers choose to sympathize and empathize with the employees below them. Some managers try to act in the best interest of the employees below them, and not in the best of the employer. Some managers understand that without the employees below them, the manager will have to do more work. These kinds of managers are called "good bosses" by the employees below them. But some managers choose to sympathize and empathize with the employer above them. Some managers act in their own self-interest, have inflated egos due to their title, and wield their authority like a tyrant over the employees below them. Some managers forget how easily replaceable they are and how easily they can be demoted to the same position as the employees below them. These kinds of managers have been called "class traitors" historically.

[@FrogmortonHotchkiss]

I'm a fan and regular viewer, Richard, but I disagree with you here, and I think this article effectively articulates my counter-argument for me: www.thebellows.org/the-myth-of-the-99/ I don't want to distort the truth for 'tactical' reasons (i.e. to win over a large base of support that includes more influential & powerful, middle-class professionals)... In the long run, I don't think it's even 'tactically' sound to do so. Leads to Pyrrhic victories. The truth has to include the real and unsavoury Game Theory-style dynamics that play out when a group is able to flatter themselves that they are righteous while being invested enforcers for the system. The same schoolteacher can manifest rebelliousness in one moment of a lesson and be a capo in the next moment. They face a genuine conflict over ideals vs self-interest; it's not just scales in their eyes. And not all employers are Jeff Bezos??

[@maximthefox]

It does not matter how big the business, how much profit is made, or how many are employed.. if it's a private business the owner/s extract profit from their workers via wage slavery.

[@locusta4662]

no . The word class comes from ecclesia that means group . And socialism is the group of all the people . The socialism doesn't want to destroy industry but want all people to be industrial . they want to cancell the differences/borders between classes to create one single class

[@rcmrcm3370]

Did you give linguistics classes to Bill Clinton? Dr. Wolff did not say his is the only way to define class, he said it's the definition you must have in mind if you want to understand what he is trying to teach. If you want to learn, then you have to listen and here's the important part, try to understand the other person.

[@locusta4662]

@@rcmrcm3370 no i'm simply half italian and half greek . I know both the words origins ( class and socialism) . If you think that i said somthing wrong you could correct me , i'm not touchy , but please don't talk to me with presupposition . If i disturb him he could expell me , but if i don't and i didn't said anything wrong you can even stop your blabblering

[@jbeihl1]

Using a convenient definition of the working class that allows you to count someone making 100k a year or more seems crazy when the majority of people make way less then that per year

[@NotShowingOff]

Most jobs are at-will. So regardless of salary, they are all fairly fragile.

[@jbeihl1]

@@NotShowingOff that doesn’t matter in terms of trying to frame someone making six figures like Zip tie guy as being a member of the “downtrodden “ working class. These people might wear flannel and have beards and mullets and beer bellies but that doesn’t make them working class. Most of them could afford to take days off of work and get a hotel in downtown DC for this nonsense

[@NotShowingOff]

jbcomics so I guess you want to frame it as white collar and blue collar, or something like that. There is something to that. But it depends. A blue collar employee of a federal or state govt is in many ways better off than a white collar employee for a private firm, for instance. White collar jobs are getting rarer as AI is takin many. Many investment banking jobs will be consolidated within the next decade because of AI. It’s a changing landscape. But wolf’s analysis gets to the focal points

[@daveyjohnsson7111]

landlord class?

[@gregorysalazar8370]

The banks control the land lords.

[@screenarts]

Rent seekers, The old movie It's a Wonderful Life taught that generation how the banker wanted renters payrent forever on his properties, not owners.

[@samdegoeij6576]

CLASSic🤭

[@jonnsmusich]

Who? is the working class? Learn English before you try forming a neologism. A class cannot be a who, only a what. Just mildly warm air you are spouting.

[@CapitalCapitalismModernity]

Such an expansive definition of *working class* , makes it almost meaningless as a concept

[@darthjarjarbinkstherealsit6832]

Before video. The ppl who work?

[@ivanlaws622]

This Current Situation is just the start. It's been fifty years in the making. It is part of a social cycle that has played out throughout history with wars and revolutions the usual outcome. This cycle includes groups of oligarchies that are at work trying to control our society and have been for decades and even centuries.

[@joeanthony7759]

Yes. But the post-atomic age (after 1945) is unlike all eras before, in that never in such a short time had technology advanced so quickly(to both our benefit and detriment) and our species multiplied so exponentially....we’re in uncharted waters now

[@RBLXGaming23]

Wolff does not understand how class is defined by Marx. He doesn't get to just define the term in a new way.

[@Davod2139]

Your analysis misses the mark. A lot of people identify as working class because they are culturally working class.

[@Benny_Shill]

I'm ready for "the GREAT RESET", I own XRP and 0xMR

[@jhaychylla]

I just unsubscribed for multiple reasons. The main reason is that you seem to support Socialism over Capitalism. I think you'd do everyone a great service by giving examples of where Socialism was and is a success. I believe most ppl come to the U.S. to escape Socialism and everyone should take time to research their stories. The other is that you gave a vague description of the social components of the Democratic party, making sure to mention the different minority groups (giving indications that THAT is where they need to stay)....while your description of the Republican party includes the white supremacist sector. You should have mentioned that the Democratic party "started" and used the KKK back then much like that of todays that began and uses AnTee-fa. The failure to mention the the Republican party started with 2/3's Black racial make up and they, the Republicans were responsible for ensuring Blacks had representation and protection regarding emancipation, the voting/civil rights and also the women's rights would give those groups the better experiences that they enjoy today, ad compared to earlier times in history. I am Independent/Conservative, but I trust what the Republicans offer over much more than the Democrats. Critical thinking broughtme to where I am.

[@ray9081]

Both of ur parties are a much of neoliberals and the cia & global capitalist imperialism fucked over every people’s movement ever started so that’s just bullshit.

[@jhaychylla]

@@ray9081 While I can't argue with you on what you stated about the apparently compromised two party system we have in the U.S., significant elements of both party seem to be answering to entities other than We, the ppl, I am curious as to what part is b.s....the history, or the current ideologies they individually espouse? I think, with the traditional Democratic party, taking a hard Left turn trying to sell the Green deal (?) and seeming excited about keeping the country locked down, saying Welcome to the New Normal, they are pushing b.s. The Repubs, under the leadership of Trump, seem to be about exposing truth and defending the ppl in America *first* . The Left, wanting to shut down the Right and using everything in their tool bags to do it, is unAmerican...Freedom of speech, the ability to peacefully assemble and protest, without being hijacked and attacked by someone who disagrees with you, is not right. We can talk about political issues, expressing our points of view all fay, but we have to be civil and honest...we are neighbors and brothers. The attacks aren't productive.

[@rcmrcm3370]

It's great in the USA where we have socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the poor. So you can see who does better. Bye. However, I know you'll be back, you can't help it.

[@Infamous...Socialist]

Most people who escaped Socialism were apart of the ruling class who had exploited workers. These people were landowners or plantation owners. There are people from these countries who talk about how bad socialism was, yet there are polls from Romania, for example, where their citizens want socialism back, because, they had a better quality of life. These people are traitors to their own country! Some of those people love it when the U.S. places sanctions on their country so that they'll have a hard time trading (i.e. Cuba). By the way, the U.S. imposes these harsh sanctions just to tell Americans how bad socialism is, even though it was Americans who staged civil wars, and bombed their country to pieces. It's a dirty game that's played! These people who talk about the horrors of socialism in their home country, are no different than slaves who lived in the house with the master. On top of that, they are paid by Republicans (and C.I.A.) to say these sort of things in order to get visas... I have no respect for people like that!

[@Infamous...Socialist]

@@jhaychylla Republicans from the 1800s are Democrats now! Go research the Southern Strategy!

[@robichard]

A misguided bozo !

[@vivalaleta]

Yes, indeedy you are! 🐑

[@onecardshort2934]

lol he don't want to look at who has the property. Had to come up with a definition that could make a cis white propertied millionairre celebrity professor part of the working class. lmfao

[@tintun8918]

He didn't "came up" with this definition. This is the most basic Marxist definition of class used by socialists. Nobody who is seriously in the Left disagrees with this.

[@onecardshort2934]

​@@tintun8918 You are claiming, and so far 3 ppl have liked your claim, that an obvious boss is part of the working class.

[@darrylgoodwin7947]

The boss is part of the working class if he's not the owner of the business. He's just part of the hierarachical division the the owners put in place to keep the working class from uniting.

[@tintun8918]

@@onecardshort2934 He is not self employed.

[@tintun8918]

@@darrylgoodwin7947 I think this person is just a cynical liberal who is trying to discredit a prominent leftist.

[@smartiepancake]

Lord-Serf, Master-Slave, Employer-Employee, c'mon man, that's so cynical.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

D Bruce - “Cynical” is just another way of saying, “true”.

[@Tacklepig]

Why?

[@marqgoldberg7454]

The perfect word for the corporate structure cyn·i·cal adjective 2 concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Marq Goldberg - Where I come from, it simply means, “dog-like” 🐕 (“κυνικός”).

[@smartiepancake]

@@dorianphilotheates3769 I bet I'm the only one here with direct experience. What is an employer? Is he, say, a chef who opened his own cafe? And who are his employees? Do their experiences require comparison to serfdom and slavery? Or is this another attempt to demonize the middle class? (Where in history have we seen that before?)

[@jewelshea18]

I'm Single 😍😥

[@tytraulich4987]

Misc

[@robertcox14]

Proletariat is too big a word, but "they" have realized and "learned", despite all the "dumbing down" of American culture, that the American proletariat have finally realized they have been screwed by the billionaires. "Screwed" is much more understood than "the proles".

[@Gaming_Burnout]

Это удивительно,как марксисты на западе работают вместе и популяризируют социализм в то время как наши марксисты определяют кто из них троцкист,а кто сталинист,хотя молодёжь даже не знает кто такой Ленин.

[@sebastiaanbaert8379]

@blue bird news both antisemitic dogwhistles and a poor understanding of communism in one comment

[@robbietorkelsonn8509]

@@sebastiaanbaert8379 And a total inability to use google

[@Gaming_Burnout]

@@yuiwan2925 он проводит хоть какую-то агитацию. Спасибо ему и на том.

[@ОлександрКрестін]

Вы посмотрите с каким респектом в одном из последних интервью Волф задаёт вопросы анархисту Чомски (Хомски), как внимательно его выслушивает, и как Чомски ему отвечает. Их взгляды во многом различны, но они ищут точек соприкосновения, на просторах бывшего СССР левые стремятся лишь заклеймить и унизить друг друга.

[@Daniel-fr3us]

Ruling Class can also simply mean Bourgeoisie in a capitalist Society.

[@thecatsbackyard4833]

Greetings from Cypress, California. 👋

[@Theroadneverending]

Your dividing of people into terms in such negative terms doesn’t further unity

[@JeffPenaify]

My question is where do the self employed fit under this framework? I'm an electrician and I happen to have family, friends who sub contract their labor in a market economy, no employees, and if there is 2-3 at most who are apprentices and insured, how does self employed who work their asses off and making stable modest income, fit in the framework of class? Theres millions of artists, musicians, skilled laborers, storefront owners who are self employed and operate in the local economy, where do they fit in class distinction, how do we reach out to them, and whats a socialist alternative to self employed laborer?

[@jbeihl1]

It certainly IS NOT Trumps base! You had a retired six figure Colonel with zip ties and people flying in on private jets.

[@vladimirstanescu6616]

Soros and Bezos, obviously.