M-TH: Defining the working class changingly Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us Tue Aug 25 10:38:09 MDT 1998
Previous message: M-TH: end of cooperation with Straight Facts Radio. Next message: M-TH: BP & Amoco Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From another list: http://www.wpb.be/icm/icm.htm This article, "The changes in the composition of the working class and the proletariat" by Comrade Jean Pestieau of the Workers' Party of Belgium and presented at the International Communist Seminar in Brussels is very relevant in this day and age when the bourgeoisie is claiming that the proletariat is becoming "insignificant" as the economies of advanced countries shifts from industry to services. In this well researched presentation, Comrade Jean Pestieau refutes this claim of the "insignificance" of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie. I must thanks the WPB for this article since it is a question I have been interested in for a long time. Since it contains some graphics, I have provided the link above and the first section of the article. ........... Top of article follows:= ======================================================================= International Communist Seminar Brussels, May 2-4, 1998 The changes in the composition of the working class and the proletariat Jean Pestieau Workers' Party of Belgium Summary To say that in the industrialised countries, the working class is disappearing as monopoly capitalism develops, is false. To the contrary, its composition is changing with the development of technologies that incorporate more and more intellectual labour in the production of commodities. The working class is becoming more and more prominent in the services sector. While acknowledging this evolution, the leading role of the industrial proletariat - both in the industrialised countries and in the Third World - must be underscored in terms of its conscientisation, its organisation and its unification of all workers in their fight for socialist revolution. The myth of the end of the working class According to the majority of bourgeois ideologues and to the reformists, today's workers in the industrialised countries are a species on the road to extinction. Capital would no longer need the working class to develop. The Manifesto of the communist party would be a thing of the past, as it claims: "To the extent that the bourgeoisie develops, i.e. capital, also the proletariat develops, the class of modern workers who survive only on the condition that they find employment, and who will find employment only if their labour increases capital." (1) Continue: http://www.wpb.be/icm/icm.htm This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
