I don't know who first used the "class in itself" vs. "class for itself" terminology, but it precedes Bukharin's 1921 work.
>From "Socialistic Fallacies" by Yves Guyot, at p. 323: In France, the theorists and the leaders of the Confederation of Labour, MM. Georges Sorel, Hubert Lagardelle and Griffuelhes, with greater hardihood, clearly say that they intend to put all the lower middle class outside the door of Socialism, in order to extricate the workman from the “slough of democracy.” Their aim is that the economic and the political classes be united into one, and they distinguish between “the class in itself” and “the class for itself,” the former constituting the “economic group” and the latter the “psychological group.” The “class in itself” is supplied by proletarians of the type conceived by Karl Marx, whose hours of labour constantly increase in length, while their wages decrease; the “class for itself” overruns them and annexes owners of small properties, small and even great traders and employers, clerks, officials, philanthropists, millionaires, Protestant pastors, priests, professors, men of letters, etc. But Karl Marx, a doctor of the University of Berlin, and the son‐in‐law of a Prussian “junker,” was not a member of the proletariat of which he declared himself to be the great chief. The same was the case with Engels, who was entrusted by his father with the management of a large cotton mill at Manchester, and who, while following the hounds and leading the life of a gentleman, was not ruined by his efforts. How many men are there at the head of the German Socialist Party, who are entitled to be ranked with the “class in itself?” Mr. Hyndman, the founder of Social Democracy in London, is a rich member of the middle class. Is Frances Evelyn, Countess of Warwick, with her castle and her 20,000 acres–a lady who is a first‐rate horsewoman and a member of the Social Democratic Federation–a member of the “class in itself?” https://www.google.com/books/edition/Socialistic_Fallacies/JoouAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22yves+guyot%22+%22socialist+fallacy&printsec=frontcover The preface to the cited translation is dated September 1909. The preface to the French edition, Sophismes Socialistes et Faits Économiques, is dated November 1907. p. xi at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sophismes_socialistes_et_faits_%C3%A9conomiq/458y0FM6vsMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=guyot+%22sophismes+socialistes%22&printsec=frontcover ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Guyot#Works ) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8580): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8580 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82800900/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
