From: Jim Devine
As people might remember, I follow C. Wright Mills to distinguish between the world ruling _class_ (essentially, the capitalist class) and the governing _elite_, which is what Mills called "the power elite" (in his book of the same name). The first rules the capitalist mode of production and benefits from the extraction of surplus-value, while the second governs the state, obviously with a lot of input from the ruling class. ^^^^^ CB: My thought is we might want to use a stronger word than "input" to describe the ruling class influence on the state policies that impact class struggle significantly. Judges as well as state executives and legislators are part of the governing elite ( not that you excluded them). Also, we might want to think about "world ruling" class relationship to US ruling class. ^^^^ It's the elite -- or rather a collection of governing elites -- that have to make decisions. The ruling class is less organized, more competitive, and thus follows regular "laws" of motion more than making collective decisions and putting them into action. (Because there is some competition among elites and some collusion among capitalists, the distinction is not hard and fast. Of course, when the major elites get together -- like at the G-10 (11?) meetings -- some of the competition is put aside.) ^^^^ CB: My thought on this is that with respect to matters that impact class struggle , the ruling class is substantially unified most of the time. In the US , the governing elite must respond to interests of the ruled class significantly , even as they contradictorily also represent the interests of the ruling class. The contradictory nature of the Democratic Party over the last 80 years. ^^^^^^^ I've mentioned the wings before. To the extent they are organized politically, the major two might be summed up in US terms as "the Tea Party Republicans" (the GOP) and the "moderate Republicans" (the Democratic Party). The Koch brothers vs. George Soros. -- CB: Unions , People of Color, women et al have significant influence on the Democratic Party. Are these the wings of the _world_ ruling class ? _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
