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'''Class''' is the objective and concrete division of society based on the [[division of labor]].
'''Class''' in Marxist theory denotes groups of persons distinguished by their relation to the means of production, and — more fundamentally — by their position in the social division of labor.


Classes, from the [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] point of view, are primarily defined by their respective relations to [[production]].
== Marx's conception ==
Class is not primarily a matter of income bracket or lifestyle (the sociological usage), but of '''relation to production''':
* The '''bourgeoisie''' own the means of production and live from surplus value.
* The '''proletariat''' own nothing but their labor-power, which they must sell to live.
* Intermediate strata (petty bourgeoisie, peasantry, lumpenproletariat) occupy unstable positions between the two fundamental classes.


Every society in history so far has been a form of '''class society''':<ref>"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." (The Communist Manifesto)</ref> in [[slavery]], the [[Master/Slave dialectic|master and slave]]; in [[feudalism]], the lord and serf; in [[capitalism]], the [[bourgeoisie]] and [[proletariat]]. In [[socialism]], which [[sublation|sublates]] capitalism, the proletariat becomes the ruling class and seeks to end the cyclical becoming of class society by putting the [[means of production]] in the peoples' hands.
Crucially, a class only becomes a political force — a ''class for itself'' — when it is organized and conscious of its historical mission, rather than merely a ''class in itself'' defined structurally.


Each stage of class society develops unevenly, and each develops differently according to its local conditions. Secondary or non-principle classes have existed since the beginning of class society as well; there are some transitional periods and features of each stage of class society which develop over their lives; and further, there are [[discursive|discursions]] which cause rapid or even immediate transition to further stages, such as Russian or Chinese serfdom's quick transformations into socialism, or American slavery's transition into capitalism.
== Infrared's development ==
Haz Al-Din has criticized the reduction of class to economic category, arguing:
* '''Class is a political and spiritual position''', not merely an economic one. A worker can be bourgeois in consciousness; a member of the old aristocracy can be proletarian in spirit.
* The concept must be distinguished from the sociological "middle class" discourse that fragments the people into consumption brackets.
* In the American context, the '''people''' — including the patriotic working class abandoned by both parties — is the subject of politics, which is the premise of [[MAGA Communism]]: consolidating the popular base away from false consciousness and toward communism.


== Primitive Communism ==
== See also ==
* [[State]]
* [[Labor Aristocracy]]
* [[Communism, State and Class]]


The fundamental division of labor was based on sexual difference (men and women had different jobs owing to a difference in relation to the reproduction of the tribe/humanity).<ref>The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State</ref>
== References ==
<references/>


== Slavery ==
[https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev Infrared transcript catalog] — see e.g. ''Communism, State and Class'' (2021-01-24).


== Feudalism ==
[[Category:Marxist theory]]
 
== Capitalism ==
 
The stage in which class society rots and decays once and for all is capitalism; the stage which takes it's place and paves the road out of class society is (the mode of production of) [[socialism]]. The real movement of the people, the seizure of [[private property]] and the [[sublation]] of the bourgeois state by the proletarian class, is [[Communism]].
 
== Socialism ==
 
[[Karl Marx]] said that socialism will first appear very similar to capitalism. [[Deng Xiaoping]] said "to get rich is glorious."

Revision as of 08:51, 21 August 2026

Class in Marxist theory denotes groups of persons distinguished by their relation to the means of production, and — more fundamentally — by their position in the social division of labor.

Marx's conception

Class is not primarily a matter of income bracket or lifestyle (the sociological usage), but of relation to production:

  • The bourgeoisie own the means of production and live from surplus value.
  • The proletariat own nothing but their labor-power, which they must sell to live.
  • Intermediate strata (petty bourgeoisie, peasantry, lumpenproletariat) occupy unstable positions between the two fundamental classes.

Crucially, a class only becomes a political force — a class for itself — when it is organized and conscious of its historical mission, rather than merely a class in itself defined structurally.

Infrared's development

Haz Al-Din has criticized the reduction of class to economic category, arguing:

  • Class is a political and spiritual position, not merely an economic one. A worker can be bourgeois in consciousness; a member of the old aristocracy can be proletarian in spirit.
  • The concept must be distinguished from the sociological "middle class" discourse that fragments the people into consumption brackets.
  • In the American context, the people — including the patriotic working class abandoned by both parties — is the subject of politics, which is the premise of MAGA Communism: consolidating the popular base away from false consciousness and toward communism.

See also

References


Infrared transcript catalog — see e.g. Communism, State and Class (2021-01-24).

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