Class Consciousness and Labor

With my work in organizing, the question has always been “how do we raise class consciousness?” To get to that, we need to understand what class consciousness even is, and how one gains it. What exactly does it mean to be class conscious?

The question can only be answered through Marxist theory. And the theory must include a theory of knowledge. How does anybody even know anything? How does a person communicate their ideas of consciousness to another? A host of questions must be answered before anybody can begin to understand how a person becomes conscious of class. All these questions aren’t metaphysical, but they are practical.

A Marxist theory of knowledge must be based in Mao’s definition of social practice as “position in production” as well as “cultural and scientific pursuits.” In other words, any experience one has in society determines how they know things, to summarize “On Practice.” This applies to class consciousness; all experiences of class position lead to the knowledge of class position and the conflict between classes. In particular, a peasant (or renter, etc. in the feudal relation) will have experiences that are directly related to knowledge of class contradictions between them and their landlord. However, class consciousness is also related to experience of communication regarding class. The means of communication (telephone, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are a means of producing knowledge, and this knowledge directly produces labor power, configured in a way as is considered socially useful. In other words, learning is a use of labor power, and the means of communication is a way of modifying the learning process as to produce socially useful labor (labor-power).

This is how class consciousness is made. Knowledge about class generated by capitalist media modify the consciousness of those who experience class oppression to make it socially useful, which means it is channeled into certain class behaviors that are designed not to question capitalism. It is for this reason that during the attempts to unionize an Amazon facility in Alabama, the company designed false Facebook and Twitter accounts to modify the way that workers expressed their grievances. The use of these accounts helped to manufacture knowledge on class conflict (in this case between proletariat and bourgeoisie) that would promote the continuation of the current conditions of labor to maintain profits and prevent the formation of workers’ power. In this sense, it taught people to express their grievances in such a way as to remain useful to the corporation in a certain sense that would allow it to control the class consciousness of its workers.

I have summarized a point made by Marxist theorist Raymond Williams in his work on the “Means of Communication as Means of Production.” When the capitalist media discusses class, it is always with an ulterior motive, whether those who are involved in the production of class consciousness are aware of it or not. The transition in the imperialist countries toward postindustrial (or imperialist) capitalism has exacerbated this trend towards manufacturing knowledge. The means of producing labor power are now the primary products of production in the heart of empire, all focused towards the production of socially useful labor designed specifically to perpetuate the imperialist way of life. Gramsci and his theory of hegemony are again useful; the intellectuals of the bourgeoisie and the imperialists are instrumental in the manufacture of the means of communication.

The intellectuals of the ruling classes (reporters, professors, teachers, and so on) are instrumental in the production of labor power, acting as machines transferring the value of their labor onto the product: all workers under capitalist imperialism. The workers themselves are becoming means of producing one another; they use the knowledge produced through their interaction with capitalist media as a means of communicating with others. This means that the workers produce themselves (with the added value of labor from the media they consume) and each other. Because knowledge and communication act as machines adding value to the labor done by the workers (or the colonized, depending on the class relation), they can be reproduced. In the same way that the worker reproduces their own labor power with their basic sustenance, the worker needs social interaction to know how to work in their profession and exist in their class status. They communicate with the intellectuals of the bourgeoisie and their own class, in this sense.

Because of this, it is important for Marxist media to use the tools of capitalism to our advantage. Class consciousness is not gained by reading dry books on the social conditions of life in rural China, but by consuming media in the here and now, and using this to inform one’s day-to-day actions. Theory is a weapon to manufacture class consciousness in a society that has developed a machine to produce media. This is a material product. To debate whether media becomes “symbolic capital” or whatever Slavoj Zizek, wishes to call an ideal commodity is pointless. The media produced becomes a literal commodity, one subsidized and directed consciously by corporations and the ruling classes to reproduce socially useful labor. The tools used are the rope with which the ruling classes will hang themselves. Marxist media also produces people in the current society, a weapon to guard against the development of new tools designed to maximize the use-value of the workers. The goal of our media as Marxists must be to disrupt the process of reproduction that allows capitalist imperialism to continue to function.

But how do we do this? It’s actually quite simple. Talk to your coworkers, talk to the people you interact with in organizing, and you will help to produce their behaviors. Speak to them, and be patient. Introduce them to Marxist media outlets, but do not do so artificially. Developing a relationship with the person you are speaking to is the strongest form of solidarity. This is the most effective means of communicating with a person. Not only does this raise their class consciousness, but it helps to shape the knowledge Marxists develop to change the world, to build revolutionary power. Mao noted this, that “we ourselves are often childish and ignorant,” while “without this understanding, it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge.” This also combats alienation, a force driven by the same division of labor Marx noted; the person who reproduces their labor power (their identity as well as the knowledge they need to work), does so in a series of fragments, where their whole self is split into different pieces of labor done in different places. The process of dividing labor in reproducing oneself, whether through self-care or consuming media, or any other way of doing so, has caused the increase in alienation.

And yet Marxism is the only way to combat it. Our knowledge, guided by our relationship with the masses and built through struggle, is the only way to destroy the capitalist system. The masses are the only force that matters in the making of world history, and we are their servants and their directors. It is through them that any of our knowledge is made possible, and through them only that change might be made. It is our duty to aid them to become conscious of their power and position, and ultimately, our duty to aid them in the overthrow of capitalist imperialism.