Originally written: 27.01.2021. After having reviewed Marx’s conception of the proletariat, the bourgeoisie, the landowning class, and the ‘intermediate classes’ – notably the petty-bourgeoisie and the peasantry, we now come to two last specific categories or concepts that contributed to his understanding of modern capitalist society: the lumpenproletariat and the relative surplus population. Relative Surplus […]
Month: April 2023
Marx’s Conception of the Middle Class(es), the Petty-Bourgeoisie and the Peasantry
Originally written: 21.01.2021. It is pretty common to hear, when talking about Marx’s conception of classes, that he thought the development of capitalism would simply reduce the social pyramid to a bipolar opposition between, on the one hand, the proletariat, and on the other hand, the bourgeoisie. This is almost always based on a quote […]
Marx’s Conception of the Ruling Class (2/2): The Landowner Class
Originally written: 11.01.2021. Across his political writings, Marx often talks about the ruling class as being composed of both capitalists and landowners. For instance, in Fictitious Splits in the International: Contrary to the sectarian organization, with their vagaries and rivalries, the International is a genuine and militant organization of the proletarian class of all countries, […]
Marx’s Conception of the Proletariat
Originally written: 15.09.2020. Hello everyone, this is part one of a project I have been working on, attempting to understand “how” and “what” Marx thought about class, with the eventual goal of revisiting the class-based analytical categories of materialist theory. The origin of the term “Proletariat” goes back to Ancient Rome (around the sixth century […]
Marx’s Conception of the Ruling Class (1/2): The Bourgeoisie
Originally written: 04.01.2021. For Marx, the ruling class of a given society – in a specific historical context and/or mode of production – is that minority social group which owns the means of social (re)production. This predominant social position also enables them to dominate the ideological-cultural and state-political realms. According to Stefano Petrucciani [1], these […]
Resources for the Future: Prefiguration, Revolution & Socialism
Note: this is a list on the age-old question of “what is to be done” in order to transform society from top to bottom. It will be regularly updated as I find new useful or interesting stuff. These are ‘materials’ I have find interesting or relevant for thinking and discussing about this crucial issue. Obviously, […]
The Authoritarian Mindset: How to Stop Worrying and Love the Cop in Your Head
Originally written: 26.07.2021. Let me clarify one thing: I don’t think that power, violence and social relations of domination/oppression/etc can or should be analyzed at the level of psychology, or “mindset”. It’s obviously systems of social relations that structure the everyday violence and oppression people face. Nonetheless, worldviews, beliefs, dogmas, and ideology all are part […]
Antisemitism: Overview & Resources
Originally written: 14.08.2021. One of the most enduring forms of hatred and violence in the world is Antisemitism, despite the fact that the worst historical events associated with it – especially the Holocaust, as well as the earlier pogroms in countries such as Russia – are “in the past”. Today Jews remain the targets of […]
(Inter)Nationalism, National Liberation & The Global Border/Nation-State Regime
Initially written: 23.11.2021 (last modification: 17.10.2023) In this post, I want to address a series of interrelated and overlapping topics that are a crucial part of the modern world system. On the one hand, the global border regime is one brutal aspect of the general(ized) system of nation-states – that is, of modern states in […]