Who is Working Class?

[James Devine]

At 11:35 AM 5/27/98 -0400, Barkley wrote:
> ... I do note that if one wants to get crudely technical, Marx himself
can be interpreted as arguing that  productive labor is only that which
results in material output, a viewpoint maintained in the former Soviet
income  and product accounts.  Such a view provides a basis for  saying
that indeed blue collar workers are really workers  and white collar
workers are not, more or less.<

No! First, for Marx, "productive labor" is labor that produces
surplus-value. Your definition (and that of the Soviets) is from Smith, not
Marx. (It might be argued, incorrectly to my mind, that the production of
physical products is a necessary step allowing the production of
surplus-value, but it's the latter that _defines_ "productive labor.")

Second, to say that only "productive workers" are "really workers" is to
adopt the perspective of the capitalist class as a whole. It's the
capitalist class as a whole that benefits from the production of
surplus-value (in capitalist society). The production of surplus-value is
also relevant to crisis theorists, but it isn't relevant to issues of the
social relations of production, the organization of a counter-hegemonic
movement, etc. 

(Marx himself said that being a productive laborer is a misfortune. See ch.
16 of vol. I for that and a summary of his perspective.)

Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
"he who is unable to live in society or has no need, because he is
sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god." -- Aristotle