[lbo-talk] ciao, unions

c b cb31450 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 25 10:09:41 PST 2010


I think it useful to "use" petty producer rather than the French "petty bourgeoisie." That's a class that lives in the interstices of capitalism. As social shorthand, then, but not of class analysis, one culd loosely lump small capitalists, petty proucers, and more independent workers into the petty boufgeios, focusing on "lfie style," income, consciusness, etc rather than class poisiton. "Middle class" (however meant) creates endless confusion. Some years ago the WSJ referred to postal employees as the "last subsidized mieddle-class wage" or something like that. Are many independent craftsmen (plumbers, electricians, etc) included in the union ffigures. For many years the presdient of the McLean County Trdes & Labaor Assembly owned his own bar but was a member of the bartender's unon (whatever that is called).

Carrol

^^^^^ CB: Empirically, I find lots of people who are low income and hustle a lot. They are working class, but have their own business, of a sort. They are part of the relative surplus population, that Marx refers to at ....

Anyway, I speuclate sometimes " well , their consciousness has a petit bourgeois streak because of their occupation, but it is a combined working class/pb consciousness"



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