The Carpathia isn’t coming to rescue this government still swimming in the mire, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
What is a 'labour aristocracy' — did one exist in the past and does it exist today?
Did the entire British working class constitute a labour aristocracy during the colonial era? Do highly skilled tech workers now? The MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY investigates a controversial but useful area of communist discourse
As the RMT Health and Safety Conference takes place, the union is calling for urgent action on crisis of work-related stress, understaffing and the growing threat of workplace assaults. RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY explains
Current polling shows Scottish Labour faces a stark choice: break decisively with Westminster or continue its slide into irrelevance, warns VINCE MILLS
As discussions continue between the US and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment programme, the suppression of internal dissent by the theocratic dictatorship grows. STEVE BISHOP reports.
Last weekend’s inaugural conference mixed warmth, unity and ambition with the unmistakable echo of old arguments. MATT KERR wonders whether the fledgling party’s difficulties can be overcome
The US president’s career is defined by a consistent use of racist tropes and provocation. Why are world leaders so silent over his repeated vitriolic prejudice, asks ROGER McKENZIE
LET’S start with the first question — what “labour aristocracy” means, because the term has been and is today used in a variety of ways and it remains an area of debate amongst Marxists.
The Russian anarchist (and anti-Marxist) Mikhail Bakunin first used the term “aristocracy of labour” in the 1870s to refer to what he called the “upper layer” of the working class; “those who are the most cultured, who earn more and live more comfortably than all the other workers.”
In opposition to Marx and others, he challenged the idea that organised workers are the most radical and could lead to a “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
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