Talk:Labor federation competition in the U.S.

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[edit] class consciousness

I had considered linking to Class consciousness from the text in the article. However, the class consciousness of the WFM and the (Western/American) Labor Union federations, in my view, were a "secularized" version of the marxist concept of class consciousness. Unfortunately, alternative interpretations-- the socialist and anarchist descriptions, for example-- of class consciousness have been purged from the class consciousness article.

The IWW had its own informal notions of class consciousness, a philosophy which in practice has seemed much more acceptable to the U.S. working class. These notions gave a nod to Marx, but staked out a uniquely American re-interpretation, signalled by slang. For example, a proletarian became a "prole," and a plutocrat was called a "plute." The significance of these expressions is subtle, but substantial-- they basically declare that Wobblies don't accept the idea of some vanguard telling us how to talk, or what to do.

I have thought about creating a separate article describing the alternate theories of class consciousness, and linking to the existing page for the marxist version. Alternatively, fighting the marxists to make the page less sectarian is a (daunting, but perhaps preferable) possibility. In any case, i won't link to that page as it is. Feedback invited. Richard Myers 18:55, 8 February 2007 (UTC)