Let us not forget those who are permanently unable to work, those who are unemployed and those who are excluded from employment. Those are not traditionally proletariat but in recent years they are a growing social force. Very good video Zoe
@@darkojan14 yeah exactly, even tho in the traditional definition they are not proletariat they are a unique social force with revolutionary potential as you said. It is very interesting because they are not exploited, they don't exploit, they don't live by their own work (self-employed), still they are not luben-proletariat. They are ex- proletariat or a proletariat in latent form but still is a topic for discussion, I think all those workers who are unemployed fue to technology, those who are mentally ill, students who never gonna work in their fields, those who have disabilities, the army of reserve workers etc, all affected directly by capitalism
@@judiciallegislator yes Marx has referred to them as an inherent feature of capitalism. The thing is that this reserve army is long-term unemployment, for a period of time they are not in proletariat but that's a topic of discussion, the question is then what are they ?
Working at Starbucks making like 30 lattes in an hour for $5-7 each, while I was only paid $10/hr, is what made me understand the labor theory of value.
You could get that from Adam Smith, though. The crazy thing about Marx is how unoriginal he (deliberately) is; he uses already existing analyses of capitalism *and* socialism in order to treat them with immanent critiques.
I have not seen it yet but my prediction is that it's going to be a complete banger. I'm watching it later and will return with an update. EDIT: It was an absolute banger
The notification I got include the words "please work" in the title. I can only imagine how many failed attempted uploads it took before begging to the RU-vid gods
Oooh, I thought it was asking me to work. You know, to be part of the proletariat. Maybe I need some sleep. Then again, the video's not gonna watch itself.
One of the things I love about your style of videos is not only are they very informative, but have such an incredibly dry, absurd, and specific style of humor. Like ending a 2 hour video on the history of the word Proletariat with the opening theme from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Brilliant.
Very informative video. One recommendation, visualising stats and data would improve the video. When you were mentioning what percentage of the population worked in agriculture vs rural manufacturing vs urban areas, having graphs on the screen to show the data would make the information much more comprehensible. Similarly, when reading out dates, visualising that using a timeline would help a lot.
The more I get into more contemporary, less Eurocentric socialism, the more alienating it is to hear proto and early socialist thought, especially on history. It really jarring to hear a guy say they don’t do slavery anymore in the 19 century as black women in America. Still really interesting stuff.
Very true that racism was still common even among most early socialists. If it wasn’t European, it wasn’t worth talking about. A simple through line to Hitler, really; his “socialism” being explicitly nationalist, racist, and exclusionary.
@@josephk.4200 there isn't a through line to *Hitler*. He only used the word socialism as a guise. The through line it to the Russian communists, from at least Stalin onwards
This was such a fantastic introduction to conceptions of classes! Really appreciate the historic exploration of the different definitions and their sources and evolution. Also loved the call to action and the anime outtro. Solidarity!
holy fuckin bing bang bong a bajillion minutes of Zoe Baker goin off. this is a good day. edit: this is the easiest game of where's waldo but its Zoe I have ever played btw.
Yeah! Great point about specific up-and-coming classes versus the general proletariat of all alienated, exploited labor (it doesn't have to generate profit directly! It's enough that the economy as a whole is organized to maximize the profits of capitalists!)
1:47:04 ; what a beautiful way to end this crucial video essay! thank you so much comrade Zoe for your hard work, hope you doing good 🏴 and donate to Zoe, now
Excellent video! Just curious, about your footnote, where did Draper claim this? I never read this claim before. This definition would exclude dock workers from the proletariat which I doubt Marx would have done.
Draper writes at the start of Karl Marx's theory of revolution volume 2: The proletariat "consists of workers whose livelihood depends on a wage relationship with employers of labor power, and who therefore produce surplus value in the process of commodity production." "The proletariat does not include all wage-workers. For example, it does not include wage-workers employed by government-road-building workers, in one example by Marx-since strictly speaking they do not produce surplus value in the course of commodity production" "The proletariat does not consist only of workers “at the point of production” (again, however that phrase is interpreted). For example, transportation may contribute to the surplus value of the transported commodity; and a truck driver may be as proletarian as an assembly line hand." So Draper would include dock workers for the same reason he includes truck drivers.
Is it possible the the formation on nationalism was more readily adopted/ co-opted as a way to counter class consciousness? Like you aren’t a worker, you are an Italian. Has anyone written on this positively or negatively?
As a disabled enby trans woman, i have a problem with the talk here in the comments about "productivity". I feel that my value to socialists and such is only how much I can contribute to them. I feel alien and alienated from their socialist cause. that I am a subhuman whose worth is only how much I can contribute to *them*
I am very early into the video, but I feel this from a good bit of the left side of politics. There's many so called socialists and communists who seem to seem to believe in white supremacist,abliest,national chauvinistic, heteronormative and cisnormative beliefs as well as many others. How are we of minority- disenfranchised populations suppose to feel welcomed and truly apart of the movement when it seem a good bit of our comrades don't want us or even mock our needs? At what point do they start acting just like alot of the capitalists?
Wonderfully researched video as always! Though I don't really buy the intersectional argument you presented here anymore. It's absolutely true that a unified class is more powerful. But the In practice (at least in a conservative country like the US), the only options are being a small group with correct views on oppression, or appeal to the working class as a whole by adopting less progressive views. Importantly, if you choose the latter option, people in general won't listen to you because of their own partisan views.
It's those in favor of leteriaing. In opossition we have the antileterians or, as they're known in french, bourguieoesese. Sad that so many miss this quite essential part of Marx's work.
@@erdood3235 From latin meaning: "writers of letters". In the early 19th century, the first indication of a strike within worker associations was a letter that all in the comunity wrote together to list their demands. Those agaisnt it were called the "bourgeoisie" from french meaning "letter burner" as they usually burned them in strike busting activities.
where proletariat is an individual distinction, namely 'those whose use to the state is only reproduction' bourgeoisie is spatial, as in 'those who subsist from the superfluous activity of a city'. Where preIndustrial bourgeoisie was impossible, postIndustrial proletariat is unsightly. As if to advance the vanguard, without bringing up the rear.
