labour aristocracy

English

Alternative forms

(US) labor aristocracy
aristocracy of labour, (US) aristocracy of labor

Etymology

The theory about relatively privileged proletarians, thus more manipulable into collaborating with the bourgeoisie, was formulated by Friedrich Engels in a letter to Karl Marx [7 October 1858].^[1]^[2]^[3]

A precursor to the wording appears in Marx's Das Kapital, Volume I [1867].^[4]

Noun

labour aristocracy (countable and uncountable, plural labour aristocracies)

(socialism) Segment of the working class that enjoys a relatively privileged position compared to the rest of the working class as a result of higher salaries, better working conditions, etc., and which can lead them to have different interests and perspectives even though they continue to be exploited by capitalists.
- 1973 [1916], Vladimir Lenin, Империализм и раскол социализма (В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений; 30), page 170; English translation from Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (V. I. Lenin – Collected Works; 23), translation of original in Russian, 1974, page 117:
  The important thing is that, economically, the desertion of a stratum of the labour aristocracy to the bourgeoisie has matured and become an accomplished fact; and this economic fact, this shift in class relations, will find political form, in one shape or another, without any particular "difficulty".
  [original: Важно то, что экономически откол слоя рабочей аристократии к буржуазии назрел и завершился, а политическую форму себе, ту или иную, этот экономический факт, эта передвижка в отношениях между классами найдет без особого «труда».]
  Važno to, što ekonomičeski otkol sloja rabočej aristokratii k buržuazii nazrel i zaveršilsja, a političeskuju formu sebe, tu ili inuju, etot ekonomičeskij fakt, eta peredvižka v otnošenijax meždu klassami najdet bez osobovo «truda».
- 1957 September, George Molnar, “Anarchism”, in Libertarian‎^[2], number 1:
  He [Bakunin] found that there is a labour aristocracy of more developed, literate individuals, as well as an unconscious mass of workers.
- 2009 June 27, Jose Antonio Gutiérrez Danton, quoting Ashanti Omowali Alston, “Building a Non-Eurocentric Anarchism in Our Communities: Dialogue with Ashanti Alston”, in anarkismo.net‎^[3]:
  So they had indigenous folks who were members of the IWW, they had folks of African descent, they had folks who spoke Spanish, the Italians were coming, everybody was making their way to the IWW. But a lot of people don’t know that this movement waged a fierce battle against what can be called the labour aristocracy up to the government and the corporations at the time, who were brutally ruthless in their repression.

Usage notes

This term is controversial among socialists.

Translations

French: aristocratie ouvrière (fr) f
German: Arbeiteraristokratie f
Spanish: aristocracia obrera f
Russian: рабочая аристократия f (rabočaja aristokratija)
Vietnamese: công nhân quý tộc

References

^ Friedrich Engels (1978) [7 October 1858] Engels an Marx in London (Marx-Engels-Werke; 29) (in German), page 358: “[…] das englische Proletariat faktisch mehr und mehr verbürgert, so daß diese bürgerlichste aller Nationen es schließlich dahin bringen zu wollen scheint, eine bürgerliche Aristokratie und ein bürgerliches Proletariat neben der Bourgeoisie zu besitzen.”; English translation from Engels to Marx in London (Marx/Engels Collected Works; 40), 1983, page 344: “[…] the English proletariat is actually becoming more and more bourgeois, so that the ultimate aim of this most bourgeois of all nations would appear to be the possession, alongside the bourgeoisie, of a bourgeois aristocracy and a bourgeois proletariat.”
^ Vladimir Lenin (1973) [1916] Империализм и раскол социализма (В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений; 30) (in Russian), page 170; English translation from Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (V. I. Lenin – Collected Works; 23), 1974, page 112
^ Jonathan Strauss (2004 July December) “Engels and the theory of the labour aristocracy”, in Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal‎^[1], number 26
^ Karl Marx (1962) [1867] “d) Wirkung der Krisen auf den bestbezahlten Teil der Arbeiterklasse”, in Das Kapital (Marx-Engels-Werke; 23), volume I, page 697: “Bevor ich zu den eigentlichen Agrikulturarbeitern übergehe, soll an einem Beispiel noch gezeigt werden, wie die Krisen selbst auf den bestbezahlten Teil der Arbeiterklasse, auf ihre Aristokratie, wirken.” English translation from Ben Fowkes, transl. (1982), “(d) Effect of Crises on the Best Paid Section of the Working Class”, in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, London: Penguin Books in association with New Left Review, page 822: “Before I turn to the agricultural labourers, I shall just show, by one example, how crises have an impact even on the best paid section of the working class, on its aristocracy.”

[1] Friedrich Engels (1978) [7 October 1858] Engels an Marx in London (Marx-Engels-Werke; 29) (in German), page 358: “[…] das englische Proletariat faktisch mehr und mehr verbürgert, so daß diese bürgerlichste aller Nationen es schließlich dahin bringen zu wollen scheint, eine bürgerliche Aristokratie und ein bürgerliches Proletariat neben der Bourgeoisie zu besitzen.”; English translation from Engels to Marx in London (Marx/Engels Collected Works; 40), 1983, page 344: “[…] the English proletariat is actually becoming more and more bourgeois, so that the ultimate aim of this most bourgeois of all nations would appear to be the possession, alongside the bourgeoisie, of a bourgeois aristocracy and a bourgeois proletariat.”

[2] Vladimir Lenin (1973) [1916] Империализм и раскол социализма (В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений; 30) (in Russian), page 170; English translation from Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (V. I. Lenin – Collected Works; 23), 1974, page 112

[3] Jonathan Strauss (2004 July December) “Engels and the theory of the labour aristocracy”, in Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal‎^[1], number 26

[4] Karl Marx (1962) [1867] “d) Wirkung der Krisen auf den bestbezahlten Teil der Arbeiterklasse”, in Das Kapital (Marx-Engels-Werke; 23), volume I, page 697: “Bevor ich zu den eigentlichen Agrikulturarbeitern übergehe, soll an einem Beispiel noch gezeigt werden, wie die Krisen selbst auf den bestbezahlten Teil der Arbeiterklasse, auf ihre Aristokratie, wirken.” English translation from Ben Fowkes, transl. (1982), “(d) Effect of Crises on the Best Paid Section of the Working Class”, in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, volume I, London: Penguin Books in association with New Left Review, page 822: “Before I turn to the agricultural labourers, I shall just show, by one example, how crises have an impact even on the best paid section of the working class, on its aristocracy.”

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