Introduction
My experience with workers has been that workers rarely if ever think about why they and other workers have to work for an employer–they experience a lack of class consciousness. In this series of posts, I am simply going to assemble a series of quotes from various authors about this situation, with my own occasional comments on the quotes. I will try to look at one book at least in each post, if not more, or perhaps some articles if they are relevant.
Why Workers Lack Class Consciousness
From Michael Yates (2022), Work, Work, Work: Labor, Alienation, and Class Struggle, page 26:
Second, work itself, no matter how oppressive, does not engender class consciousness and solidarity. It is more likely to lead to such poor health and mental stress that coherent thoughts and actions are difficult. Historians David Montgomery and Jeremy Brecher suggest that workers eagerly debated great questions during the many mass strikes before the Second World War. Who should run the factories? Who should lead the nation? My father told me that after the war, his factory was alive with talk of politics. Not so in modern Flint, where meaningful discussions are far outnumbered by talk of booze, sex, sports, and hunting.
The consciousness that does develop is of the “us versus you” variety. Ben Hamper and his comrades take a negative pride in the very meaninglessness of the work they do and dislike those who don’t or won’t or can’t stand up to it; a kind of self-hatred turned into contempt for outsiders. My auto worker students love to bait me, but often in a wholly negative way. Who am I to talk about work? Who am I to criticize GM? (!) While I was in college, they were in Vietnam. Aren’t teachers overpaid? I do not know what it is like to work the line. But I do know why economic depressions occur, why there is so much poverty, what Keynesian policies are, how the Federal Reserve works, why free trade agreements stink, and so on, and they do not know these and a lot of other things. Many of them believe that the media cause depressions, that welfare is the root of all evils, that the trouble with
sports is that there are too many Black players, that the Japanese are innately evil. I slog on, but there is more work to be done than radicals might think.
I would say that that is an understatement. There is indeed much more work to be done, and most radicals seem to underestimate the need to engage in ideological struggle to win over workers to an anti-capitalist position and for a socialist position.
Page 27:
Maybe the unions have failed so utterly to create a working class ideology that would force workers to ask the right questions and struggle toward the answers that it is no longer possible to imagine a new world. No doubt radicals have failed workers too, either ignoring them for the pleasures of theoretical debate or trying to become one of them so hard that they forgot that work in this society destroys the human spirit. If we are ever to liberate ourselves, we must reinvent work. Either we will convert the daily hell that is work today into something that connects us to other people and the world around us, or we will descend further into the alienation engulfing us.
Here in Toronto, when I tried to criticize the idea that brewery workers were on strike for “fair wages” and “good jobs,” I was met with insults (a union rep from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (the largest Canadian union), Wayne Dealy, called me a condescending prick) and indifference or ridicule by most of the so-called radical left.
There are explanations for the lack of class consciousness among workers, ranging from structural conditions (conditions based on the way work and political power is organized without any conscious intent) to conscious intent to limit working-class consciousness. Yates outlines many of the aspects that explain the lack of classconsciousness among workers. Page 79:
… to accumulate capital, employers must make sure that workers cannot claim possession of all they produce. This means that employers must strive for maximum control of the entire production apparatus and the social forces and institutions that might interfere with this control: for example, the state, schools, and media. At all costs, workers must be prevented from getting the idea that they have rights to the output they make. The organization of capital and labor in our society has adverse effects on working people. Before examining these, note that the process of accumulation, beginning with the extraction of a surplus from the worker’s labor, is hidden from view so that workers do not know or are confused about what is happening to them. The market, which embodies the forces of supply and demand, effectively conceals what transpires in the workplace. [My emphases.]
I will elaborate on this situation in the future in other posts. The process itself involves the production of a surplus vanishing from the workers’ view.
Other institutions are molded in many ways, whether consciously or unconsciously, to reinforce this structural lack of class consciousness among workers. Pages 79-80:
But other institutions operate to obscure the truth, too. One example is the public school system and the tireless promotion of individualism and nationalism at its core. Once these alleged virtues are internalized by students, it makes it easier for capital to control the labor process. Individualism makes it less likely that workers will collectively challenge capital’s control of the labor process. Nationalism helps capital spread from rich countries to poor ones.
There are other features of modern capitalism that also limit class consciousness, ranging from racism (there was obvious racism at the brewery where I worked against Aboriginal peoples (one Aboriginal worker was called “Injun Joe” and against African immigrants (calling them lazy) to sexism (Penthouse and Playboy in the staff lounge in the brewery, and when one woman did work there, some other male workers complained that she did not pull her own weight).
Pages 80-81:
Racism, sexism, imperialism, media propaganda, and repression further distort the social matrix and hide its class basis:
- Endless war magnifies and deepens nationalism and promotes
both racism and male chauvinism. Wars send workers back to
society badly damaged in mind and body.- Imperialism does the same thing as war and often causes it.
- Constant Orwellian propaganda by the media, think tanks,
politicians, and business leaders denies the class polarization of
capitalist society. A critical element of this misinformation campaign
is the mythology surrounding the “free market” economy.- When all else fails, naked violence ultimately serves to suppress
class consciousness and sow seeds of doubt among workers who
might otherwise be inclined to mutiny against the system.
To this list should be added the various professions that ensure that workers who do not conform to what is considered normal in a capitalist society are subject to control in various ways (I have already written about my personal experiences concerning various professionals, such as social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists–I will be writing about such professionals in future posts.)
Another feature of working-class experience that prevents class consciousness is bouts of unemployment and the threat of unemployment, which creates a sense of fear and insecurity and the need to compensate in some way by indulging in drink, drugs, and other compensatory forms. Page 81:
Separating workers from productive wealth creates the possibility that workers will be unemployed and unable to find a buyer for their labor power. In addition, we know
from studying the history of capitalist economies that they periodically sink into recession or depression and these crises are part of the nature of the system. In such circumstances, unemployment rises dramatically. Furthermore, capital is constantly searching the heavens for sunny skies (higher profits). If it finds them other than where they now are, it shuts down one operation and opens another. Plant contractions and closings will therefore be regular occurrences.What these things mean for working people is a pervasive sense of insecurity and fear so that even what seems to be the most stable employment will “melt into air.” Fear and insecurity not uncommonly produce two responses: a kind of joyless penury [extreme poverty] or a live-for-the-moment orientation that often takes the self-destructive
forms of debt, drinking, and the like.
Some Possible Solutions
Yates argues that radical education forms a vital part of any future movement towards a socialist society without a class of employers existing. Page 179:
Radical, critical, and continued education is needed. It will not only help to put our lives and actions into context, but it will also give us a better understanding of what needs to be done in the future. Through it, we can learn to analyze our individual histories, to, in effect, examine and pass judgments on ourselves.
Although radical education may arise practically through struggle and organization (but then again, it may not), conscious education of the working class that aims to expose the real situation of workers remains a vital aspect of any socialist movement. Such radical education involves many aspects. Pages 179-180:
There are many elements in radical education. First, there must be a relationship of mutual respect between teacher and student. That is, both must feel part of a larger project, the liberation of humanity from the shackles of capitalism. While the teachers
have specialized knowledge, they learn from their students in a give-and-take process of democratic discussion. If education isn’t egalitarian, how can we expect anything else to be?
The relatively recent efforts of Socialist Project to provide a course called Introduction to Socialism and other activities points in the right direction, but if it is to go anywhere, it must also deal head on with the dominance of social-democratic (reformist) views within the labour movement in general and the union movement in particular. It also must develop more participatory ways including participants; it tried to do so through break-out discussions among participants, but such a procedure needs to be complemented by other methods that address of some to express their opinions openly (such as an anonymous suggestion box or criticism box).
A second aspect that is vital is developing in workers a clear unerstanding of the nature of capitalism. Page 180:
Second, those who teach must, whatever the venue, direct the conversation toward the nature of the system. A science teacher can ask, what influences the questions asked of science? How is science funded? Is what a scientist does value-free? Then, pose a question such as, why is so little government funding given to researchers who want to know the possible consequences of genetically modified organisms? In social sciences, one could ask how likely it would be for a scholar to earn a PhD if the thesis subject is “How can a guerrilla army best defeat the U.S. armed forces in [Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Haiti, take your pick]?” In labor education, the question “What is capitalism?” is paramount. The teacher must try to show that this system rests on a bedrock of exploitation and expropriation. Even if a class is about a practical matter, such as labor law or organizing a union, the nature of society is critical to explaining what the law is and why unions are necessary. In all organizations, whether they are fighting for a cleaner environment, better housing, lower rents, converting abandoned urban land to community gardens, ending the theft of peasant lands, socialized healthcare, ending racism and patriarchy, or the termination of wars and imperialism, capitalism must be central to the teaching and learning. It might seem that teaching the nature of capitalism is a daunting task, but peasants have been taught the rudiments of the three volumes of Karl Marx’s magnum opus, Capital. Nothing is impossible.
Unfortunately, in the course called an Introduction to Capitalism, at least for the class that I attended (and the sessions that I saw on YouTube), there seemed to be limited exploration of the nature of capitalist exploitation of workers.
My own efforts on this blog have aimed in this direction, and I will be focusing more on this aspect starting in 2026 by providing more flashcard sets on Marx’s Capital.
Existing and new organizations need to incorporate not only more education for their members but radical education. Pages 180-181:
Third, every entity seeking radical change must have an education component integral to its operation. Labor unions and peasant organizations need to set aside time and resources for this. Most unions in the United States have little or no member education, much less radical education. This is one reason why the rank and file are alienated from the leadership. Not a few union officers fear an educated membership, which might decide to replace them. Political parties and formations, Occupy Wall Street types of actions, antiwar organizations, anti-racist and anti-patriarchy movements need education efforts as well, permanent if possible. Planning actions, carrying them out, assessing successes and failures—all are vital subjects of education for members and participants.
Union education generally does not involve having workers understand the nature of the society in which we live–a capitalist society. In addition, when educational efforts are forthcoming, the issue of real constructive feedback should be emphasized so that union education can indeed improve and evolve.
Union and community education must also evolve into aiming to develop workers’, citizens’, immigrants’ and migrant workers’ capacity to establish connections between difference aspects of their lives and experiences. Page 181 (Part of the following quote is Yates quoting from one of his own articles):
Fourth, radical education is about making connections. One organization’s projects are connected to those of every other group; each person’s life is part of a larger whole.
For example, any efforts to end “clopening” [employers scheduling workers to close a workplace, often a restaurant, late at night and then open the shop early the next morning] could be tied directly to the need for shorter hours and more free time, which, in turn, could allow us to pose the question of why employers have the power to determine how we labor and with what intensity. Irregular and stressful shift work could even be connected to U.S. imperialism, which helps global corporations dispossess peasants in poor countries, forcing them unwillingly to migrate to rich nations where they intensify labor market competition and increase capital’s power. . . . [Also,] whatever relatively small or local changes we fight for should always be connected to larger and more global principles. Suppose that a coalition of progressive organizations seeks to end city tax subsidies to the
builders of luxury condominiums. Why not tie this endeavor to demands for quality, low-rent public housing, the considerable destruction of which is caused by the luxury consumption of the wealthy, and our commitment to limit our own discretionary
consumption?Racism, patriarchy, and imperialism are all connected to exploitation and expropriations, as is climate change. Radical education, by showing why this is so, can help to ignite the class consciousness necessary to change the world.
Although such connections do indeed need to be established, one of the focal points if not the focal point should be the exploitation and oppression of workers in the workplace since any real solution must address the issue of how we are to gain control over our own lives, and gaining control over our own lives means gaining control over the conditions of our own lives–the machines, raw material, buildings and so forth that we use to produce our own lives over time.
To gain control over our own lives requires, initially, acknowledging where workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers are at in terms of their conscious experiences–in order to enable them to expand their knowledge of the conditions of their own immediately experience lives. Pages 181-182:
Fifth, whatever the setting, start with the lives, the daily experiences, of the students. Education scholar and teacher Ira Shor:
begins a writing class with community college students by examining the chairs on which they are sitting. He first has them carefully describe the chairs, forcing them to look at them carefully and slowly. However, the description is just the beginning; through discussion and more writing, Shor and his students discover the chair’s origin within the economy and the cultural assumptions behind its production (e.g., why it’s so uncomfortable!). Ultimately, the students, mostly through their own efforts, are able to divest the chair of its commodity fetishism by totally understanding it in relation to the society which produced it. The complete exercise not only demystifies the chair itself, but gives a striking experimental demonstration of how to analyze capitalism and of the dialectical method of understanding one’s
own environment.Labor educator and Monthly Review co-founder Leo Huberman gives a striking example of radical and critical teaching. He asks his worker-students a series of simple questions about their lives as working men and women. Where do you work? Why do you work? Does the man who owns the factory work alongside you? Have you ever seen the stockholders of the corporation working in the plant? But you all agreed you had to work to live; now you tell me there are some people who live without working. How come? Then there are two groups of people in our society. One group, to which you belong, lives by…? And the other group to which your employer belongs lives by…? The questions continue until the teacher and the students see that profits are unearned and come at the expense of the sweat and tears of those who perform the labor. It’s a brilliant exercise, eliciting from the students the most basic elements of their work lives and generating a lively discussion of what they might do about it.
Of course, all education efforts are fighting against a powerul enemy. If there is going to be an expansion of an understanding of capitalist society and a systematic capacity not only to resist against its oppressive and exploitative social structures but to overcome those social structures, more and more workers, citiziens, immigrants and migrant workers need to develop their understanding and organizational capacities. Such an outcome requires workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers developing their capacities in turn to educate and organize others. Pages 182-183:
Sixth, radical educators should teach so that some of the students will themselves take what they have learned and teach it to others. The goal is to create organic intellectuals, that is, people from the working class who become capable of spreading the word the way Leo Huberman did. Some of the prisoners I once taught took my lecture diagrams, which I had copied and distributed, to their cellblocks, where they used them to teach fellow inmates. Similarly, union members can teach their brothers and sisters, as some whom I taught did. Not only does this greatly increase the number of teachers, but it also breaks down the hierarchy between instructors and pupils.
Conclusion
Workers lack class consciousness for a number of reasons: some structural (based on the way capitalist society is organized); some due to powerful ideological institutions (schools, media); and some based on the precarious nature of workers’ lives in capitalist society and the fear of unemployment that it engenders.
One major component of the solution is the development of a radical educational program, composed of various aspects, such as a good grounding in an understanding of the nature of capitalist society, that reaches workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers on an ever widening basis. Such a radical educational program would equip them with means for not only resisting capitalist oppression and exploitation in its various forms but also with a goal–a socialist society that does not involve such oppression and exploitation.
