New massive video - what is the proletariat? (Patreon)

What is the Proletariat?

Watch to find out what the proletariat is and how the meaning of the word changed over time. 0:00 intro 1:31 from ancient rome to the french revolution 8:48 the working classes of the 19th century 29:47 the proletariat in early socialism 58:36 the proletariat in Marx and Engels 1:35:14 the proletariat in the 21st century script + full page references/bibliography - https://anarchopac.com/2024/05/10/what-is-the-proletariat/ Footnote 1: According to Draper, Marx thinks that only propertyless wage labourers who produce surplus value and thereby generate profits for a capitalist are proletarians (Draper 1978, 34). Propertyless wage labourers that do not produce surplus value are therefore not proletarians, such as teachers employed in state funded schools or road construction workers hired directly by the state. The best evidence I have found to support this view is a single sentence in the Communist Manifesto which claims “the proletariat” are “the class of modern workers who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital” (Marx and Engels 1996, 7). For Marx only productive labour, in the sense of labour that produces surplus value, increases capital (Marx 1990, 644). This sentence in the Communist Manifesto could be interpreted as a generalisation, rather than an attempt to establish the necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for being a proletarian. The pamphlet is after all full of generalisations. Unfortunately Marx’s other statements on the subject are vague and could be interpreted as either saying that the proletariat only includes productive workers or that all propertyless wage labourers who sell their labour power to an employer (rather than selling a labour service directly to a customer) are proletarians irrespective of whether or not they produce surplus value (MECW 34, 444-45). In Capital Volume 3 Marx claims that “commercial wage-labourers employed by the merchant capitalist . . . do not directly produce surplus-value ” but do ultimately enable their employer to generate a profit. In a footnote Engels refers to such workers as “the commercial proletariat” (Marx 1991, 406-407, 414-15). In the absence of definitive evidence I am agnostic on the matter, but I could have missed an important source or not seen an important detail when reading. Video features art from: https://www.instagram.com/workersartcollective/ https://www.instagram.com/airidescence/ Support me on patreon https://www.patreon.com/anarchozoe If you'd like to make a one time donation https://ko-fi.com/anarchozoe Follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/anarchozoe/ https://twitter.com/anarchopac Buy my book Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States: US shipping - https://www.akpress.org/means-and-ends.html UK shipping - https://www.akuk.com/means-and-ends-the-revolutionary-practice-of-anarchism-in-europe-and-the-united-states.html audiobook - https://tantor.com/means-and-ends-zoe-baker.html Check out my other videos: anarchism and democracy https://youtu.be/3sfnwFV92XY?si=gKM30LY3gvJPYAYH anarchists are not naive about human nature https://youtu.be/vPzAn5fo60k?si=it3xKFnn_t2oJbN6 anarchism as a way of life https://youtu.be/VP31dPtbHLc?si=QRQyYrE05Lk0MMTb anarchist counter culture in Spain https://youtu.be/a30GiaJknU4?si=_448uHI9kEa_n2bd the best feminist you've never heard of: He-Yin Zhen https://youtu.be/phOdLapw6x8?si=gEjXgOZH-KB9Z-8j