Workerism
From Freepedia
Workerism describes political positions which regard the experience and politics of labourers and the working class as central. The term "workerism" is primarily used in left-wing political discourse, especially anarchism and Marxism. However, the term has been used with different meanings at different times.
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Workerism as a doctrine of revolution
Workerism is a belief that the working class can emancipate themselves only through being organised as workers. It is usually used critically, to describe an approach which excludes support for broader social movements, such as the feminist or anti-war movements.
Some workerists approach social movements by recognising that most people active in broader social movements are workers, and seeks to inject forms of organisation based on workplace organising into these social movements. The notable attempt by the Autonomist organisation Lotta Continua in Italy failed, and the organisation dissolved itself into the broader workers and social movements as an Autonomist movement.
This use of the term was the most common Italian language use during the twentieth century.
Workerism as a negative cultural phenomenon
More broadly, workerism can imply the idolisation of workers, especially manual workers, working class culture and manual labour in general. See Socialist realism for an example.
The charge of workerism is often levelled at syndicalists. Traditional communist parties are also thought to be workerist, because of their glorification of manual workers to the exclusion of white-collar workers.
This use of the term was the most common English language use during the twentieth century.
Workerism in Lenin
V.I. Lenin charged a number of Russian socialists with being workerist for opportunistically following the political or cultural movements of the working class, instead of holding a separate Marxist political position.
Further Reading
Insurgent Identities: Class, Community and Protest in Paris from 1848 to the Commune by Roger V. Gould (1995 University of Chicago Press) ISBN 0226305619 - Gould reveals that while class played a pivotal role in 1848, it was neighbourhood solidarity that was a decisive organizing force during the Paris Commune of 1871 (amazon link)
