c b wrote: > I had said: The ruling class continues to rule by having greater unity and > consciousness on the issues sharpest in dispute in the class struggle. > > Better said: The ruling class continues to rule by having greater unity and > consciousness THAN THE RULED CLASS on the issues sharpest in dispute > in the class struggle.
Unity of the ruling class is clearly important to promoting and cementing its influence over (and usually its control of) the political power elite, including the current U.S. administration. But the class is "ruling" in the economy (able to extract surplus-value, etc.) outside the government partly due to competition within the class. One reason, for example, that employers resist making concessions to labor is to avoid losing to their competitors; in fact, they sometimes can form alliances with their workforces against the competition (as with "Buy American" campaigns). Even on the political level, apparent divisions within the capitalist class (Democrats vs. Republicans, etc.) can distract people from the underlying unity of the class and promote the legitimacy of the system. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
