in Esperanto
Chapter 8: NEW REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
1.4. Deconstruction of the "proletarian revolution"
Marxists, who once vigorously called the "proletarian revolution," now seem to abandon the difficult "proletarian revolution" and adapt to capitalism in a situation where the working class has almost has made capitalism part of itself. In fact, many of the remaining marxist parties in the world today (the marxist parties of various countries that have survived the dissolution of the Soviet Union) have either explicitly or implicitly tried to turn this line in the name of "pragmatism."
However, here I would like to avoid such self-abandoned "pragmatism" and explore the path to communism as far as possible. To that end, the "proletarian revolution" must be deconstructed using a different terminology and methodology.
1.5. Common sign "exploitation"
The first thing to confirm here is the iron rule that the latent central subject of the communist revolution is the working class. However, as mentioned above, today's working class is deeply divided. But there are signs that allow this to be reunified. This is the “exploitation” discussed in Chapter 3.
In this regard, capitalist terminology tries to minimize the meaning of "exploitation" and limit it to cases of extremely low-wage labor. But, in fact, people are forced into unpaid labor under various pretexts and are "exploited."
In terms of being exploited, there is no essential difference between the general worker class and the senior worker class, the stable class and the unstable class in the general worker class, and even the private sector workers and the public service workers. If there is a difference, it is in the way exploitation is manifested. In other words, it is only the difference between low-wage exploitation and falling into poverty, or high-wage exploitation making a living but suffering from exhaustion and dying from overwork.
In addition, the difference between the stable and unstable classes will also become relative at once due to the relaxation of dismissal regulations for regular workers and the suppression of wages for regular workers - this has been the case for small and medium-sized enterprises with weak management foundations.
On the other hand, it is quite difficult to subdue the generational conflict between the incumbent workers and the retired workers. However, it seems that this can also be solved to a certain extent from the viewpoint of "deferred exploitation."
In other words, the amount of pension benefits for retired workers is calculated based on the wage level at the time of their current employment, along with the premiums paid, so if they are exploited at low wages during their current employment, their future pension benefits will remain at a low level. In this way, an old-age pension is nothing but a “deferred exploitation” that continues until old age. This will become even clearer if a self-responsible, income-proportioned pension system is introduced in which the relationship between benefits and contributions perfectly corresponds.
Therefore, the image of retirees living carelessly on pension income supported by pension premiums steadily paid by incumbent workers is not accurate. In reality, pensions alone are not enough, and many elderly people find themselves in financial difficulties. It could be you or me in the future.
1.6. Possibility of "plebian revolution"
Even so, we are living in an age where it is difficult for the conception of the "working class" to have a sense of reality. Therefore, I would like to propose plebs as a new term for exploitation that should be unified into a common label. The plebs are the actors of the communist revolution.
By the way, a synonym for "plebs" is "masses", which may be more popular. But here we make a clear distinction between plebs and masses. Masses are politically unawakened, free-floating, and therefore opportunistic and at the same time easily provoked into a mob of disjointed individuals who, at worst, are lured into fascism.
In contrast, the plebs referred to here are agglomeration of individuals associated and united as a politically awakened revolutionary class. Wage laborers are at the core of this, but there are also poor farmers, small farmers, marginalised intellectuals, petty capitalists, and others who are suffering from the laws of capitalsm and who are trying to find a way out for the realization of a communist society. Plebs encompasses the whole mentioned above.
And in each country, these plebs make up the majority of the population. Therefore, it is the communist revolution that is carried out in the name of the true majority of the people - including the minority. In short, it can be summed up in the conception "plebeian revolution, by the people, for the people."
