aristocracy of labor

A form of labour aristocracy — Segment of the working class that enjoys a relatively privileged position compared to the rest of the working class as a result of higher salaries, better working conditions, etc., and which can lead them to have different interests and perspectives even though they continue to be exploited by capitalists.

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Meanings

nounaristocracy of labor (plural aristocracies of labor)

plural aristocracies of labor · alternative labour aristocracy · alternative labor aristocracy · alternative aristocracy of labour

  1. alternativeAlternative form of labour aristocracy.

    He was content to create an aristocracy of labor, a trade union trust, as it were, indifferent to the needs of the rest of the workers outside of the organization.

    March 1925, Emma Goldman, “Samuel Gompers”, in Road to Freedom, volume 1
    2 more examples

    The more such an aristocracy of labor leaves the unskilled, unprotected, unorganized parts of the proletariat to shift economically for themselves, the more these come to be the breeding centers of scabs who stab organized labor in the back on every occasion and thus paralyze every decided action.

    April 1901, Karl Kautsky, “Trades Unions and Socialism”, in Eugene Dietzgen, transl., International Socialist Review, volume 1, number 10, page 595

    Despite all the appearances of class struggle, such an aristocracy of labor enjoys, even in times of war, privileged access to the means of political communication and organization.

    1970 April 7, Martin Nicolaus, “The Theory of the Labor Aristocracy”, in Monthly Review, volume 21, number 11, page 97 of 91-101

Origin

While Mikhail Bakunin is credited with coining this term, it is in fact found in Sam Dolgoff's loose translation [1971] of a fragment [c. 1872], which Bakunin wrote in French and contains no word translatable literally as aristocracy of labo(u)r. In an unsent letter to the journal La Liberté in Brussels [5 October 1972], Bakunin used the wording: “a new aristocracy, that of the urban and industrial workers”. For further etymology, see labo(u)r aristocracy.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

aristocracy of labor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aristocracy%20of%20labor

MLA

“aristocracy of labor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aristocracy%20of%20labor. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aristocracy of labor,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aristocracy%20of%20labor.

Source: aristocracy of labor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.