labour aristocracy

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

1. countableuncountablegovernmentSegment 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.

   He [Bakunin] found that there is a labour aristocracy of more developed, literate individuals, as well as an unconscious mass of workers.

   1957 September, George Molnar, “Anarchism”, in Libertarian, number 1

   2 more examples

   Важно то, что экономически откол слоя рабочей аристократии к буржуазии назрел и завершился, а политическую форму себе, ту или иную, этот экономический факт, эта передвижка в отношениях между классами найдет без особого «труда».

   1973 [1916], Vladimir Lenin, Империализм и раскол социализма (В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений; 30), page 170; English translation from Imperialism and the Split in Socialism (V. I. Lenin – Collected Works; 23), translation of original in Russian, 1974, page 117

   So they had indigenous folks who were members of the IWW, they had folks of African descent, they had folks who spoke Spanish, the Italians were coming, everybody was making their way to the IWW. But a lot of people don’t know that this movement waged a fierce battle against what can be called the labour aristocracy up to the government and the corporations at the time, who were brutally ruthless in their repression.

   2009 June 27, Jose Antonio Gutiérrez Danton, quoting Ashanti Omowali Alston, “Building a Non-Eurocentric Anarchism in Our Communities: Dialogue with Ashanti Alston”, in anarkismo.net