Redefining The Working Class – OpEd
Disconnect from the Working Class: The author argues that left-wing intellectuals and activists, from Marx onward, have historically been privileged outsiders who romanticize but neither understand nor represent actual blue-collar workers.
Vague and Overly Broad Definitions: Modern progressives (including NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the DSA) define the “working class” so expansively—often by income under $1 million or lack of a college degree—that it includes high earners and professionals, diluting the term’s meaning.
Political Reality Gap: Traditional working-class occupations (construction, policing, trucking, etc.) tend to support figures like Trump rather than left-wing causes, highlighting a persistent cultural and political divide that privileged radicals fail to grasp.
Left-wing intellectuals and activists, beginning with Marx, have never had anything in common with the working class, yet they speak endlessly about their need to liberate them. Marx himself lived a pampered existence—he had a maid, whom he impregnated (never supporting his son)—and went to his grave thinking that at any moment the working class would rebel against the capitalist class. But they never did.
The working class revolution that Marx predicted was supposed to take place in advanced capitalist countries, yet the only places where Marxism took root were in pre-industrial countries like Russia and China,........
