The Class Consciousness in Contemporary Marxist Political Thought (Selected Models)

Abstract

Class consciousness, at its highest stages in contemporary Marxist thought, as seen in the works of Rosa Luxemburg and Antonio Gramsci, is not merely a reflection of reality but exists dialectically through the reflection of consciousness on reality and its reproduction. Whereas consciousness was once considered the product of the development of reality, it has now become a tool for the development of reality. In other words, it is the influence of the superstructures on the base (historical materialism). Luxemburg argued that revolutionary class consciousness arises spontaneously, with the seeds of its emergence found in mass strikes, and she denied the role of the party in organizing this consciousness, limiting its role to connecting the different classes. She emphasized the role of socialist democracy as a conscious vanguard to organize spontaneity, struggle, and develop consciousness during the revolutionary process, leading the revolution to achieve its goals. However, at the same time, she called for a reduction in the role of the leading vanguard as class consciousness among the proletariat increased. While she greatly minimized the role of violence in achieving the revolution, she ultimately relied on revolutionary violence as the final solution once peaceful means of change had been exhausted. Therefore, after the socialist revolution is achieved through the conscious proletariat and the establishment of its state, it will gradually wither away after achieving its goals and solidifying its principles in the consciousness of individuals. For Rosa, class consciousness is an essential tool in educating the masses, achieving the revolution, overturning the bourgeois system, and establishing a bourgeois state, while at the same time being the tool for its eventual dissolution.