The Working Class Intelligentsia Elton LK

I wrote an essay on John and Barbara Ehrenreich’s concept of the PMC, and how it relates to Mark Fisher’s concept of the Vampire Castle, which I read in this episode. You’ll hear the full version of the essay, but a shortened version will be included in a book titled Underground Theory, which will be available at Amazon to order a print copy September 4. The link is below.

I’m proud to say that this essay will be included with essays by some smart and controversial thinkers including Žižek, Norman Finkelstein, Alenka Zupančič, Todd McGowan, Catherine Liu, Chris Cutrone, Daniel Tutt and Michael Downs of the Dangerous Maybe blog.

In my essay I argue Mark Fisher makes the same mistake many Marxists have made. They conflate the petite bourgeoisie with the professional managerial class. This is an understandable mistake, but it is time for Marxists to begin using the Ehrenreich’s definition of the professional managerial class in their class analysis. At another time I will quibble further with the Ehrenreichs. I think they make a few mistakes, but on the whole I think they have brought a tremendous improvement to the discipline of class analysis. The future of the socialist struggle must account for the distinctions between the petite bourgeoisie and the professional managerial class.

Underground Theory
https://a.co/d/3yPyo6J

“PMC Consciousness & Ideology”
Theory Underground
https://theory-underground.com/courses/pmc/

WAYPOINT: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war
Theory Pleeb (a.k.a. Dave McKerracher of Theory Underground)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK

Class, an official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee
https://education.dsausa.org/class-the-npec-podcast/

Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 1 (1977)
https://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1125403552886481.pdf

Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 2 (1977)
https://files.libcom.org/files/Rad%20America%20V11%20I3.pdf

Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 3 (2013)
https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/sonst_publikationen/ehrenreich_death_of_a_yuppie_dream90.pdf

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This episode merely contains a couple announcements. The first is an online class I’m going to be teaching with Dave McKerracher on the PMC, also known as the Professional Managerial Class. The second announcement is about my DSA NPEC podcast, Class.
Class: Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee podcast
https://education.dsausa.org/class-the-npec-podcast/

Theory Underground: Professional Managerial Class Consciousness
8 week course, meet every other Wednesday starting January 25, 2022
https://theory-underground.com/courses/pmc/?fbclid=IwAR0hh3FS2PedZ5_ApjYoV796Vp_pY4-jg6uivMk3d1RPiPahlFXOmvtACk4#learndash-course-content

Theory Underground Courses
https://theory-underground.com/courses/

Michael Downs, the Dangerous Maybe
https://link.medium.com/sMvhw6PgSvb


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I started this podcast in order to extract strategy and insight from Gramsci’s writings. This Gramsci-inspired manifesto calls for a recalibration of the term “working class” per Marx’s Das Kapital, Volume 1 in order to build the foundation for a renewed international working class struggle for socialism grounded on a socialist mode of production and empowerment of the working class, de-emphasizing reliance on a vanguard of revolutionaries. How should socialists relate to the PMC?
“Waypoint: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war” by Theory Pleeb
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK
Wikipedia article on “Mode of Production”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_of_production
Economics of Fascism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism
Germanic People (Barbarians)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples#Migration_Period_(ca._375–568)
Merchants in the Middle Ages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant#Merchants_in_the_medieval_period
PDFs of Erik Olin Wright’s books
https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/
DSA National Political Education event with Meagan Day that discusses some overlapping content about Non-Reformist Reforms
https://youtu.be/GcHMGRKNobY
André Gorz’s “Reform and Revolution”
https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5272/2173

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I heard this podcast episode from the Cosmonaut podcast. It is an audio version of an article from the online magazine. I am sharing it because it complements our last episode on Jamaal Bowman, what the authors of this episode refer to as the Bowman Affair, but with much more rigorous analysis as it relates to the internal debate and structures of DSA.

The CosmoPod Podcast Episode
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cosmopod/id1469843985?i=1000558965755
The Original Article “Socialism of the Oppressed: The Stakes of the Bowman Affair” by Jean Allen and Marisa Miale
https://cosmonautmag.com/2022/04/socialism-of-the-oppressed-the-stakes-of-the-bowman-affair/

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Today’s episode is about proletarian discipline, party discipline. DSA has recently had an internal debate about Jamaal Bowman’s refusal to support the Palestinian solidarity movement BDS.

GRAMSCI
Gramci’s Concept of Subaltern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaltern_(postcolonialism)

DISCIPLINE
Jodi Dean’s Article on Discipline
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/11/comrades-political-organizing-discipline-jodi-dean

Republican Party Discipline of Liz Cheney
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/15/liz-cheney-wyoming-republican-party-trump

DSA’s ban on democratic centralism
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/constitution/#P1N

Leninist Discipline
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Party+dicipline

Know Your Enemy #36 on Jan 6
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434?i=1000529390998

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DSA CAUCUSES AND ELECTION SLATES

Libertarian Socialist Caucus
https://dsa-lsc.org/2021/07/19/lsc-democratic-socialism-a-short-history/

Bread & Roses Caucus
https://breadandrosesdsa.org/
https://breadandrosesdsa.org/convention-2021-slate/

The Green New Deal Slate
https://keywiki.org/DSA_Green_New_Deal_Slate

Socialist Majority
https://www.socialistmajority.com/

Renewal Slate
https://www.dsarenewal.org/our-npc-slate/

Other DSA Caucasus
https://reformandrevolution.org/2021/09/08/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses/

———————
PALESTINE & BDS

History of Palestine
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/throughline/id1451109634?i=1000523361687

Israeli Settlements
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

Natural Resource Extraction during British Mandate
https://trafo.hypotheses.org/30714

1936-1939 Arab Revolt
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine

Palestinians have sovereign authority over their natural resources
https://imemc.org/article/wafa-un-general-assembly-passes-vote-affirms-palestinian-sovereignty-over-their-natural-resources/

DSA departed from the Socialist International
https://www.leftvoice.org/DSA-Votes-for-BDS-Reparations-and-Out-of-the-Socialist-International/

NY DSA Revolutions Per Minute podcast on the BDS Movement
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revolutions-per-minute-radio-from-new-york-city-democratic/id1450411809?i=1000524165027

J Street’s Rejection of the BDS Movement
https://jstreet.org/wrong-way-oppose-bds/#.YcFAIy-cZQI


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JAMAAL BOWMAN

DSA “Unity For Unity, not Unanimity: Palestine, Jamaal Bowman, and DSA”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d_FBOWt5JqyFvQn5BQuqDBvLe67rLCXKbI0CABhJHx4/edit

Jamaal Bowman
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/democratic-socialists-j-street-bds-israel-palestine-iron-dome-aoc

Jamaal Bowman Tempest Timeline
https://www.facebook.com/tempestmag/photos/a.144058903928771/411153303885995/?type=3

DSA Caucus’s Response to Jamaal Bowman
https://www.tempestmag.org/2021/12/on-not-expelling-jamaal-bowman/

DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity WG
https://palestine.dsausa.org/bowmans-j-street-zionist-propaganda-trip-to-apartheid-israel-must-not-stand/

DSA Statement
https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-the-question-of-expelling-rep-bowman/

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This is my first bonus episode. By bonus, I mean that it isn’t really tied to Gramsci, though I will mention him a few times eventually.

But this episode will be about the building of a working class intelligentsia. In this episode I will read the forward I wrote for a new book called Waypoint. Waypoint is theory pleeb’s first book. It is a collection of essays they wrote both academically, as well as those written critiquing the academy.

Amazon.com - WAYPOINT: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK

Theory Pleeb’s Website
https://www.theorypleeb.com/

Theory Pleeb’s Podcasts
https://www.spreaker.com/user/theorypleeb

Theory Pleeb’s YouTube
https://youtube.com/c/theorypleeb

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