A Few Notes On Classes
In the contemporary left scene, there are still problems with defining a "class" precisely and explaining the class basis of an ideology or first of all the material basis of a class. Yet V. I. Lenin in his work "A Great Beginning Heroism Of The Workers In The Rear" (Lenin's Collected Works, 4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972 Volume 29, pages 409-434) has already precisely defined the phenomenon of "class":
Classes are large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in a historically determined system of social production, by their relation (in most cases fixed and formulated in law) to the means of production, by their role in the social organisation of labour, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of social wealth of which they dispose and the mode of acquiring it. Classes are groups of people one of which can appropriate the labour of another owing to the different places they occupy in a definite system of social economy.
So now, we can go on with our logical steps:
1) Classes are relations between people and things, for example in the form ownership over the means of production.
2) Classes are relations between people themselves, the labour aristocracy for example has a different role in the organisation of capitalism than the proletariat, for it gains a revenue in circulation and its wage is not determined by reproduction costs.
So every person in this society belongs to a class, regardless of their beliefs and regardless of their convictions or whatever, that is the objective reality. These classes have interests, there are two main interests, the interests of the proletariat, namely to achieve their economic goals first. Having realized through the trade union movement ("economism") that this goal cannot be achieved within the framework of this socio-economic system, they slowly develop proletarian class consciousness and develop their core interest, the abolition of the system of class exploitation. The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, first wants to increase its profit and then tries to maintain or even intensify the system of exploitation. These two interests manifest themselves in the form of a constant struggle on this planet, workers against capitalists, proletarians against bourgeois; class struggle.
There are other interests, group interests, for example, the Shiites are a group in Iran and the Sunnis are a group in Iran, they both have the interest of gaining the right to freely practice their religion (which is their absolute right). But if the Shiites want to exercise their group interests, they have to do it with the help of the state apparatus, because in the capitalist system it is not possible to change laws and rights in society (i.e. the rules of social cohabitation) without the state apparatus. However, the state apparatus is under the control of the bourgeoisie, so if a group wants to exercise control and gain its rights, it must find its way into the state apparatus and here it also starts to limit the group rights of other people.
Of course, there are also Shia workers, now the ironic part comes into play: although the Shia Muslims are a group and look after their interests in Iran, they exploit their own "brothers in faith," because one Shia may be a rich, factory owner from Tehran, the other a poor craftsman in Bushehr. So group interests are inextricably linked to class interests and all group interests are exercised through class interests.
How can we solve this problem? In order to allow the free exercise of faith, nationality, sexuality, and to free people from the disciplining and oppression of capital, capitalism must be abolished, all nations must be liberated, religion must be separated from the state, education must be progressive, it must teach people what the natural state of humanity is (joint production, joint work for society), and it must show people that we are not fighting against each other but are one species working together as a society.
