I have yet to meet a Marxist who admits the existence of the coordinator class. In a way, this is completely understandable. As soon as you admit the existence of that class, you kind of can’t be a Marxist anymore. If there’s a coordinator class, and you admit it, and you are a believer in social justice, then you must address it. If class divisions can arise from an unequal distribution of labor, then obviously social justice movements must incorporate new divisions of labor in what they do.
But show me an established organization willing to do that. Show me an organization that’s been around a little bit, where money is coming in and people are getting paid, where people in nice clothes are making decisions – show me those decision-making people giving up some of their authority. I have yet to meet anyone who believes in social justice that much.
As a working-class person, I think I hate Marxists more than anyone. I know what politicians and CEOs are going to do. I expect it. I know what Marxists are going to do too, but unlike politicians and CEOs, Marxists claim to represent me. With friends like Marxists, working people do not need any enemies. I would like to read an article by a Marxist saying the following:
Look, we think working people get a raw deal in this country. Just because working people are stupid doesn’t mean they should be treated badly. The working-class deserves new, kinder, nicer bosses than the mean old capitalists. We propose that we, Marxists, be those kinder new bosses.
Let’s be honest here. We all know that working people are too stupid to manage their own affairs. We all know that talents are unequally distributed throughout society. We all know that the working class is a bunch of sheep who will easily get lost without a shepherd to lead them. We just don’t think shepherds should be in the business of beating the sheep.
So, if you doltish working people will give your loyalties to us, we will protect you and keep you safe. You’ll still be doing all the shit work that you are now; you’ll just be doing it under our overarching supervision. And since we’re nicer than the mean, old capitalists of the world, we think you should trust us.
That’s really what it comes down to. Marxists think the working class is stupid. I see it over and over every time I get an e-mail from one of them. Every time I have a discussion with them, it’s always the same thing. I have yet to meet a Marxist who doesn’t, deep down, think that working people need to be led in their own best interest.
Maybe you could sell that stuff to the working class 100 years ago. I don’t know. But I’m telling you right now: As long as you think that working people are stupid sheep and that you should be their shepherd — as long as the left is structured that way (because, right or wrong, when I look up, it sure looks to me like most of the left is structured that way) — you’re never going to be able to build movements large enough to tackle, say, global warming or U.S. imperialism.
In my opinion, though, I don’t think Marxists are interested in combating global warming or U.S. imperialism. I think they’re interested in being big fish in little ponds. I think they’d like to be big fish in big ponds, but since they’re stuck in little ponds, they settle for being big fish there instead. I do not believe Marxists are seriously interested in any revolution that doesn’t leave them at the top of the food chain.
Listening to a Bush, Barack, or Hillary talk about anything bothers me less than listening to a Marxist claim to care about working people. If you deny the existence of the coordinator class, and if you refuse to talk about balanced job complexes, you are no friend of the working class.
Coordinatorist organizational structures do not serve the interests of the working class. They serve the interests of the coordinator class. Denying the existence of the coordinator class also serves that class’s interest. And to be completely honest with you, I’m not sure I can think of anything that makes me angrier than that denial.
Finally, one more time let me say the following: If I claimed to be for women’s rights, yet I said I was opposed to abortion rights, no one (on the left) would consider me to be a supporter of women’s rights. This logic is correct. If you do not support women’s control over their own bodies, you’re not a supporter of women’s rights.
In the same manner, if you cannot acknowledge the existence of the coordinator class, and if you do not support the concept of balanced job complexes (and crucially, if you’re not willing to work one yourself), then you are not a supporter of working-class liberation. You might be a supporter of better working conditions (or whatever) for the working class. But you are not a supporter of working-class liberation.
Supporting women’s reproductive rights is a necessary condition to support women’s liberation. Supporting balanced job complexes and coordinator-class acknowledgment is a necessary condition to support working-class liberation.