Class traitor

Class traitoris a term used mostly insocialistdiscourse to refer to a member of theproletarianclass who works directly or indirectly against their class interest, or against their economic benefit and in favor of thebourgeoisie.It applies particularly tosoldiers,police officers,corrections officers,collection bureau agents,bounty hunters,loss prevention,repossession agents,vigilantes,security guards(mainly those hired byprivate security companies),workerswho cross and refuse to respectpicket linesduring astrikeand anyonepaid a wagewho actively facilitates thestatus quo.According toBarbara Ehrenreich:"Class treason is an option at all socioeconomic levels: from the blue-collar man who becomes a security guard employed to harass striking workers, to the heirs of capitalist fortunes who become donors to left-wing causes".

In Russia before and during theRussian Revolution,theBolsheviksand other socialist revolutionary organizations used it to describe theCzarist Armyand any working class citizen who opposed thedictatorship of the proletariat.The term was later extended to include theMenshevik Russiansand othercounter-revolutionarysocialist organizations underJoseph Stalin.

The motives behind becoming a traitor to one's class can include the necessity of survival (taking up whatever wage is available), the belief that the person is of ahigher classand so haspolitical viewsthat work against the working class, the pressure of conformity, or a rejection of the view that society is divided up into antagonistic classes.

Bourgeois class traitors

While the idea of the class traitor is one typically applied to the proletariat, it can also be used to describe members of the upper-class who believe in and espouse socialist ideals. For example,Peter Kropotkin,ananarcho-communistwho wroteThe Conquest of Bread,was born into a noble family.Additionally,Friedrich Engels,partner and lifelong friend ofKarl Marx,the revolutionary socialist, was himself a son of a wealthy factory owner. Such people sacrifice their ability to be part of the capitalist upper-class for the sake of who they see as the oppressed, even if it hurts their status in the process.

TheEarl of Cardiganwas described as a class traitor byThe Daily Telegraphfor denouncingpolice violence he had witnessed.

See also

• Class struggle
• False consciousness
• Internalized oppression
• Lumpenproletariat
• Race traitor
• Sycophancy
• Uncle Tom