Some questions from someone just learning about Marxism:
Are knowledge workers (e.g. software engineers) part of the proletariat? What if they are highly-paid, salaried, and have stock options? If so, do their socioeconomic interests really align better with e.g. service workers barely eking out a living on minimum wage than with successful small business owners living comfortably? What role can such workers play in a bottom-up socialist movement, despite being fairly high in the socioeconomic hierarchy? (I’m thinking of Roger Kulp’s criticism of his local Green Party chapter in a recent marxmail thread*: “The membership consisted almost entirely of upper class, or upper middle class liberals, with more than a touch of elitism in each member.” Although the Greens are not a socialist party, they do purport to fight for labor; and yet this is not the first time I have heard criticism that they—or at least some of their members—are out-of-touch upper-class elitists.)
