„Wo Schmutz und Blut zusammenfließen“ Problemzonen eines linken Klassenprojekts

Abstract

Over the past few years socialist intellectuals and political activists have stressed the need for an alliance between middle-class groups, wage-workers, and the marginalised underclass. The article seeks to unfold the theoretical background of this rather difficult approach by checking out the lower limits of the claimed alliance. Starting with Marx and Engels’ downgrading of the lumpenproletariat, it examines two controversial lines in critical theory: on the one hand analyses of supposed shortcomings that regard marginalised groups as unable to become subject of social transformation, and on the other hand (e .g . anarchist or operaist and post-operaist) approaches that bring into focus the particular but coequal ways of the poor and excluded in struggling for change. The article argues for an integrated approach.