State And The Formation Of Working Class

The working class formation theory is an important part in Marx and Engels’s theory of class formation. Numbers of scholars regard Marx’s and Engels as "economic determinists", for in their theory, it is the economic structure of capitalism that forms the conflicting pattern of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Many scholars reject this thesis, for example, Thompson believes that the formation of the proletariat is closely related to the life experience and cultural awareness of the people; and Katznelson insist that the formation of class is the result of state institution. Nevertheless, the author of this paper believes that it is improper to claim that Max and Engels are "economic determinists" only because of this reason. In fact, Max hasn’t seen the economic factor as the only determinant factor, and he has noticed other factors as well, such as the common life style, state and system, which haven’t been as much emphasized as the economic factor.The method of studying the formation of the class from the perspective of state came into being when later scholars were criticizing Max and Engels’theory, but their theory sources also date from the two persons as well as their writings. And this thesis rightly focuses on the retrospect of the theory. This thesis is a further analysis on Max and Engels’theory of class formation mainly from the perspective of state. This thesis is based on the theoretical achievements of those predecessors, starting from Max and Engels’s publications.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first chapter is introduction, which consists of the reasons for choosing this topic, summing up of the references, study methods, review of the results of class formation, list of the criticism on Max and Engels’class theories from the academic field, especially on their class formation theory, and definition of the concept of class formation. Further, this thesis proposes the reforming of class formation theory from the perspective of state. The second chapter discusses the influence of the structures of the states and the types of the regime on the class formation:"Strong" states usually lead to radical movements of the working class, on the contrary, movements in "weak" states are less radical. Whether the regime is autocratic or free will also result in different politic modes of the working class. Single form can easily cause working people to attribute problems to their state, thus looking at the state as their fighting aim directly, however, the federal system reduces the density and draw people’s attention to several objects. The third chapter analyses whether people have civil rights or not have influence on the formation of class, mainly from three aspects namely the rights of universal suffrage, publishing association and political participation. In a country that authorizes its citizens rights, working people have legal methods to fight for their own sake, thus their movements are often more moderate. Whether the conditions for the establishment of the political party are loose or strict is also a reflection of citizens’rights, and it can directly decide the establishing of working people’s political party and its development in the future. Besides, such political party plays an important role in leading working people’s movements and in the inspiration of their awareness. The fourth chapter discusses public policy’s influence. Changes of land policy make farmers lose their land and become the proletarians. The gathering of the houses offers working people chances to gather together, thus making it more convenient to form space for working people’s class awareness. But the lack of labor and social security policy will cause more and more resistance from working people. At some point, the land policy, it directly made peasants lose their lands, reduced to proletarians. The closing part is the summary of the whole thesis. On one hand, it points out that different states produce different working classes, therefore the modes of the formation of working class are varied; on the other hand, working class will influence its state and system during the procedure of its formation. State and the formation of working class form a relationship of mutual influence.