Formulating worker consciousness

A study of history presupposes a set of concepts. This paper elaborates one such concept, ‘worker consciousness’. It sets out to formulate worker consciousness through first of all specifying a method of conceptualization and then applying this to the derivation of worker consciousness. The part on method makes a distinction between the material object and its representation in thought and argues that there is no one to one correpondences between these two. This implies that there is no simple correlation between concepts and reality. In deriving worker consciousness it is argued that a clear analytical distinction needs to be made between on the one hand, individual consciousness and on the other hand, collective consciousness, of which worker consciousness is but one form. The paper then relates worker consciousness to economic struggle, distinguishing this from class consciousness which embodies political struggle.