1) Middle class better at theory than working class—is there actually anything surprising here? I mean, if you take a random sample of middle class and a random sample of working class, who would you expect to do better at a math test? Science test? History test? Betting on the middle class is the obvious winning move here, right?
Part of the socialist ideals is that the working class should actually have the power to make a lot of decisions. Believing that the middle class is better goes counter to socialist ideas.
I can’t speak for Orwell, or actually any socialist, but there are ways around this.
For example, you might believe that if we improve educational opportunities for the workers (they would support this), then their beliefs will become similar to what the middle-class socialists believe now. In other words, they only disagree because they didn’t have time to learn and reflect, but if we provide them more free time (they would support this), they will. That is, in the actual socialism, the decisions will be made by actual workers, and they will be quite similar to what the middle-class socialists promote now.
Also, I think the classes are supposed to be eliminated in socialism.
There’s a general idea of starting out with the “rule of the proletariat” after the revolution in Marxist ideology which means actual working class people would govern. They would also govern without first needing to be educated for that.
Social democrat ideology doesn’t have the same issue but the Marxists do have it.
Part of the socialist ideals is that the working class should actually have the power to make a lot of decisions. Believing that the middle class is better goes counter to socialist ideas.
I can’t speak for Orwell, or actually any socialist, but there are ways around this.
For example, you might believe that if we improve educational opportunities for the workers (they would support this), then their beliefs will become similar to what the middle-class socialists believe now. In other words, they only disagree because they didn’t have time to learn and reflect, but if we provide them more free time (they would support this), they will. That is, in the actual socialism, the decisions will be made by actual workers, and they will be quite similar to what the middle-class socialists promote now.
Also, I think the classes are supposed to be eliminated in socialism.
There’s a general idea of starting out with the “rule of the proletariat” after the revolution in Marxist ideology which means actual working class people would govern. They would also govern without first needing to be educated for that.
Social democrat ideology doesn’t have the same issue but the Marxists do have it.
I can’t simulate a (non-Leninist) Marxist well enough to answer this. Yes, when you put it this way, it sounds too naive.
Leninism assumes a “vanguard” that will lead the proletariat towards its coherent extrapolated volition.
Mondragon Corporation has management, but the workers-owners can vote them out. No idea what Marx would think about this.
The idea that people are equal in the sense of one hour of work being the same is one of the cornerstones of Marx’s work.