Class Consciousness, the National Will and Revolutions

Class consciousness is defined as an expression of a particular class concept of reality. Classes exhibit different viewpoints of reality based on their economic standing. A bourgeoisie, for example, thinks of reality as something as stable as eating more than three times a day and doing it in the luxury of his mansion, while a proletariat views reality on the opposite. The forms of social life develop in different directions for differing classes, and this stems from their differing experiences related to the means of production.


History, for example, is interpreted differently by different classes. EDSA revolts are viewed by the bourgeoisie as legitimate democratic exercises while the proletariat sees it as nothing more than a musical chair play, with members of the bourgeois classes exchanging their lots for governance. Fact is, even the concept of democracy is differently viewed by classes. Socialism, for example is the highest form of democracy for proletariats while elitist or capitalist democracy is the one subscribed to by the bourgeois.


Class consciousness plays a big part in staging a revolution. The ascendant consciousness of the revolting members of a particular class determines the direction of the revolution. 


Marx wrote in the Holy Family that...

" the question is not what goal is envisaged for the time being by this or that member of the proletariat, or even by the proletariat as a whole. The question is what is the proletariat and what course of action will it be forced historically to take in conformity with its own nature"

In a proletariat-led revolt, the aim is transform the state from the ground up, and supplant it with a worker-led system of governance. This revolution is based on the purest concept of justice---equalization in owning the means of production. To achieve the goal, the mode of production would have to be systematically changed. And the only route for change is revolution.


Now, is it possible to concretize a collective class consciousness or what others term as "national will"? Yes, it is entirely possible if the levers of power reside in the hands of the ascendant force in society, which, in this case, is the proletariat.


The clash of classes must happen first, so that the more developed consciousness evolves from it. Revolution is inevitable, it is a necessary consequence of class struggle. Without a revolution, there is no change.