Class-Consciousness and Collective-Consciousness

While often treated as a primitive, singular phenomenon, Class-Consciousness is compound, the apparent singularity of which reflects primarily the occasion of its discovery. For, the concept of Class entails a division that generalizes the conflict of interests that obtains in any basic Exchange, but remains undiscovered until the collectivization of the Means of Production, due to the introduction of complex machinery, engenders a collective-consciousness in the co-operators of those Means. It is only then, upon the realization of the shared victimization of exploitation at the hands of wage-earners, that the process of Production is conceived as polarized into antagonistic Classes, which becomes a spur to its overcoming by those victims. But, that overcoming requires the collectivization of private property, resulting in a Class-less society, in which, therefore, the conditions of Class-Consciousness are eliminated. In other words, while Class-Consciousness is a pivotal moment in the transition from Capitalism to Socialism, it is only as a derivative catalyst that does not survive the transition. In retrospect, Class-Consciousness is an underdeveloped stage of a universal Collective-Consciousness.