Marxist Analysis of "the PMC" (+ Defending DSA)
In this episode, we play a presentation Ben Burgis gave at UC-Irvine on how to make sense of "elites" in Marxist class analysis (basically, are "the PMC" really a separate class, or part of the working class, or what), and then apply the point to thinking about some very bad recent criticisms of the DSA. Read Ben's Jacobin article "DSA’s Critics Are Missing the Point About the Working Class": https://jacobin.com/2026/07/class-politics-dsa-media-criticism Read the transcript of the UC-Irvine talk (republished as "How Should We Fit Salaried "Elites" Into Marxist Class Analysis?") [NOTE: This is where the Erik Olin Wright diagram of fine-grained class positions referred to in the second chunk of the episode is, for anyone who wants to follow along with that]: https://benburgis.substack.com/p/how-should-we-fit-salaried-elites?utm_source=publication-search Pre-order Ben's book (co-written with Bhaskar Sunkara and Mike Beggs) "The Blueprint: How Socialism Can Work in the Real World") from worker-owned bookseller Red Emmas: https://redemmas.org/titles/52310-the-blueprint-how-socialism-can-work-in-the-real-world/ Register to attend the book launch in September 29th in Los Angeles: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-blueprint-how-socialism-can-work-in-the-real-world-tickets-2001094549666 Or the event two days later in New York: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-blueprint-how-socialism-can-work-in-the-real-world-tickets-2001236203356 Follow Ben on Twitter @JacobinBen [NOTE: The previous account was hacked!] Follow GTAA on Twitter: @Gtaa_Show Become a GTAA Patron and receive numerous benefits ranging from occasional patron-exclusive content to access to the GTAA Discord to our undying love and gratitude for helping us keep this thing going: patreon.com/benburgis Read the weekly philosophy Substack: benburgis.substack.com
