For our November-December issue, Political Affairs plans to devote its front page features to post-mortems on the 2012 elections. To truly understand an historical event,  V. I. Lenin advised understanding in the most exact possible detail the interests and relationships of social classes. Marx centers his definition of class on the relationship of a person to a system of production. What you do for a living, what services or goods you provide, and how you are compensated, determines what struggles in which you must engage to survive, to defend or advance your conditions. This framework differs in some key points from one based on income distribution. A factory machinist and a convenience store owner may have comparable incomes but different incentives as to how to defend or advance their interests.

We call to all writers to consider an aspect, dimension, local or national, of the elections in which knowing the disposition of votes and class helps explain something important in understanding the outcome.

Please comment in this blog to expand the definition of class.

Example: the precinct, or neighborhood, where  you live. Can you explain the distribution of voting by class? What about voting differences within a family? Within families where there is some income from capital, or real estate? I suggest it can be a fascinating and illuminating exercise --- no matter what group of friends, acquaintances or other, broader social groups you choose to analyse.  

SEND IN YOUR CONTRIBUTION to johnwshc@gmail.com

peace

John