ABSTRACT
The concept of class is central to the thought of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. One can use the concept of class in that sense to classify people without paying any attention to their experience or their political positions. The political activity that is necessary in order to transform economic into political class requires class consciousness and, in its turn, promotes the growth of class consciousness. The bourgeoisie appropriated the language of socialism but turned it into a defense of the status quo in order to slow the development of the proletarian class and its class consciousness. Economic differences, however, are only one aspect of class; there is also social class, the different histories and experiences that are one source of class consciousness. Capitalism—with its private ownership and control of the means of production—is possible only where there are several economic classes that differ with respect to the ownership of capital.
