peasant or “working class”, who own nothing but their ability to sell their labour power that is, their ability to work in return for wages.
To generalize the classification of people among all societies, Chris Livesey 2001: 4 claims that “all human societies…. have been class based in
some way, shape or form”. He also says, “By this, at the most basic level of interpretation, Marx meant that in every known human society there has been a
fundamental division between two broad social groups, a.
One group has always owned and controlled the fundamental material resources that are necessary for the maintenance of social
existence such things as food production, the creation of shelter, clothing and so forth.
b. One group has not owned or controlled the production of such
things.”
6. Class struggle
Nikolai Bukharin 1969: 297 in Historical Materialism states that various gradations of interest effecting the various form of struggle. Therefore, referring
to the Josef Wilczynski’s definition of class struggle see in Definition of Terms the interest of two different social-economic classes arise a conflict between them.
As Sidney Hook 1955: 26 says, “whenever private ownership of means of production exists there is an objective opposition of interests between classes with
respect to the division of the fruit of production”. Barry 2002: 157 claims that the competitions of economic, social, and
political advantage are the triggers of the class struggle. In Communist
Manisfesto , Marx declares, “all history is history of the class struggles”.
According to Sidney Hook, Marx’s statement proves that class struggle is not always caused by economic interest but also political struggles. He explains that,
A dominant economic class may not at any given moment be the dominant political class, but unless it becomes such, its economic interests and the
functioning of society as a whole are subject to continuous frustration. When the struggle becomes hot, the state appears nakedly as the
“executive committee” of the ruling class. It must be captured by new class which in time clothes the state once more with a rhetoric that
describes it as neutral or above battle or as the instrument of the general interest Hook, 1955: 26-27.
Nikolai Bukharin 1969: 298 explains, “class struggle therefore means a struggle in which one class has entered into action against the other class. From
this arises the extremely important principle that “every class struggle is a political struggle” Marx”. Josef Wilczynski 1981: 80 divides two spheres of
class struggle: a.
Economic struggle: a struggle for the improvement of the condition of work and a change in the principle governing the distribution of the
fruits of labour. b.
Political struggle: a struggle for seizure and maintenance of political power.
C. Kahlil Gibran’s Works and Social Background
Marxist literary criticism sees the background of the author and the background of the literary work as the important things as the consideration to
conduct the analysis. As Peter Barry 2002: 158 says, “all the same, Marxist literary criticism maintains that a writer’s social classand its prevailing ‘ideology’
outlook, values, tacit assumptions, half-realised allegiances, etc. have a major
