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Comment by ThrowawayR2 | Hacker News Reader

Most developers are paid more than 2x the median wage. For HN, that difference is probably 3x-5x or more. If class consciousness is on the rise, HN's readership is in the classes that the lower economic strata are going to be rising up against. If you have any illusions that the proletariat will welcome you with open arms for your claimed solidarity, think again or you might be in for a shock; specifically, a short, sharp shock.

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Conversely, software engineers are generating considerably more profit for their employers than they receive in compensation on average. I know it's not the only metric of exploitation, but it's a hard one to ignore.

Disagree. Class consciousness is about realizing that societal classes correspond to their relation to the means of production, not the concrete wage being earned. The majority of developers is part of the proletariat, at least according to Marx.

In an actual class conflict, when a group of working poor people knocks on your door and notices that you are a little too well dressed, a little too well fed, lacking the calluses and fatigue from working two low wage jobs, a little too well spoken and educated, a little too bourgeois, do you think they will be interested in discussing the minutiae of the Marxian definition of the proletariat or weighing the metrics of exploitation before they drag you out into the street?

That is why all vaguely successful revolutions have been based on a Leninist-type vanguard party based on an educated "elite" claiming to lead the masses. For better or worse, their implementation of Marxist ideas was fairly consistent.

how is the proletariat oppressed by an ordinary non-management software developer?

It doesnt matter. What matters is what side you are perceived to be on.

Drives rents up for ordinary people.

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