Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization.
Class collaboration is one of the main pillars of social architecture in fascism. In the words of Benito Mussolini, fascism "affirms the irremediable, fruitful, and beneficent inequality of men".[1] Given this premise, fascists conclude that the preservation of social hierarchy is in all of the classes' interests and therefore all classes should collaborate in its defense: the lower and the higher classes should accept their roles and perform their respective duties.
In fascist thought, the principle of class collaboration is combined with ultranationalism. The stability and the prosperity of the nation was seen as the ultimate purpose of collaboration between classes.
Class collaboration implies National Syndicalism as the preferred model for the economy. The state, having a non-class character, would mediate between employers and employees. Among other things, such mediation would entail disallowing strikes by employees and lockouts by employers; setting up state-run corporations/syndicates as the sole representatives of given industries; and allowing only state-run labor unions to represent employee interests.[2]
Communists ideologically oppose class collaboration, advocating class struggle and favoring a classless society.
The chief criticism communists wield against class collaboration is that it posits that the state alone can reconcile class antagonism in society and that the strife that gives rise to communism can be harmonized. For communists, the state is a tool used by the bourgeois class, meaning that the state will inevitably favor the employers over employees in class disputes.[3]
Some Marxists use the term "class collaboration" pejoratively, to describe working-class organisations that do not pursue class struggle. In this sense, the term has connotations of collaborationism. At the same time, communists do not necessarily reject all alliances between classes. Some communists argue that in a country with a large peasant population, the transition to communism can be accomplished by an alliance between two classes, namely the peasantry and the proletariat, united against the bourgeois class.[4] Mao Zedong's New Democracy concept calls for "the peasantry, the proletariat, the petty bourgeoisie and national and patriotic elements from the bourgeoisie to collectively operate for the building of a socialist society".
Modern social democracy (Third-Way) and one-nation conservatism also support class collaboration.[5]