Animals are Part of the Working Class
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Jason Hribal
2012

Capitalist enclosure over the modern historical period might have destroyed much of the commons and their culture, but the social relations engrained in them have persisted. Commoning between humans and other animals has been an ever-present fact and growing practice. Commoning can be found at its strongest in family, community, and class. This essay will consider the latter indepth.....Missing from those talks, however, is where and how other animals, in particular our fellow members of the working class, fit into this. Across the US, there are currently wild horses in Utah, wild cows in Georgia, wild macaques in Florida, wild sheep in Hawaii, wild burros in California, wild goats in Southern Illinois, and wild pigs in Pennsylvania. Yet these animals are not wild; they are autonomous.

Humans are in a constant search for commonalities between themselves and other animals. This is often done in direct contradiction to the proverbs of science and industry for which such thinking is anthropomorphic and heretical. It is at a young age that the children of the United States are taught repeatedly of these rules, as stipulated and standardized by the educational curriculum. Humans are uniquely human; other animals are something else—don’t draw commonalities. Yet never in recorded history are more people doing the very opposite. From the popularity of animal rights to the changing notion of the family, which is expanding to include dogs and cats, the social relationships that define our lives seem to be speedily evolving in this direction. Why? Capitalist enclosure over the modern historical period might have destroyed much of the commons and their culture, but the social relations engrained in them have persisted. Commoning between humans and other animals has been an ever-present fact and growing practice. Commoning can be found at its strongest in family, community, and class. This essay will consider the latter indepth.


In its existing form, our conception of class is not adequate. It is much broader and more complex than we have previously understood. Recognizing this fact is a first step in moving forward with the development of new ideas and approaches. There are difficulties ahead. We cannot, for instance, have critical dialogues with other animals. We cannot organize politically with them in the traditional sense. The relationship may not provide the levels of reciprocity that we are used to. This is all true. But these challenges can be overcome. Some individuals have already started the process in earnest and in depth. Agnese Pignataro has called for a political project between the species based on the ideas of class, empowerment, and solidarity (2009). Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka have designs for an engaged political citizenship with working animals (2012). Having these conversations is not the same thing as ventriloquism. I have dealt with such charges in the essay ‘Understanding Class and Species’ (Hribal 2011). Nor is it the same thing as paternalism. Rather, by placing other animals squarely into our larger discussions, as fellow workers who produce, resist, and actively shape the world, we are including them in the future. This is a question of solidarity.

There are important ongoing discussions occurring across the globe about the future of the commons. Missing from those talks, however, is where and how other animals, in particular our fellow members of the working class, fit into this. Across the US, there are currently wild horses in Utah, wild cows in Georgia, wild macaques in Florida, wild sheep in Hawaii, wild burros in California, wild goats in Southern Illinois, and wild pigs in Pennsylvania. Yet these animals are not wild; they are autonomous. These are maroon communities. The term ‘maroon’ comes from the Spanish cimarrones, referring to escaped cattle. It would come to be applied to escaped slaves but that was, again, later. Some of these maroon communities are old, stretching back decades to centuries; some are young and their culture is just forming. These once domesticated creatures have found a way to survive and persist on a commons of their own making. These commons represent a viable alternative to the present, an alternative of animals’ own choosing, direction, and purpose. This is not just a theory; it is practice. And it will be occupying my work for the next several decades. Others are welcome to join me. Animals have had a long, deep understanding of the commons. We should be learning from them and figuring out how we fit into the future together.

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