For Marx, 'pure' economic theory, that is economic theory which abstracts from a specific social structure, is impossible.
Ernest MandelThere has been hardly a single year since 1917, and in a certain sense since 1905, without a revolution somewhere in the world in which the workers participated in a rather important way.
Ernest MandelThe only conclusion you can draw from the real historical movement is that by and large, in day-to-day life, what Lenin called trade union consciousness dominates the working class. I would call it elementary class consciousness of the working class.
Ernest MandelThe more workers you have in your organization, the better you are implanted in the working class, the more likely you are to come up with the concrete problems of the class.
Ernest Mandel