'Class' versus 'Caste': "The socialist doctrine fails entirely to take into account the essential difference between the conditions of a status or caste society, and those of a capitalistic society." #QotD

"The inherent weakness of [the socialist] doctrine is that it deals with classes and not with individuals.... But even Marx cannot help admitting that a conflict exists between the interests of an individual and those of the class to which he belongs* ... Marx obfuscated the problem by confusing the notions of caste and class....
    "In a status [caste-ridden] society the individual inherits his caste membership from his parents, he remains through all his life in his caste, and his children are born as members of it. Only in exceptional cases can good luck raise a man into a higher caste. For the immense majority birth unalterably determines their station in life.
    "The classes which Marx distinguishes in a capitalistic society are different. Their membership is fluctuating. Class affiliation is not hereditary. It is assigned to each individual by a daily repeated plebiscite, as it were, of all the people. The public in spending and buying determines who should own and run the plants, who should play the parts in the theatre performances, who should work in the factories and mines. Rich men become poor, and poor men rich. The heirs as well as those who themselves have acquired wealth must try to hold their own by defending their assets against the competition of already established firms and of ambitious newcomers. In the unhampered market economy there are no privileges, no protection of vested interests, no barriers preventing anybody from striving after any prize.
    "[In a capitalistic society] access to any of the Marxian classes is free to everybody. The members of each class compete with one another; they are not united by a common class interest and not opposed to the members of other classes...
    "[The] socialist or communist doctrine fails entirely to take into account the essential difference between the conditions of a status or caste society, and those of a capitalistic society."
        ~ Ludwig Von Mises, from his book Theory and History, p. 112-15 

* Thus we read in the Communist Manifesto: "The organisation of the proletarians into a class, and consequently into a political party, is at every instant again shattered by the competition between the workers themselves."