The intermediate represents abstractly a social point between mass and revolutionary levels. It is distinct from the mass layer insofar as it is not made up of average workers whose relationship to organization is based on interest alone, e.g. “I work here so I’m part of this workplace organization,” or “I live here, I’m a part of this tenants union,” etc. Nor is the intermediate level oriented primarily around ideological questions. Articulated in its most ideal, the intermediate level are comprised of tactically militantindividuals with deep connections to various layers of the class. Often these types emerge from mass experiences: a strike, a walkout, an occupation, riots, mass mobilizations, a series or combination of the above, or from broader and more protracted movements such as Occupy. They posit and defend the most militant tactics and struggle for their execution, not externally as propagandists, but internally as coworkers, neighbors, classmates, and cellmates.
These distinct levels are not static but change and change rapidly the more the class moves. The development is also not linear; one does not necessarily move from mass to intermediate to revolutionary. These categories are fluid, ever changing, growing and contracting, developing in contradictory ways, and so on with the ebbs and flows of social struggle.
The intermediate concept is useful for thinking about non-revolutionary, non-activist types who emerge visibly in moments of struggle and whose own organic links to mass elements, that revolutionaries and activists aren’t in touch with, allows their perspectives far more currency. It is the connections and relationships that they have that we don’t, but they aren’t always active and are often dormant making the opportunities to link with them sparse.
When they do become visible, usually in hot moments such as riots, strikes, blockades, occupations, and sit-ins, they can potentially work in combination in between moments of mass action and maintain continuity by carrying out smaller actions and projects in between them, and, when mass actions materialize, as a way to change the dynamic of the mass action not only toward far more confrontational and hence educational ends, but through mobilization of their networks than can deepen the movement overall.