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.