This paper discusses about class structure, and then followed by discussion on class
consciousness and class conflict in capture fisheries in Indonesia, taking fishers in
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan as the case. Data were collected from January to September
2006 intermittently, mainly through interviews with fishers, government oflicials,
and NGO activists. This research is a qualitative research. In terms of class structure,
there are four classes of fishers found in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, namely: labour
fishers, small scale fishers, intermediate or medium fishers, and large scale or capitalist
fishers. It is argued that class consciousness of the labour fishers has not developed yet.
Therefore, labour fisher is only a class in itself, not as a class for itself. There are six
factors that contribute to the underdeveloped of the class consciousness of the labour
fishers. In terms of class conflict, there is a significant deviation from the pattern of
class conflict described by Marx. In capture fishery, intense and Violent conflict more
often take place not between the capitalist or owner of the means of production and
labour. Instead, it often happens between the small and intermediate with the capitalist
fishers. In such a conflict, there is a strong alliance between the owner of the means
of production and the labour in both camps or small and intermediate, and capitalist
classes. In other word, small and intermediate fishers and their labours unite, on the
other hand, capitalists and their labours also unite in this conflict.
