James had many heated arguments with Joseph Tan on certain points concerning Maxist theories. One major point evolved around the Marxist concept of “proletariat”. Joseph Tan’s interpretation of the term was narrow and exclusive namely, that the proletariat only included the labouring class – workers, farmers etc and that victory in the revolution depended on this class.
Later during detention at St. John’s island, Sharma insisted that a worker was superior to an intellectual in the revolutionary struggle because he was a member of the proletariat.
These views were unacceptable to James. In fact, Tan’s interpretation would have excluded non-working class members including Lenin himself and William Kuok. Accordingly James insisted that all persons regardless of his class background who possessed political consciousness and readiness to fight for the revolution should be accepted as members of the proletariat.