Saturday, May 5, 1990

Marx on How Workers are Ripped Off by Capitalism

Karl Marx's works were written during the latter half of the nineteenth century, almost a century after the dawn of the industrial revolution. By this time, feudal relations of production had been replaced by capitalist relations throughout the developed world. Essentially, the shift was one from small-scale, independent production of goods to mass production. This was all made possible by the invention of engines and machines which soon replaced individuals as producers (because they allowed for commodities of a consistent quality to be manufactured using only a fraction of the labor as before - hence, cheaper). The industrial revolution changed life on our earth more than any other development to date in mankind's onward historical march.

What Marx did was to spell out how capitalism as a system of production fails to satisfy human needs and hurts all who live under it - both workers and capitalists. Marx defined capitalists as those who own the means of production under capitalism, and profit from their operation, i.e., the bosses, the ruling class. Workers are those who work for the bosses, who own nothing but their labor power, and who consequently are forced to sell this labor in order to earn a means of survival. In Marx's view, it is not by any means a fair trade.

His notion is that capitalist production alienates workers from themselves. Marx's concept of alienation is multifaceted; in one sense, workers are alienated by factory production because it removes them from the end product of their labors, reducing them to not hing more than "mere appendages of flesh in machines of iron." They are also alienated because their most creative potential, the act of work, becomes nothing more than a commodity, and worse, one which ends up in the hands of someone else!

For the most important way in which workers are alienated by capitalist production is that through its motions, workers are deprived of something that otherwise would be rightfully theirs. In the process of selling their labor, Marx argues, workers get ripped off. Some of their labor's value is lost, since producers of goods can only make a profit by charging potential consumers more than what the goods cost to produce. It is by not compensating workers fully for the value of their labor that producers make money from manufacturing.

Many arguments have been devised by capitalists to refute Marx's observations concerning owners' profits and the injustice of their origins. Perhaps the most straightforward justification of profits flowing to the owners of capital has been that profits are fair renumerations for the multitude of things that owners of capital must bankroll, procure, and maintain in order for large-scale production to take place and workers to be gainfully employed. Obviously, a considerable scale of organization is required before modern day manufacturing can occur in an ordered fashion. However, Marx stresses that under capitalism, present day owners are enjoying the fruits of labor expended by countless previous generations. Is it fair, he asks, that the invention and labor of thousands of years be the exclusive privilege of the wealthy few?

Marx foresaw capitalism's eventual downfall because of the contradictions inherent in its basic structure. Of necessity to a capitalist system's well-being is an ever-increasing flow of wealth from the working classes to the owners of capital. Marx's logical conclusion was that eventually, something would have to give. Oppressed workers the world over, once no longer able to bear their impoverishment, would rise up and seize control of all means of production from the capitalists.

What Marx did not foresee was that during the century after his death, capitalism's global penetration would create a whole new set of exploitative conditions. The size of the world's working class has been greatly enlarged; now, it is much of the third world whose labors prop up the abundance of our western standards of living. No longer is there as great a danger of communist revolution shaking the industrialized world from within, for most remaining workers in the developed world live at least reasonably comfortably. The impoverished workers who toil under oppressive conditions so that international capitalism may profit now do so in faraway lands. Are they capable of rising up in revolution against a west armed to the teeth with high-tech, trillion dollar militaries, not to mention atom bombs?

This is not to say the relationships between workers and capitalists as described by Marx do not still exist in our industrialized societies today, only that the scope of workers' exploitation by capitalists has expanded in other, global directions under new circumstances. When their jobs are not eliminated entirely by relocation of factories to the third world, workers in America today are still squeezed first and hardest by bosses looking to maintain profit levels during times of financial hardship. Workers are still robbed of the value of their labor through woeful undercompensation for their work. If you want to understand worker-owner dynamics under our world's current global capitalist framework, nothing can substitute for an understanding of Marx.

Rogues Gallery

All Posts by Category

Tags

#ChapelHillShooting #MuslimLivesMatter (1) $400 haircuts (3) 1960s (1) 1980s (1) 1984 (1) 1988 elections (1) 1989 (1) 1990 elections (3) 1992 elections (1) 1993 (3) 1994 elections (1) 1996 elections (3) 1998 elections (1) 2000 elections (3) 2004 (7) 2004 elections (2) 2008 (32) 2008 congressional races (2) 2012 elections (3) 2014 elections (13) 2016 elections (7) 527 groups (1) 9/11 (4) 9/11 first anniversary (1) Abba Eban (1) Abbe Raven (1) Abbie Hoffman (2) ABC (1) abortion (3) action alert (7) activism (2) advertising (2) advocacy (1) affair (4) Affordable Care Act (1) affordable housing fund (1) afghanistan (2) Age of Obama (1) AIDS (1) AIDS victims (2) AIPAC (1) al gore (2) Al Sharpton (1) Alec Guettal (3) alienation (2) Alison Lundergan Grimes (1) alternative energy (10) Alzheimer's (1) amanda marcotte (2) American Left (4) Americans for Limited Government (1) Americans For Prosperity (1) Amnon Rubenstein (1) andrew young (3) Angelo Robinson (1) anti-communism (1) anti-gay bigotry (1) anti-gay violence (1) anti-immigration activists (2) anti-science (1) anti-Semitism (1) anti-vaccine (1) anti-vaxxers (1) anti-war (6) appeal to southern voters (1) apprentice (1) Ariel Sharon (1) Ashley Todd (2) assassinations (2) Astroturf (1) atheism (1) attack ads (5) attack on voter rights (4) Australia (1) autism (1) average Americans (1) baby boomers (1) baby formula (1) bank of america (1) bankruptcy reform (1) barack obama (24) Barry Commoner (2) BBC (1) Benghazi (1) Benjamin L. Ginsberg (1) Bensonhurst (1) Berkeley (1) Beth Ising (2) bi-racial coalition (1) Biden-Palin Debate (1) big banks (1) big money (4) bigotry (7) bill clinton (6) bill donohue (1) Bill Hedrick (1) Bill O'Reilly (1) billionaires (1) Billy Bragg (1) Black Cultural Center (1) Black Lives Matter (4) black voters (7) Blan Holman (1) block the vote (1) bloggergate (1) bloggers (1) blogosphere (1) Bob Dole (1) Bob Iger (1) bob johnson (1) body cameras (1) books (3) Borders (2) BP (2) Brad Blog (1) Brad Friedman (1) Bruce Braley (4) budget deficit (1) bush (7) Bush Administration (2) bush administration misconduct (3) bush donor (1) bush on steroids (1) bush v. gore (1) California (1) Camilo Padreda (1) campaign feud (1) campaign finance reform (8) campaign gaffes (2) campaign scandals (4) campaigns (1) can edwards win (3) canvassing (1) capitalism (2) Catalyst (5) censorship (5) Cesar Chavez (1) Chad Taylor (1) Channel One (1) chapel hill (7) chapel hill town council (3) Charlie Black (1) Charlie Crist (1) Chatham County (1) chemical industry (2) children (1) chris hughes (1) Chris Whittle (1) Christine O'Donnell (1) CIA (3) CIA recruiting (1) CIA torture report (1) citizen participation (1) Citizens United (1) civil disobedience (2) civil rights (7) civil rights movement (1) civilian casualties (2) Civitas Institute (1) class issues (1) Clean Up Congress (1) Clear Channel (2) Clinton Administration (3) code words (1) Cold War (1) colin powell (1) Colin Small (1) college campuses (2) colonialism (1) columbia (1) community reinvestment (1) community reinvestment act (1) concentration of mass media ownership (4) Concord (1) congress (7) conservation (1) consumer fraud (2) consumers (2) Coors (1) corporate accountability (8) corporate front groups (1) corporate giveaways (2) corporate greed (1) corporate influence (4) corporate media (2) corporate misconduct (8) corporations (8) corruption (1) counter-inaugural (1) CRA (1) cra-nc (2) Craig Hicks (1) CRomnibus (2) crony capitalism (1) cross burnings (1) Crossroads GPS (1) Cuba (1) cuban exiles (1) cultural imperialism (1) Dale McKinley (1) damage control (2) Dana Rohrabacher (1) dark money (3) Darren Wilson (2) David Ball (2) David Brower (1) David Dellinger (1) David Duke (1) David Horowitz (1) Deah Barakat (1) debates (1) Debbie Cook (1) demagogues (3) democracy (6) Democratic Convention (1) democratic nomination (15) democratic party (2) Democrats (2) Denis Hayes (1) deregulation (1) detainees (1) Dick Cheney (1) dictatorships (1) dirty tricks (4) discrimination (1) Disney (1) disparate treatment (1) diversity (1) divisive politics (3) Dominican Republic (1) Donald Rumsfeld (1) donald trump (4) dumpstering (2) durham (2) e-mail (2) early voting (2) Ebola (2) economic inequality (2) economic issues (1) economy (4) ed meese (1) Ed Rollins (1) Edison Project (1) edith childs (1) education (2) edwards affair (4) election day 2008 (1) election fraud (1) electoral college (1) Eliot Spitzer (1) Elizabeth Dole (1) elizabeth edwards (2) Elizabeth Warren (3) Emily Lawson (1) employee pensions (1) end racism (4) energy independence (9) entertaining ourselves to death (5) environment (15) environmental pollution (5) environmental racism (2) Eric Garner (2) Eric Holder (1) Eric Odell (2) Ericka Kurz (21) evan bayh (1) Executive Orders (1) expenditures (1) exploitation of 9/11 (2) Exxon Valdez (1) factory farming (1) Faux News (1) FBI (1) Fear (1) fec (1) feminism (1) Ferguson (3) Fidel Castro (2) field plan (1) financial house of cards (1) fire (1) Fire From The Mountain (1) firebombing (2) fired up (1) first openly gay elected official in south (1) Florida (1) florida recount (1) foreign policy (1) Fox News (1) fraud (1) fraudulent inauguration (2) Frederick Douglass (1) Free Speech Movement (1) freedom songs (1) friend (1) fuel efficiency (1) fundraising (2) gary hart (1) gay (6) gay history (2) gay marriage (1) gay-baiting (4) Gaza (2) gen. david petraeus (1) gender equality (1) general election (23) Generation X (1) George H.W. Bush (9) George Norris (1) george w. bush (12) Geraldine Ferraro (1) Germany (2) gerrymandering (1) get-out-the-vote (3) GLBT community (1) global warming (2) GOP (27) GOP Slime Machine (10) GOTV (3) government harassment (1) government secrecy (1) great recession (1) greed (1) Greg Orman (1) grocery store (1) ground game (1) ground zero (1) GSE's (1) guerrillas (1) guest workers (1) Gulf War (5) gun violence (1) h+r block (1) hackers (2) Hamas (2) Harriet Ann Jacobs (2) Harris Wofford (1) Harry Blackmun (1) Harry Truman (1) Harvey Gantt (6) hate crimes (1) hate-mongering (3) hatred (3) health care reform (4) hedge funds (2) Helen Caldicott (2) Henry Hyde (1) Henry Kissinger (1) Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1) hero (1) Hezbollah (1) hillary clinton (14) historical amnesia (1) history (1) hit the road jack (1) HMO's (1) Ho Chi Minh (1) hoaxes (1) Holocaust (1) home foreclosures (1) homophobia (1) housing (1) Howard Rich (1) HR 1461 (1) Huks (1) Human Rights Campaign (1) hurting communities (1) i feel pretty (1) iit’s a wonderful life (1) immigration (4) immigration action (1) immigration reform (3) Inauguration Day 2009 (1) Incidents In The Life of a Slave Girl (2) income inequality (1) Indigo Girls (1) industrial agriculture (1) industrial revolution (1) integration (1) intelligence community (1) international relations (1) Invasion of Panama (1) Iowa (4) iowa caucuses (1) Ira Magaziner (1) Iran/Contra scandal (1) iraq (2) iraq war (4) iraq war costs (2) Irgun (1) ISIS (1) Islamic State (1) Islamophobia (1) Israel (5) Israeli Labor Party (1) Israeli-Palestinian conflict (6) James Bay II (1) James Carville (1) james watt (1) January 20 2001 (2) January 20 2009 (1) jeb bush (3) Jenn Karson (1) Jenny McCarthy (1) Jeremiah Wright (1) Jerry Falwell (1) Jerry Rubin (1) Jesse Helms (13) jesse jackson (3) Jessecrats (1) Jesus de Galindez (1) JFK Assassination (1) Jill Biden (1) Jim DeMint (1) Jim Hunt (3) Jimmy Langman (3) job losses (3) joe biden (3) joe herzenberg (3) Joe Sestak (1) joe trippi (1) John Boehner (3) john edwards (12) john kerry (4) John Lennon (1) John Locke (1) John McCain (16) John Moody (1) john poindexter (1) John Raese (1) John Reich (1) John Sinclair (1) Joni Ernst (5) June 24 1973 (1) justice (2) justice for all (1) Justice for Mike Brown (1) Kansas (2) Karl Marx (1) Karl Rove (5) Kay Hagan (4) Kayla Mueller (1) Ken Calvert (1) Kentucky (1) Kirti Shastri (1) KKK (1) Koch brothers (4) Korean War (1) Ku Klux Klan (2) labor unions (2) Lakota Woman (1) Lamar Alexander (1) Larry Kissell (1) Latin America (2) Latinos (2) Lawton Chiles (1) lazy journalism (1) Lebanon (1) lee c. wilson (1) legal system (1) Lehman Brothers (1) lesbian (1) liberation theology (1) Libya (1) Likud (3) Linda Brent (2) Lisa Abbott (3) lobbying (1) Louisiana (1) love child scandal (2) lynching (1) macaca moment (1) MAJIC (1) Mandy Carter (1) Marco Rubio (1) Mark Chilton (2) Mark Kleinschmidt (1) Mark Penn (1) marketing (2) Martin Frost (1) Martin Luther King Jr. (1) Mary Brave Bird (1) Mary Crow Dog (1) maternity leave (1) Matt Czajkowski (1) max cleland (1) mayor of franklin street (1) mbna (1) McCain missteps (2) McCain VP (7) McCarthyism (1) McDesperate (4) measles (1) media (2) media bias (3) media failed to inform (2) media hysteria (1) media monopolies (3) medical insurance industry (3) Medicare (1) melissa mcewan (1) memorial (1) Menachem Begin (2) mentor (1) merger (1) Michael Bell (1) Michael Brown (3) Michael Stipe (1) Michele Bachmann (1) Michelle Bachmann (1) michelle malkin (1) Michigan (1) middle east (1) Miguel Recarey (1) Mike Castle (1) Mike Easley (2) Mike Hummell (1) military-industrial complex (3) Millennials (1) Milton Wolf (1) minimum wage (1) mission not accomplished (1) Mitch McConnell (3) Mitt Romney (6) Mobil (2) molly ivins (1) money (1) Moral Majority (3) MOVE (4) multiculturalism (1) multinational corporations (2) Muslim Americans (1) mybo (1) NAACP (1) Nat Turner (1) Nathan Sproul (1) Native Americans (2) nc (4) NC Legislature (1) NC MOBE 96 (1) NC PDP (1) neo-nazis (1) Nestle (1) netroots (3) New Left (1) New Orleans (1) New World Order (1) New York City (3) Nicaragua (2) no justice no peace (1) No More Bushes (1) nobama democrats (1) non-profits (2) North Carolina (23) North Korea (1) nuclear industry (3) Obama Inauguration (1) Obamacare (1) Obsession DVD (1) OCAW (1) occupied territories (2) October 28 2007 (1) offshore drilling (1) Ohio (1) oil (10) oil industry (6) oliver north (1) Omar Cabezas (1) online organizing (1) oppression (2) oprah (1) organizing (12) Orlando Bosch (1) Osama Bin Laden (1) ots (2) outrage (1) overconsumption (1) Palestine (1) pandagon (1) pat buchanan (1) Pat Roberts (2) Pat Toomey (1) patriarchy (2) Paul Wellstone (1) payday lending (1) peace (4) peace is patriotic (1) Peggy Young (1) Pennsylvania (2) Penny Rich (1) Peter King (1) petition (2) pharmaceutical industry (1) Phillipines (1) phonebanking (1) phony billionaire (1) picketing (1) PIRGs (1) PLO (2) police accountability (4) police brutality (5) police oversight (4) political committees (1) political consultants (1) political heroes (1) polls (1) pottersville (1) President Obama (4) presidential campaign (30) privatization of education (2) pro-war propaganda (1) profits (1) progressive Democrats (3) progressives (1) property (1) protest (2) protests (6) Public Citizen (1) public health (2) public opinion (2) publishing industry (2) pulp (1) pulping (2) PUMA (1) race card (1) race relations (5) race riots (2) racism (22) racist terrorism (1) radicals (2) Rafael Trujillo (1) rally (1) ralph nader (3) RALs (1) Rand Paul (2) ray charles (1) reading list (3) reagan's racism (1) recall elections (1) recession of 1991-92 (2) recession of 2008 (1) redbaiting (1) redistricting (1) refugee camps (1) refund anticipation loans (1) reproductive rights (1) Republican National Convention (2) republican party (2) Republican Study Committee (1) returns (2) revolution (1) rich donors (2) Richard Fink (1) Rick Santorum (1) Rick Scott (1) rielle hunter (2) Right Wing (11) right wing Republicans (11) RIP (3) rip-off (1) Robert McCulloch (1) Robert Mercer (1) Robert Redford (2) Robin Hayes (1) ronald reagan (2) Ruby Sinreich (1) rudy giuliani (1) ruling class (1) rush limbaugh (3) Sabra and Shatilla Massacres (1) Sam Brownback (2) same-sex marriage (1) Sandinistas (1) Sarah Palin (14) SAU (1) savings and loans (1) Scamdal (1) schools (1) Scientology (1) Scott Brown (1) SDS (2) SEAC (20) selected not elected (1) Senate races (10) sept. 11 (4) sept. 11 2002 (2) sexism (2) Sharron Angle (1) Sheldon Adelson (1) Shimon Peres (1) single payer health system (2) Six-Day War (1) slaveholders (1) slavery (2) Smithfield Foods (1) social movements (1) social networking (1) solar panels (1) soul music (1) south carolina primary (4) Soviet Union (1) spat (1) Sprint (1) Stand With Peggy (1) state governments (1) Steve Scalise (1) Steve Schmidt (3) stolen election (5) stop bush (1) StopBrownback (1) strange incidents (2) street theatre (1) Student Action Union (1) student activism (19) student voting (3) students (11) subprime lending (1) super PACs (2) superdelegate petition (2) superdelegates (2) supreme court (5) susan baylies (1) swine flu panic (1) Syria (1) take action (16) tax code fairness (2) Tea Party (8) Ted Cruz (3) terrorism (2) Terry Sanford (1) The Revolt (1) The Zionist Dream Revisited (1) these guys (1) third world (3) Thom Tillis (3) Thomas Frank (1) Threshold (8) tim kaine (1) Time Warner (1) tobacco industry (1) Tom DeLay (1) Tongass National Forest (1) Tony Coelho (1) Tony Mazzocchi (1) torture (1) Troopergate (1) trump was born wealthy (1) U.S. power structure (2) UNC-Chapel Hill (5) undocumented immigrants (2) unemployment (1) United Kingdom (2) universal healthcare coverage (6) unprovoked war (1) UpStairs Lounge (1) uranium mining (1) US foreign policy (2) US support for Israel (2) vaccines work (1) Vandana Ramaswamy (1) VANISH (1) veepstakes (4) vice president (6) Vietnam War (7) VOE (1) volunteers (6) vote packing (1) voter education (2) voter ID (1) voter intimidation (2) voter mobilization (1) voter registration (12) voter suppression (9) voter turnout (8) voter-owned elections (1) voters (7) voters for obama (2) voting (1) voting problems (1) voting rights (1) vp (1) Waldenbooks (2) Wall Street (2) walter mondale (1) war (6) war in iraq (5) war on terror (4) war on women (1) war profits (1) War Resisters League (1) war toys (1) war weary (1) waste (2) waterboarding (1) wealth (2) white supremacy (3) Whittle Communications (1) Winona LaDuke (3) Wisconsin (2) women (1) Woodrow Wilson (1) Woodstock (1) workers (1) workplace discrimination (1) World War One (1) xenophobia (2) Yippie! (1) Yitzhak Rabin (1) you're fired (1) young voters (1) youth (1) youth empowerment (2) youtube (1) Yusef Hawkins (1) Zionism (2)

Even More Outrage via Leftweets.org

Twitter Outrage News Feed