As Marx once said, I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have somebody like me as a member. Not Karl, but Groucho who said that.
In the Marx Brothers 1929 film, The Cocoanuts, Groucho as the proprietor of a failing hotel is challenged by the bellhops, who haven’t been paid for two weeks. They want to be paid. Do you want to be wage slaves, asks Groucho. No, they reply. What makes wage slaves asks Groucho. Wages!
We don't want to belong to the club that is capitalism. Who, after all, wants to continue to be a wage slave all of their lives? There's only one answer, socialism. To quote Del Boy, you know it makes sense!
The below is from the Socialist Standard January 1963
‘The value of the commodity human labour power is determined by the cost of reproducing the worker's expended skill and energy and, also, of reproducing future wage workers. On the average, wages equal this value.
However,
in different countries, according to circumstances, the value of
labour power varies. In the lesser developed countries we find, as a
rule, a lower standard of living and therefore a lower value than in
more advanced industrialised areas. Important factors in the more
developed areas are a greater consciousness in workers, and organised
arrangements for the protection and advancement of their interests.
Wages
are not, as some people think, the workers' share of the wealth they
produce. Capitalism is not a national share-holding concern. Let it
be clear —Capital is wealth used in the reproduction of wealth in
order to realise profit. Variable capital, the wages fund, together
with constant capital, are both in existence before the act of
production takes place. The workers’ labour power is bought by the
capitalists and is used to create wealth. The worker, having worked,
has a legal claim to the agreed wage. A sale and purchase have taken
place and no question of shares arises. Shares are exclusively for
the owners and shareholders, and they come from the surplus value
wrung from workers.
Wages
must be considered from three aspects. The first, nominal wages, or
the actual amount of money paid: second, relative wages, i.e., the
proportion of wages paid to the total wealth produced: third is the
actual purchasing power of wages—real wages.
The
basic conflict between the two classes, capitalists and workers,
shows mainly in the first two aspects (wages and profits). Provided
that other factors remain constant, an increase in one must cause a
decrease in the other. In this, the productive sphere, the social
relations are direct between owners and producers (employers and
workers) regarding rates of pay and conditions of labour. The amounts
of nominal and relative wages are determined here.
We
can now consider briefly the conflict between wages and profits. To
begin with, let us assume a weekly wage of £10 for a 40 hours week
and a rate of exploitation of 100 per cent. An increase of five per
cent. in wages would enable the workers, other factors remaining
constant, to get 10s. p.w. more for the same quantity of labour. His
standard of living is improved and the necessary labour time
increased, while surplus labour time is reduced. The rate of
exploitation is reduced from 100 to 93 per cent, and the relative
wage now represents 55 per cent. of the total product as against the
former 50 per cent. A reduction in the working week may also be
beneficial for workers; they may obtain the same pay for less work.
The
above situation is a most unpleasant one for the capitalist. In the
first instance it means an increase of 5 per cent. in his variable
capital. It reduces his surplus labour time and his surplus value.
The rates of exploitation and profit have also fallen. But although
temporarily defeated, the capitalist is undaunted and adamant. He is
well aware of his excellent facilities for recovery.
It
is quite possible, and it frequently happens, that increased wages or
reduced working hours can be offset by a fall in relative wages. This
can be brought about, for example, by increased production as a
result of better organisation and supervision, etc. The introduction
of more efficient machinery and the displacement of labour is another
way. An increase in output of 6 per cent. would in some ways offset
the five per cent, increase in pay or the reduction of hours. In such
conditions, although the nominal wage is higher, the relative wage is
lower. More wealth is being produced for slightly less pay.
Other
means by which earnings may be increased as distinct from increased
rates of pay are, overtime, piece work, or bonus on output systems.
These methods entail longer hours of labour, or more intensive
labour, or both. Increased earnings in such cases are at the expense
of extra sweat and toil and in these conditions workers cannot
increase their earnings without increasing the profit of their
masters. The working classes' only gain, if such it can be called, is
in having the rates of pay increased or the hours of labour reduced.
The struggle between wages and profits is unending and the employers
are as a rule better placed.
Social
evolution has produced three distinct forms of exploiting societies.
In chattel slavery men were owned bodily. In feudalism, the serf,
semi-free, was compelled to provide a certain proportion of his
labour for the overlord. In both cases the surplus was easy to see.
But modern wage labour, unlike the other two, appears to be
fully-paid. In all three systems men were, and are, deprived of the
fruits of their toil by an owning class. Private ownership of the
means of production and control of the ability of men to work has
enabled the ruling classes, in all cases, to own the wealth produced.
Slaves,
serfs and proletarians all had to obtain food, clothing and shelter.
This subsistence differed in amount, quality and kind in the
different periods. Today the wage worker is legally “free."
Socially he is compelled to sell his ability to work in order to
live. But he may select where and to whom he will sell it—in theory
only!
Capitalism
is the highest and most efficient form of exploiting society and its
wages system conceals to a great extent the legalised robbery of its
wealth producers. The separation of labour power from labour is
responsible for the appearance that workers' wages are the full value
of their labour. The fact that the value of the embodied labour may
be £20 or more, and wages £10 or less, is not so evident.
High
wages and low prices, security, and a happy, prosperous and carefree
working class, are illusory. A fair day's wage for a fair day's work
is a fallacy. The abolition of capitalism with its wages system is an
indispensable task for the workers. Working men and women can only
attain their freedom, independence. and control of the wealth they
produce. in a Socialist system of society. Production to satisfy
human needs as distinct from privileged greed, is the Socialist
object.’
John Higgins
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2020/01/what-are-wages-1963.html
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