> The problem is not how the wage is structured, but:
> a) The fact that we get a wage at all
i agree. but how the wage (and indeed the social wage) is structured tells us a lot about the character and scope of working class subjectivity at any given moment viz capital, doesn't it? the introduction and abolition of the 'family wage', the introduction and restructure of the dole/giro/social security, whether or not there is a basic wage, an award structure, payment-by-time or piece-work rates are all defining moments of working class politics, the shape of working class subjectivity. i happen to think attention to these kinds of things is more important than any abstract question of consciousness, or rather is the place where consciousness forms.
also, you're from britain, right? which means that you're less likely to think of state planning as external to capitalism. the same goes for those of us from australia. that does not seem to be true of our comrades in the US, for some fairly obvious reasons. a world socialist movement, whatever that is or might be, could well stumble on the assumption that the US or anywhere else exhausts the experience of capitalism.
Angela _________