Immiseration my eye

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Tue May 2 11:42:58 PDT 2000



>>> Jacob Segal <jpsegal at rcn.com> 05/02/00 04:27PM >>>
(snip)
>Hence increasing absolute wages accompany relative impoverishment. Marx
>never had an 'immiseration thesis' in the sense attributed him, that
>workers wages fell absolutely, or as measured in use-values, only
>relatively, or as measured in value, or against profits.
>
>--
>Jim heartfield

If so, why does Marx appear to write in the Manifesto that the declining living standard is a spur to the revolution. I hardly think workers would so clearly know to revolt if their wages were going up in absolute terms, no matter what their share of profits.

_____________

CB: Hey, good point ! Listening to some of these people, you would wonder why Marx or anybody would think we need a revolution to overthrow capitalism. I mean humanity is making so much material progress with capitalism only the unabomber would say anything bad about it.

Of course, a lot of posters here are FOR capitalism, so natch, they like it, don't want to radically change it. They are "left" ( ha ha , yea right) business observers.

CB



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