[lbo-talk] Marx and Justice

[Michael Perelman]

Marx was trying to downplay the reformers who based their program on 
morality.  Marx was saying that the problem was not individual 
employers unjustly ripping off their workers.  The problem was the 
rules of the system.  In short, he was denying justice as a basis for 
political organizing, calling for what he considered to be a scientific 
basis.

On Sun, Jul 22, 2007 at 09:22:30PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> On Jul 22, 2007, at 7:04 PM, James Heartfield wrote:
> 
> > I can't help feeling that Rakesh gives too much ground to the idea  
> > that
> > exploitation is unjust. I think Marx is very clear when he says  
> > that labour
> > power is paid at the proper rate.
> 
> I've long thought that Marx was being ironic about this - that labor  
> power is paid at a "just" rate is just evidence of how preposterous  
> the notion of capitalist justice is (liberty, equality, and Bentham).  
> The notion that the value of labor power is its cost of reproduction  
> makes sense under bourgeois norms, for sure. Why else should we care  
> about exploitation if it isn't unjust?
> 
> Doug
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-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com