Thursday, September 3, 2009

Das Kapital, chpt. 10

1. "Voice of the Worker" section (343): The worker tells the capitalist that he knows they are engaged in an exchange. To this, he does not object. However, the problem lies NOT in the fact that the worker is paid for a day's labour and produces more than the cost of keeping him alive for the day. Rather, the problem is when that does NOT happen--when he's overworked and not paid a "living wage." So it's not that the capitalist "steals" his labor in the case in which he is paid the wage necessary to keep him (and his family) alive; he only steals it when he does not pay that.
Now, on the next page, Marx tells us that both the worker and the capitalist are asserting their rights: the worker his rights to an honest day's pay, and the capitalist his right to get as much out of the product he has bought for the day in order to consume (the worker's labor-power). He says that these are both rights, "both equally bearing the seal of the law of exchange." Therefore, force must decide.
But hasn't the capitalist gone beyond his rights when he does not pay what the commodity (labor-power is worth)? Even if he pays what he will go for on the market, when he does not pay what a person needs to survive, isn't this stealing?

2. distinction between corvee and labor under capitalism: Under corvee, necessary and surplus labor are distinct--one is on the owner's field, the other on the worker's field. Not the case under capitalism.

3. length of working day: capitalist wants it to be 24 hrs. He imposes the shift system to help achieve theis. Necessarily "oversteps not only the moral but even the merely physical limits of the working day. It usurps the time for growth, development and healthy maintenance of the body" (375). This is stealing, just with no outside power to punish it.
prblm: worker will prematurely die. Why not just keep a normal working day then? Well because there are so many other people. Including foreigners!

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