Dan McLaughlin

Voices For Freedom Read Columns Daniel McLaughlin
To Home Page Latest Newsletter Column Archives Click to get these columns for your local paper	Post Comments Below © 2007 Daniel J. McLaughlin Who Are The Exploiters? Karl Marx, the father of communism, developed a theory of exploitation that pitted classes against each other. The historical context of his work and writing was ripe for that kind of thinking. Conditions were not good for most people. Since capitalism was just sprouting its wings and momentum was building slowly, the benefits were not as apparent as the outward manifestations of smoke stacks and people laboring in factories. Marx’s view of capitalism is at least understandable, but the weaknesses of contemporary theories made him miss the mark in his own theories Exploitation is not necessarily a bad thing. It can mean, generally, to put to use. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. It is what sets the human race apart from other animals. We have learned to put things to use in very complex and beneficial ways. As Marx understood it, exploitation was the virtual enslavement of people by the ruling class. He equated capitalism with the oppression of workers. He believed that wealth was limited and the rich got their riches by keeping the poor in rags. His theory, however, stands on primitive notions of labor, production and wealth creation. His presumption was that the value of a good was the direct result of the amount of labor put into it, the labor theory of value. The extension of this concept led to the belief that all value of all production was rightfully owned by the worker. The business owner, by paying the workers only a portion of that value, was, in Marx’s eyes, stealing from them. He was exploiting the workers, taking value from them and making it his own. The labor theory of value has long been recognized as an economic fallacy. In it’s place is the recognition that the value of an item is entirely dependent on the subjective valuation of buyers in the market. In every instance, the dollar value of an item is precisely what customers are willing to pay for it. A person can spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars building a complex machine, but if nobody can find a use for it, it has little value for anything other than scrap. The hours spent are worthless. On the other hand, if a product or service satisfies many consumers or solves big problems, it will have a high value, even if it only takes a very small amount of easy labor to produce, say, for instance, some computer software. Employment is an agreement between two parties for the supply of services at an agreed upon price. The market value of that labor depends on how many people are offering similar labor services and how many employees are needed to satisfy demand. The higher the supply of laborers, the lower will be the price of that labor. The higher the demand for the product, the higher the demand for those skills, and thus, a higher wage. Class struggle is the core of Marxist ideology, as stated in the opening sentence of the Manifesto Of The Communist Party, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". The class struggles he observed were real. His understanding of them was flawed, however, as were the political implications of his prescriptions. The struggles that Marx observed in his life and his reading, are the same class struggles we deal with today, the same class struggle that citizens of the earliest organized states dealt with. In each case, the struggle has nothing to do with capitalism or any other economic system. The classes he observed were the political rulers versus the ruled, the governing elite versus the subjects. Those capable of wielding the coercive force of the state are, and always have been, the exploiters. It will always be the case that people, whether capitalists or not, will try to use the power of the state to give themselves advantage. The assumption that capitalism itself is the problem is a grave misunderstanding. Modern capitalist societies in which individual rights are protected provide the highest standards of living for all classes of people. The irony of Marxist ideology is that the more zealous the anti-capitalist, the more disastrous it is for the people. Marxism is alive and well today because the proponents are blind to the real source of exploitation. Government is the ultimate exploiter. The only way to limit the exploitation is to limit the power of the political class and maximize the freedom of the individual in society.
Contact us Privacy Policy Comments
Daniel Mclaughlin Copyright © 2006 [Daniel McLaughlin]. All rights reserved. Revised: 01/06/08

Voices For Freedom

Read Columns

Daniel McLaughlin

To Home Page

Latest Newsletter

Column Archives

Click to get these columns for your local paper

Post Comments Below

Who Are The Exploiters?

Karl Marx, the father of communism, developed a theory of exploitation that pitted classes against each other. The historical context of his work and writing was ripe for that kind of thinking. Conditions were not good for most people. Since capitalism was just sprouting its wings and momentum was building slowly, the benefits were not as apparent as the outward manifestations of smoke stacks and people laboring in factories. Marx’s view of capitalism is at least understandable, but the weaknesses of contemporary theories made him miss the mark in his own theories

Exploitation is not necessarily a bad thing. It can mean, generally, to put to use. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. It is what sets the human race apart from other animals. We have learned to put things to use in very complex and beneficial ways.

As Marx understood it, exploitation was the virtual enslavement of people by the ruling class. He equated capitalism with the oppression of workers. He believed that wealth was limited and the rich got their riches by keeping the poor in rags.

His theory, however, stands on primitive notions of labor, production and wealth creation. His presumption was that the value of a good was the direct result of the amount of labor put into it, the labor theory of value. The extension of this concept led to the belief that all value of all production was rightfully owned by the worker. The business owner, by paying the workers only a portion of that value, was, in Marx’s eyes, stealing from them. He was exploiting the workers, taking value from them and making it his own.

The labor theory of value has long been recognized as an economic fallacy. In it’s place is the recognition that the value of an item is entirely dependent on the subjective valuation of buyers in the market. In every instance, the dollar value of an item is precisely what customers are willing to pay for it. A person can spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars building a complex machine, but if nobody can find a use for it, it has little value for anything other than scrap. The hours spent are worthless. On the other hand, if a product or service satisfies many consumers or solves big problems, it will have a high value, even if it only takes a very small amount of easy labor to produce, say, for instance, some computer software.

Employment is an agreement between two parties for the supply of services at an agreed upon price. The market value of that labor depends on how many people are offering similar labor services and how many employees are needed to satisfy demand. The higher the supply of laborers, the lower will be the price of that labor. The higher the demand for the product, the higher the demand for those skills, and thus, a higher wage.

Class struggle is the core of Marxist ideology, as stated in the opening sentence of the Manifesto Of The Communist Party, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles". The class struggles he observed were real. His understanding of them was flawed, however, as were the political implications of his prescriptions.

The struggles that Marx observed in his life and his reading, are the same class struggles we deal with today, the same class struggle that citizens of the earliest organized states dealt with. In each case, the struggle has nothing to do with capitalism or any other economic system. The classes he observed were the political rulers versus the ruled, the governing elite versus the subjects. Those capable of wielding the coercive force of the state are, and always have been, the exploiters. It will always be the case that people, whether capitalists or not, will try to use the power of the state to give themselves advantage. The assumption that capitalism itself is the problem is a grave misunderstanding. Modern capitalist societies in which individual rights are protected provide the highest standards of living for all classes of people.

The irony of Marxist ideology is that the more zealous the anti-capitalist, the more disastrous it is for the people. Marxism is alive and well today because the proponents are blind to the real source of exploitation. Government is the ultimate exploiter. The only way to limit the exploitation is to limit the power of the political class and maximize the freedom of the individual in society.

Hit Counter