Rachel A

Wage-Labor and Capital by Karl Marx
In a society where there are laborers (workers), capitalist (owners), consumers (buyers), it may be tricky trying to figure out who earns what and who benefits. In Wage-Labor and Capital, Karl Marx explains the relationship between laborers, capitalists, buyers, sellers, consumers, etc. In order for us to understand how we come up with the wages of laborers and the prices of the goods that we buy. It is a cycle, a cycle with competition to make money, and stay on top. The need and greed to make money has its benefits as well as its setbacks. I thought of competition between wolves and the struggle of bunny rabbits to survive.
Marx first explains the wages that laborers are paid. Marx believes that the laborer is working in order to have money to purchase goods that he/she produces, and other goods also. The laborer sells his work and the capitalist buys it. “Wages are, therefore, not the worker’s share in the commodity produced by him. The amount of work done by a laborer is not equal to the amount of money a capitalist is selling, because otherwise how could the capitalist make money? The capitalist does not want to break-even there would be no point for that. The capitalist has a goal to make a profit (surplus). The laborer, however, has a goal to work and survive in what can to some extent be considered a cycle. A wolf wants to be a leader, wants to be the alpha male, so that is its goal. It does not want to be another wolf part of the pack. The rabbit on the other hand is just trying hard to keep out of the way of the wolf, and live.
When determining the amount of wages for the laborer the capitalist has a few things to consider supply and demand, the price of the commodity that the laborer is helping to produce, the cost of products/tools/and upkeep of machines (cost of production), and the cost of training for the worker to do his/her job (Calhoun, 124). Easier work equals less wage costs to the employer (i.e. assembly lines). When the wolf is a pup, it learns the way of life from the older wolves. When the pup grows up it will know the easiest way to live. Easy work also means that the job requires less skill, and more competition for the position. Great for children workers because there is hardly any training involved. The competition between the rabbits is stay alive, when the wolf comes; whichever rabbit was not fast enough is disaster-prone.
The determination of wages is dependent on relationships between buyers and sellers, inquiry to delivery, and supply to demand (Calhoun, 123). This is not only how wages are determined, but also how the prices of other commodities are determined, based upon competition. “With goods of the same quality, the one who sells most cheaply is certain of driving the others out of the field and securing the greatest sale for himself� (Calhoun 123). Stored capital is necessary in order to sell cheaper than competitors do.
The laborer-capitalist (Proletariat-Bourgeoisie) relationship is also somewhat of a cycle. To produce goods you need workers, and the more workers you need the more capital is being made (because of the increased goods), the more capital being made the more money that the Bourgeoisie has to hire more Proletarians, the more Proletarians working the more goods that are being produced to make more capital. The capitalist are making money and the laborers have a job, though the relationship is not equal. The wolves need something to control, and they use control of smaller animals (ie the rabbis) to appear more powerful.
As technology and other resources improve, it seems that the capitalist would be making more and more money, and that is not entirely the case. The capitalist is still receiving the same amount of money per pound and that remains the case unless the supply and the demand change. That does not eliminate the competition between other capitalist to make money. In my opinion, competition seems to grow larger. “One capitalist can drive another from the field and capture his capital only by selling more cheaply. In order to be able to sell more cheaply without ruining himself, he must produce more cheaply…� (Calhoun, 127). When capitalist compete they have to be smart otherwise, they might end up doing more harm to themselves then good. If a wolf starts to get ahead of himself it may anger too many other wolves and get attacked. As there are advances, even the laborers are competing to be better than the next. As one rabbit learns to run faster, the other rabbits have to learn to run faster. The competition is whoever can outrun the slowest rabbit. They start learning how to do the job five, ten, twenty times better than before, which eliminates other workers off the job (Calhoun, 128). The pressure is causing more separation between capitalists and laborers.
Wage-Labor and Capital illustrates how there is a competition and a cycle between making money, getting a job, and staying on top. This cycle may not be as simple as it appears. It takes critical thinking in order to make money, and it takes skill for the laborer to get a job. In the end the goods are produced, the capital is made, and the laborers are surviving. So, the cycle shall continue. 

Posted by Rachel Aburime at 5:16 AM | Permalink

OBE #1 the Communist Manifesto
When it comes to the way that society should be organized and run there are many opinions. Some believe it is every man for himself. Some believe that we should all help each other and have equal wealth. Then some just do not know what to believe. This leads me to the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx made it very clear about what he believed in, and he made it very clear about what he felt the consequences would be for running a society in a way in which he believed to be faulty. Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, because he supported a revolution for the proletarians (laborers). At the time there were Revolts in Paris and in Germany. The constant fighting was between those who had and those who did not (haves and have-nots). In the end Marx believes that no one wins. He believes that a capitalist economy eventually falls apart. Marx does explain why he believes that capitalism would collapse, but it has not. There were just some things that Marx did not and would not have been able to predict.
Karl Marx felt that capitalism was beneficial only to the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie are known as the capitalists and owners of big companies, whereas, the Proletarians are known as the laborers who work hard to make a living. The Bourgeoisie have the capital, and the capital is the power. Laborers want to sell their skills for money, and the capitalist want to make a profit. He believes that products should be sold within true value. The value of a product is based upon the labor that was put into making it. I think this situation by comparing 2 coffee mugs. 1 of the mugs was mss produced and the other was hand crafted. It seems like the mug that was hand crafted would be worth more, because the hand crafted mug took more time and labor to create.
The class system played a huge role in the conflicts (the European Feudal Society). There was the Aristocracy. Then there was the Bourgeoisie who had capital. Finally, there are the Serfs/peasants who escaped brutality in the countryside. Out of desperation they worked for low wages. The system was so strict that there were certain colors that only rich people were allowed to wear, regardless of whether or not others had the money to afford it. It got to a point when the real power was with the Bourgeoisie and not the state. Though some had land, and that was not a bad thing, the true power was within the capital, because with capital you are allowed to do more things, and with capital you can obtain more capital. The desire to have more wealth still holds true today. An example would be the huge media conglomerates who steadily acquire more businesses in order to make more money. To the point where a company may discover a pop star, become the producer, own the recording studio, and own the TV station in which the new artist is promoted.
The Bourgeoisie began revolutionizing the world in a good, yet bad way. They were making technological advances and reducing manual labor, but they were hurting the Proletarians by getting rid of their jobs. The changes that the Bourgeoisie’s influence began to make within society were beneficial only to themselves. With the technological advances that the Bourgeoisie created the labor became simpler. The affects were fewer workers, lower training cost, and more production; equaling lower wage compensation (surplus value). The Proletariats were not compensated for this advancement, because their hourly pay remained the same regardless of whether they had a higher hourly production.
This reminds me of a large company. When there is a company the owner of the company pays the workers. The company may come across newer equipment that allows the employees do their work faster, so in the end they may lay a few people off. Another route that may be taken is that the owner of the company may advertise more in order to sell the items that are being produced, and if he does sell more he or she is getting more money, but the workers who helped create more are not being compensated for the extra production. It is almost as if the companies are becoming greedier and greedier, and that usually has a negative impact. This is somewhat illustrated with Martha Stewart who was so desperate to save her money that she ended committing a crime, and serving time for doing so.
Eventually, the proletarians will make a comeback. Bourgeoisie are competing against each other, and when more and more capitalist go out of business (because of profits), only a few capitalist will remain. Causing the labor class to become bigger and bigger (much bigger than the capitalist group) until the laborers rise up against the capitalist and force changes in their favor. The Communist Manifesto is geared at the working class, with hopes of improving the lives of the oppressed.  

Posted by Rachel Aburime at 5:47 AM | Permalink