Led Zeppelin
17th March 2006, 14:27
Some people claim that the working class of a developed capitalist country as a whole shares in the exploitation of colonial-type countries. Is this true?
No. Super-profits from the exploitation of the working people of colonial-type countries go to the capitalists of the developed capitalist countries concerned. While a small portion of these super-profits may be used to bribe a stratum of highly- paid workers (mainly the officials in the labour movement who act as agents of capital) the workers as a whole receive only the value of their labour power in wages and do not share in the super-profits.
Nevertheless, the existence of the small stratum of workers bribed by imperialist super-profits (the so-called 'labour aristocracy') creates an objective split in the working class which complicates the development of the socialist movement.
For the most part, however, the fact that the standard of living of the British workers has risen over the past hundred years is not because they receive in wages more than the value of their labour-power, but because the value of their labour- power has increased. A considerable part of the super-profits from colonial-type countries has been used to accumulate capital and mechanise production at home, so that productivity has risen and with it the 'degree of civilisation' which contributes to the determination of the value of labour power. In other words, total production has risen very considerably over the last century and the working class has been accorded a minor portion of this in the form of increased real wages. However, the share of total production received in wages by the working class has fallen, so that the exploitation of the British working class has increased over this period.
http://www.oneparty.co.uk/html/marxism/Cl3.html
No. Super-profits from the exploitation of the working people of colonial-type countries go to the capitalists of the developed capitalist countries concerned. While a small portion of these super-profits may be used to bribe a stratum of highly- paid workers (mainly the officials in the labour movement who act as agents of capital) the workers as a whole receive only the value of their labour power in wages and do not share in the super-profits.
Nevertheless, the existence of the small stratum of workers bribed by imperialist super-profits (the so-called 'labour aristocracy') creates an objective split in the working class which complicates the development of the socialist movement.
For the most part, however, the fact that the standard of living of the British workers has risen over the past hundred years is not because they receive in wages more than the value of their labour-power, but because the value of their labour- power has increased. A considerable part of the super-profits from colonial-type countries has been used to accumulate capital and mechanise production at home, so that productivity has risen and with it the 'degree of civilisation' which contributes to the determination of the value of labour power. In other words, total production has risen very considerably over the last century and the working class has been accorded a minor portion of this in the form of increased real wages. However, the share of total production received in wages by the working class has fallen, so that the exploitation of the British working class has increased over this period.
http://www.oneparty.co.uk/html/marxism/Cl3.html