equal pay for all

[gla22]

Right now i want to look at the crab fishing industry with you guys because in this situation the workers on the crab fishing boat get a percentage of the catch. The workers do not actually own the means of production however they reap the benefits of their labor. The workers get the profits and not shareholders. Due to this successful and equal way fisherman can make 100,000 a season there first year on. I think this arrangement shows the potential benefits of socialism as the workers are empowered through there labor. The incentive is clearly there because workers get a large cut.

However i am aware some theories believe that everyone should get paid the same regardless of the nature of there labor. This notion goes against Marxist philosophy which states that workers can receive different pays depending on position and ability. There must be discrepancy because some jobs by nature are harder than others, working on an assembly line or teaching English is far less perilous than crab fishing and should pay less. The difference in pay between the highest paid jobs and the lowest paying jobs should not be incredibly huge, just existent, to reward work and ability fairly.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Correct. Parecon theory, for example, is to some extent a regression towards the same old "French socialism" (fetish for egalitarianism) that Marx criticized (people rotate in jobs, such that, on average, everyone gets equal pay).

[Methinks Marx didn't criticize "French socialism" enough (http://www.revleft.com/vb/did-marx-abandon-t68044/index.html). :( ]

[robot lenin]

Traditionally I wouldn't have thought it mattered about being PAID the same, because, even if everyone wasn't, under socialism there would be massive surplusses and everyone would be able to afford the quality of life they wanted.

The main point of concern about tiered pay scales, to me anyway, is that you cannot allow someone to save their excess money enough to pay other people to do labour for them - since this is a return to exploitation. So either everyone must be paid the same, or there must be some form of date stamp or identity mark on the number so that it cannot be saved for long or can only be used by its recipient, respectively.

[gla22]

Marx actually said in the manifesto that people would get different wages. This is necessary. The equality in the manifesto is not about equal income it is about peoples relationship to the factors of production.

[punisa]

Marx actually said in the manifesto that people would get different wages. This is necessary. The equality in the manifesto is not about equal income it is about peoples relationship to the factors of production.

This a great bit of info, I guess I somehow missed it. So how would this be implemented in, let's say, today's office atmosphere? We are aware of economical flaws that were usually made in the communist countries - two work, five do nothing = same pay check.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

I think not enough socialists pay attention to Marx's discrepancy between the "dictatorship of the proletariat," which implies a class system, and communism. One remark Lenin made which I agree with is "equal pay for equal work." Nothing more, nothing less. Of course deciding on what constitutes equal has been left up for interpretation; many individualist-socialists point towards a market, many collectivists point towards a managed economy.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ You got your semantics wrong, there. Not enough folks pay attention to the discrepancy between the DOTP and socialism.