Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-03-17
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factory profit from MS LABOR. II ne
cannot do this the tools are not al
lowed to be used--he locks them up
and waits. n
The capitalist does not work him
self; that is. no useful or necessary
work. He spends his time watching
other parasites in the capitalist game
of 'Sdog eat dog or, in idleness or
dissipation. The workers who use
his tools give him all the wealth they
pr oduce and he allows them a suf-
fcient wage to keep them in working
order.
The wage is to the worker what
oil is to the machine.
The machine cannot run without
lubricant and the worker cannot work
and reproduce himself without being
fed, clothed and housed; this is his
lubricant and the amount he requires
iates his wage.
Karl Marx, in his Wage, Labor
and Capital makes these points
clear in. his own terse and mastery
style. We quote as follows:
1.-THE free laborer sells himself, and
THAT by fractions. From day to day
he sells by auction, eight, ten, twelve,
fifteen hours of his life to the highest
bidder-to} the owner of the raw ma
terial, the instruments of work and
the means of life; that is, to the en-
ployer. The laborer himself belongs
neither to an owner nor to the soil;
but eight, ten, twelve, fifteen hours
OF his daily life belongs to. the man
| who buys them. The laborer leaves
the employer to whom he has. hired
himself whenever he pleases; and
T the employer discharges him when
ever he thinks fit; either as soon as
he ceases to make profit out of him
Oh fails to get as high a profit as he
REQUIRES. But the. laborer whose
only source of earning is the sale OF
his labor power cannot leave the
whole class of its purchasers, that is
the capitalist class without aTeHounc7
fling his own existence. He does not
belongs to this or that particular en-
| ployer, but he does belong to. the cap
italist class; and more than that. II
is his business to find an employer;
that is, among the capitalist class 1t
| is his business to discover his own
particular purchaser"
Coming to the matter of wages and
how they are determined, Marx con-
Itinues: ~, Il }t~ -
wages the the price of certain
commodity of 1abor-power. Wages
are thus determined by, the same law
which regulates the price OF any
other commodity.
:. ssThereupon the question arises,
how is the price of q commodity de-
termined? ~
| "By. what means is the price OF
commodity determined?
"By means of comptition between
lbuyers and sellers and the relations
between supply and demand-offef
and desire. s3
as . Now the same general
flaws which universally regulate the
| price OF commodities, regulate, OF
course, wages, the price OF labor.
wages will rise and IAN IN &C
cordance with the proportion between
demand and supply; that is, in &C
cordance with the, conditions OF the
competition between. capitalists as
buvers and laborers as sellers OF Ia
bor. The fluctuations of wages cor
Irespond in general with the huctu-
| ations in the price of commodities.
Within these fluctuations the, price o!
labor is regulated by its cost OF pro.
duction: that is, by the duration OF
labor which is required in order &c
produce this commodity. labor power
Nov what is the cost of produc-
ton of labor power?
q r. The price of his labor Is
t,taraforo determined by the price OF
the hare necessities of his existence:
,Fhfs is the capitalist system IN lts
effect. upon the working class, Tney
Rave no tools, but must work-to 1--we
Tbev throne the labor market, es.
5ecisfty when times are hard ano
WORK III scarce, and eagerly, anxiousiy
Hook for some one willing 70 uss
their labor power and DID tnem Al a
the market price. -
TO sneak of liberty in such q sys-
Item is mockery; to surrender Is
The workers of the nation and the
! world must be aroused.
In the capitalist system nlgnt nas
drawn her sable curtain down ano
mined it with q STAR and the grSa'
ma jority 5grope In darkness; ne
min must be removed from the cur
tain even thou h it ,be star.
Rut the darkness, after all, Is Du'
Imaginary. The sun is marcning
to meridian glory and the world IL
Hooded with light. az n,
CHARLOTTE Perkins Stetson, the IN
4 spired eyangel of the coming cislli1a'
ssvn: S ciosa o,,r ewes and call it night
And erope and fall in seas Of lsn.
Monid, we hut understand! ),
Not for 4 moment do We sdespaii
iof The future. The greatest educa.
tional propaganda ever known
i snreading over the earth: -.
=. The Working class win zbotn s ;e'
! and understand. They have tne IN N
] S her ut, power of seIt-deyelo pnssa
& irhey are but Just besinning e .s Ss.s,.
Into CONSEQUENCES q tnelI : l y III,