The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-23
Questions =,
Answer
is LABOR POWER A COARFo.
DITY UNDER A PROLETAKIAN
DICTATORSHIP

DICTATORSHIP
Brooklyn, N. =.
Dear Comrade Hathaway;
am leading a class Of young
workers and students who hang
around the corner candy store. AT
the last class, the question arose
is labor power a commodity under a
proletarian dictatorship? am uuite
sure it isn't, but after asking q few
leading Y. G. Lers, I found that no
one could prove conclusively that
labor power is not commodity
under a proletarian dictatorship.
If possible, wish you could an
Swer in the Daily Worker as have
made all the members Of my class
to read 1t every day.
Comradely yours,
A YOUNG WORKER.
To your question, cts labor power
a commodity under a proletarian
dictatorship" the answer is cate
gorically, NO" Labor power be-
came commodity only with the rise
OF the capitalist system Of produc-
ton. Two sets of conditions were
necessary for labor power to be-
come a commodity, one, that the
laborer should be separated from
the ownership of the means of pro-
duction; two, that the means of
production be owned and controlled
by individuals or groups of indi-
VidualS, to whom the worker must
come to hire himself as a laborer.
Under these conditions the owner
OF the means of production and
the laborer appear as two commo-
dity owners. The laborer owns his
labor power. The boss or capitalist
owns the money with which he pays
for the labor power. Under the
capitalist system of production.
labor power is universally COM
modify.
1t must be made clear that under
the capitalist system of production,
the worker and the capitalist (the
seller and the buyer of labor power
are not on equal ground. The worker,
driven by the necessity of making
a living, is compelled to sell his la
Dor power to the owner of the means
OF production. The owner OF the
means of production buys the labor
power for the sole purpose of in
creasing his capital through surplus
value derived from the labor of the
worker. He, the capitalist, will,
therefore, always try to buy the la
Dor power as cheaply as possible
Glow wages. Having bought the la
Dor power, the capitalist will use it
to the utmost, either through long
h tours, naturalization methods
(speed-up, efficiency system, piece
work, overtime, promises of bonuses,
etc.. The working class must there
fore organize and fight against the
excessive exploitation.
Labor power is, in our present
day capitalist society, commodity
like every other commodity, but
yet very peculiar commodity. 1t
has, namely, the popularity of be-
ing a alue-creating force, the
source of value, and, moreover,
when properly treated, the source
OF more value than it possesses
itself. In the present state of pro-
duction, human labor power not
only produces in a day greater
value than it itself possesses and
costs; but with each new scientific
discovery, with each new technical
invention, there also rises the sur
plus of its daily production over its
daily cost, while as a consequence
there diminishes that part Of the
working day in which the laborer
produces the equivalent Of his
days wages, and, on the other
hand, lengthens that part of the
working day in which he must
present labor gratis to the cap
italist. '-Frederick Engels, Intro
duction to Wage, Labor and Cap
ital" by Karl Marx.
Under the Dictatorship Of the
Proletariat, for example in the
Soviet Union, the means of produc-
ton are not owned and controlled
by individuals or groups of indi-
vlduals, but are controlled by the
entire working class, and therefore
the workers going into factory,
mill, mine, or any other place of
production do not sell their labor
power, but they work with the tools
and machinery belonging to them,
which they own collectively as
class. Under such conditions labor
power as a commodity does not ex-
list, since the relations in society
are changed from those of capital
lst relations to socialist relations.
The production of goods is carried
on, not for the purpose of piling up
profits for one section of society,
but for the benefit of the entire
Society. Therefore capitalist rela-
lions, surplus value. and labor