HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Your idea of what Marxism is

I took political economy in my Senior year from a marxist
BuckGalaxy — (archived)

Trust me, Marx did not dispute the law S&D. He just didn't like the outcome, especially in the context of the times he lived in. His concept was to take ownership and control of the means of production out of the hands of capitalists and into the hands of the workers. But this was done through state control. Prices and wages were also set by the state. Thus the vast regulatory control. This simply changed the results of S&D, but market forces generate a lot of pressures. The lack of a profit motive led to decreased productivity. Thus, for example, the Soviets importing wheat from the West despite having the largest wheat belt in the world. Also, before Brezhnev, the Soviet Union had set prices on about 600 items. During his tenure that number changed to about 9000 items. Market pressures from S&D were so great it led to the collapse of the Soviet economy.

In the West, the creation of labor unions were the response to Marxism. You've heard of the concept of division of labor. Capitalists divide labor to keep wages down. What do you engineers care about those lowly dock workers? Why should you assembly line workers care about those pathetic janitors? etc etc. Labor Unions gave workers the bargaining power to get higher wages and benefits. And guess what? That made the economy better and capitalists richer! When millions of people make a decent living and have disposable income, they spend that money on products and services. They buy TVs and Computers and refrigerators and trips to resorts etc etc. This in turn grows business who then hire more people.

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