[OPE-L:2862] Re: Value of labour power and real wage

Hans Ehrba (ehrbar@marx.econ.utah.edu)
Mon, 26 Aug 1996 15:47:52 -0700 (PDT)

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Excuse my exuberance, I am so happy to be on this list. I will try to
be more serious and also more specific. If the capitalists introduce
new machinery, so that the workers see that they are producing more,
and at the same time real wages are not rising, then this will be
taken as such an affront by the workers that they will simply not go
for it. Just as they would not go for slavery. No unions are
necessary, no organization is necessary, they will oppose this *as
one man*. All the time the capitalists told them: we cannot pay you
more because there is not more to go around. Now they see that there
is more to go around, and they will demand at least a part of it. It
is not based on a correct class consciousness; this is the false
appearances generated by capitalism obtaining an independent existence
(Verselbstaendigung).

Hans Ehrbar.