At 02:08 PM 4/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>reproduced in W.O. Henderson, Engels: Selected Writings.] My position (which
>I think was Marx's) is that wages are determined by class struggle, which
>means they can go up or down even with the existence of trade unions (and,
>of course, are constrained at the top by the requirements for the
>reproduction of capitalist relations of production).
Okay, wages are constrained at the top by the reproductive requirements of
capital. Presumably, the bottom constraint is the reproductive requirements
of labor, i.e., the lowest positive wage rate consistent with the
reproduction of the working class (consistent with some given level of work
intensity). Call the former W(max) and the latter W(min). As a first go, the
effects of class struggle on the wage rate are such that W(min) <= W <=
W(max). From here, we can further discuss the concrete limits (sources of
pressure) on the wage rate. HMMMMM, where have I seen this approach before????
peace, patrick l mason
> in solidarity,
> mike
>---------------------------
>Michael A. Lebowitz
>Economics Department, Simon Fraser University
>Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
>Office: (604) 291-4669; Office fax: (604) 291-5944
>Home: (604) 872-0494; Home fax: (604) 872-0485
>Lasqueti Island: (250) 333-8810
>e-mail: mlebowit@sfu.ca
>
>