The first point of criticism is on the freedom of the worker. The capitalist societies emerged from removing the alternative means of self-sustainment used previously by peasants. Historical records shows that every time people had their own land to cultivate for themselves, as was the case for most population in pre-industrial England, or in colonial Australia, they didn't commit to work for an employer. In such cases, laws had been promulgated to expel peasants from their lands, and to make the price of the land artificially high, so that a common person would have to work an entire lifetime to buy it.
The second point of criticism, is that after people have been compelled to no feasible alternative than that of wage labour, exploitation occurs. The worker is kept in a condition of mere survival, while the wealth produced by its work goes to the employer. And also the technological progress which increases productivity, is not used to reduce the work time and improve the quality of life of the worker, instead, it is used entirely to increase the profit of the employer. The employer who buys this labour power as it was a mere commodity, owns the labour process and can sell the products to make profit. On the other hand, the worker sells their creative energy and their liberty for a given period, and are alienated from their own labour, as well as its products.
Wage labour is often criticized as "wage slavery" by socialists and most anarchists.[citation needed] They see wage labour as a major, if not defining, aspect of hierarchical industrial systems. In Marxist terminology, wage labour is defined as "the mode of production where the worker sells their labour power as a commodity",[3] (and a wage labourer is one who sells their labour power.)
Opponents of capitalism compare wage labour to slavery (see wage slavery). For example, Karl Marx said "The slave, together with his labour-power, was sold to his owner once for all... The [wage] labourer, on the other hand, sells his very self, and that by fractions... He [belongs] to the capitalist class; and it is for him... to find a buyer in this capitalist class."
The second point of criticism, is that after people have been compelled to no feasible alternative than that of wage labour, exploitation occurs. The worker is kept in a condition of mere survival, while the wealth produced by its work goes to the employer. And also the technological progress which increases productivity, is not used to reduce the work time and improve the quality of life of the worker, instead, it is used entirely to increase the profit of the employer. The employer who buys this labour power as it was a mere commodity, owns the labour process and can sell the products to make profit. On the other hand, the worker sells their creative energy and their liberty for a given period, and are alienated from their own labour, as well as its products.
Wage labour is often criticized as "wage slavery" by socialists and most anarchists.[citation needed] They see wage labour as a major, if not defining, aspect of hierarchical industrial systems. In Marxist terminology, wage labour is defined as "the mode of production where the worker sells their labour power as a commodity",[3] (and a wage labourer is one who sells their labour power.)
Opponents of capitalism compare wage labour to slavery (see wage slavery). For example, Karl Marx said "The slave, together with his labour-power, was sold to his owner once for all... The [wage] labourer, on the other hand, sells his very self, and that by fractions... He [belongs] to the capitalist class; and it is for him... to find a buyer in this capitalist class."
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