proletariat and their abuse

  • that class of society which does not have ownership of the means of production
  • their worth is their labor in exchange for wages
  • owner / merchant class and proletariat occupy conflicting positions
  • workers naturally wish as high a wage & benefits as possible
  • owners and share holders wish for wages to be as low as possible
i.e. lower costs maximize profits and enhance wealth of owners
(Adam Smith and others spoke of the "invisible hand" or the inherent tendency of capitalism towards greed
  • proletariat includes the petite bourgeoisie, if self-employment income no different from an ordinary wage earner

exploitation - of the proletariat by the owners takes place as follows:
  1. to survive - workers work for capitalist producing some sort of goods or services
  2. goods or services become property of the capitalist, who sells them in exchange for money
  3. part of the wealth produced is used to pay the workers' wages and benefits
  4. surplus value is used to pay rent, buy supplies and renew forces of production
  5. excess value / profit goes to owner / shareholders
  6. capitalist makes profit from the work of his employees without actually doing any "work"
  7. all new wealth is created through work
  8. if someone gains wealth he did not work for, then someone else works and does not receive the full wealth created by his work
  9. exploitation is the keeping of one class in the low end of wage / benefit scale maximizing capitalist wealth
  10. producing goods offshore alows for further abuse of workers, as well as producing unemployment at home

the amount of profit / wealth is the bone of contention

In every day language, Sam Wallmart and Jimmy Pattison are greedy for maximum profit to add to their mega-wealth, which has become their raison d'etre.

e.g. under labour laws - Jimmy Pattison must give benefits to checkout clerks if they work over X hours per week (20 hours), therefore he cuts back hours to just under (19.5 hours) and hires extra part time highs school clerks
NB - It is the proletariat who die en masse in the front lines of wars
protecting the wealth of the ruling class.