SLAVES AND SLAVEMASTERS - FROM CHATTEL SLAVERY TO WAGE SLAVERY

Are Wage Slavery and Chattel Slavery Different?

Researched by Thomas DeMichele Source

Now that you have voted for one of the political parties that supports the capitalist system, you can now be assured of the continuance of your servitude and subservience to the ruling class.   Slavery seems like an outmoded form of life from previous centuries. Many people blithely assume that "wage slavery" is merely a metaphor, at worst a rather benign situation in which an employer says: "You be my slave for forty hours per week and I'll give you just enough money to pay your bills . Just be here Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 (plus when instructed to work overtime.) Deal?"  Whatever we feel, slavery is very much a fact of life for all people in the world today. A person is a slave if he or she has lost control over his or her life and is dominated by someone or something--whether he or she is aware of this or not. Wage slavery is the condition in which a person must sell his or her labor-power, submitting to the authority of an employer, in order to merely subsist. The very essence of capitalism is slavery: the enslavement of workers by the capitalist class. You have probably endured the subjugation of a "boss" or "director" or "committee," and you know that the coercion, even if masked as "job description," "supervisor evaluation," or "company directive" can be as repressive as if there were literal chains fastened around your arms and feet. Most business enterprises use the leadership style of "management by whim," oppressing the worker. A capitalist slave is: Forced to work at a "job" owned by a capitalist (owner of jobs, the means of production, and the profit from the jobs) through necessity or through mental or physical threat. He or she is “owned” or controlled by a capitalist "employer" through wages, hours, working conditions. We are dehumanised, treated as a commodity: a faceless entity filling a slot, a hired hand, at the mercy of the capitalist. The capitalist can--and does so with a vengeance--destroy jobs by "staff reduction," automating jobs by robots, or out-sourcing jobs to a cheaper labour location. Without a voice as to how much profit the capitalist can make from the worker's labour and cannot bargain for higher wages or safe working conditions. Unable to support himself and his family when he cannot find a job. Reduced to poverty or destitution or death by an ever-reduced job "market". Today, all workers suffer under wage slavery bonded debt servitude.  [Socialist Courier]

“THIS SUCKER COULD GO DOWN.” – George W. Bush, 9/25/08 (2)

What is Capitalism?

By Alex KNIGHT

Hi, I’m Alex Knight.  I’m a teacher, writer, and activist. I manage endofcapitalism.com and I’m writing a book called The End of Capitalism. I was born on July 4, 1983. I was raised an All-American boy in a working class family in a small town outside of Philadelphia. Alex Knight is an organizer, teacher and writer in Philadelphia. Alex has been developing the theory of the end of capitalism since 2005, when he was studying at Lehigh University. The theory argues that the global capitalist system is breaking down due to ecological and social limits to growth and that a paradigm shift toward a non-capitalist future is underway. Alex graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Political Science. He began organizing students in college on anti-war and environmental issues. From 2006-09, he helped build the new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), organizing at the campus, city, and national levels. Alex was present for the first day of Occupy Wall St. and has been instrumental in facilitating the General Assembly of Occupy Philadelphia.

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” — Kenneth Boulding, economist.

“This sucker could go down.” – George W. Bush, 9/25/08

Capitalism is the name of the power structure that currently dominates all human society, and which has done so for the last 500 years. It is a system based on ecological and social exploitation for the profit of the wealthy few. I sometimes refer to it as a “global system of abuse” because our relationship with capitalism is based on violence and submission, even though the system would like us to believe that it has our best interests at heart.

“THIS SUCKER COULD GO DOWN.” – George W. Bush, 9/25/08

Is This the End of Capitalism?

By Alex KNIGHT

Hi, I’m Alex Knight.  I’m a teacher, writer, and activist. I manage endofcapitalism.com and I’m writing a book called The End of Capitalism. I was born on July 4, 1983. I was raised an All-American boy in a working class family in a small town outside of Philadelphia. Alex Knight is an organizer, teacher and writer in Philadelphia. Alex has been developing the theory of the end of capitalism since 2005, when he was studying at Lehigh University. The theory argues that the global capitalist system is breaking down due to ecological and social limits to growth and that a paradigm shift toward a non-capitalist future is underway. Alex graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Political Science. He began organizing students in college on anti-war and environmental issues. From 2006-09, he helped build the new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), organizing at the campus, city, and national levels. Alex was present for the first day of Occupy Wall St. and has been instrumental in facilitating the General Assembly of Occupy Philadelphia.

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” — Kenneth Boulding, economist.

“This sucker could go down.” – George W. Bush, 9/25/08

Capitalism requires growth. A system that requires growth cannot last forever on a planet that is defined by ecological and social limits. Capitalism is therefore fundamentally unsustainable – sooner or later it will run up against those limits and the system will stop functioning. At this moment we are in the midst of a crisis which is calling into question the future of this system. Now is a perfect opportunity to envision a new way of living in the world that can meet human needs while also respecting the needs of the planet. It is time to build this new world.