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<blockquote data-quote="Whither" data-source="post: 4825219" data-attributes="member: 76643">It would be incredible to consider working conditions in the Industrial Revolution (including today, in countries that have been rapidly industrializing) as what occurs when people &#039;are left to pursue their own goals and interests.&#039; It is likely that this &#039;emergent economic system&#039; would not have gotten off the ground without 1. the plundering of the Americas and 2. government-authorized projects of land enclosure which &#039;freed&#039; people from the ability to grow food to sustain themselves and shunted them into the emerging wage labor market. For a modern analogue to the way England &#039;encouraged&#039; its peasants to enlist in the workshops, and eventually, the factories, see what&#039;s happened in China over the last 50 years. From the outset and throughout its development, there&#039;s no way to separate flows of capital from state power. Wage labor has frequently been compared to slavery. While &#039;free labor&#039; working for wages was uncommon in ancient Greece and Rome, it was viewed with disdain. In modern times Frederick Douglass spoke of a &#039;slavery of wages only a little less galling and crushing in its effects than chattel slavery&#039;. And of course, wage slavery was catchphrase of the workers&#039; movement and unions even here in the US -- no doubt used by our Teamster brothers in 1934.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Whither, post: 4825219, member: 76643"] It would be incredible to consider working conditions in the Industrial Revolution (including today, in countries that have been rapidly industrializing) as what occurs when people 'are left to pursue their own goals and interests.' It is likely that this 'emergent economic system' would not have gotten off the ground without 1. the plundering of the Americas and 2. government-authorized projects of land enclosure which 'freed' people from the ability to grow food to sustain themselves and shunted them into the emerging wage labor market. For a modern analogue to the way England 'encouraged' its peasants to enlist in the workshops, and eventually, the factories, see what's happened in China over the last 50 years. From the outset and throughout its development, there's no way to separate flows of capital from state power. Wage labor has frequently been compared to slavery. While 'free labor' working for wages was uncommon in ancient Greece and Rome, it was viewed with disdain. In modern times Frederick Douglass spoke of a 'slavery of wages only a little less galling and crushing in its effects than chattel slavery'. And of course, wage slavery was catchphrase of the workers' movement and unions even here in the US -- no doubt used by our Teamster brothers in 1934. [/QUOTE]

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