Karl Marx was a harsh critic of capitalism. He claimed that capitalism sowed the seeds for its own destruction. Marx saw capitalism at its worst, when there was an urban explosion and large migration of people to cities after machines began to mass produce, starting modern industry. However, his belief was that people have more freedom, but acknowledged that history was driven by class struggle. The class struggle he focused on in his book, Capital (Volume I), was the class struggle driven by capitalism. According to Marx, the problems of capitalism is that the power of capitalism was held in the hands of few and the ones who did not have the power were exploited. It is also that capitalism is driven by profit and that machines make it easier
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What it really does is lessen the amount of time the worker needs to produce their labor. This leads to more time working without getting paid and essentially more labor for less money. This is due to the fact the necessary labor remains the same. Machinery as a result does not benefit the worker, but instead the capitalist who gains greater profit in the same length of time. Machinery, especially those in Marx’s time, involved tiny hands to maintain them, which required the work of children and women. This allows capitalism to use the entire family unit for exploitation and greater profit (for the capitalist) because anyone can work. Machinery has another downfall where the amount of people need for the job decreases with the introduction of machines. An example of this is the churka, which was used to separate wool form the seed. “Sixteen of these machines [churkas] driven by oxen can do as much work in a day as formerly 750 people did on average” (Marx 270). Machines increases the Reserve Industrial Army because it does not need as much people to work and thus further increases competition to keep the job. Machines have increased the toil of humanity due to the increased competitiveness of jobs while producing surplus value for the
What it really does is lessen the amount of time the worker needs to produce their labor. This leads to more time working without getting paid and essentially more labor for less money. This is due to the fact the necessary labor remains the same. Machinery as a result does not benefit the worker, but instead the capitalist who gains greater profit in the same length of time. Machinery, especially those in Marx’s time, involved tiny hands to maintain them, which required the work of children and women. This allows capitalism to use the entire family unit for exploitation and greater profit (for the capitalist) because anyone can work. Machinery has another downfall where the amount of people need for the job decreases with the introduction of machines. An example of this is the churka, which was used to separate wool form the seed. “Sixteen of these machines [churkas] driven by oxen can do as much work in a day as formerly 750 people did on average” (Marx 270). Machines increases the Reserve Industrial Army because it does not need as much people to work and thus further increases competition to keep the job. Machines have increased the toil of humanity due to the increased competitiveness of jobs while producing surplus value for the