Historically, it was not uncommon for laborers to justify exploitation from the standpoint of capitalists; From the standpoint of laborers, capitalists who criticize exploitation are absolutely rare.
Marx said in Capital: "As a capitalist, he is only personified capital. His soul is the soul of capital. "Capital is profit-seeking, and only knows how to increase value by absorbing living labor, so as to convert it into profit. Similarly, capitalists only have the word "profit" in their heads. So it's not surprising when we hear capitalists say overtime as "blessings in the afterlife" or impose low wages as motivation to struggle – because their asses have decided on their heads. But there is no shortage of capitalists who are alternative, and Robert Owen of England is one of them.
Robert Owen (1771–1858)
A strange factory that looks out for the benefit of its employees at every turn
In 1819, Britain's economy was affected by inflation, and many factories were poorly run, so they had to resort to layoffs and wage reductions to survive the crisis, and worker unemployment became serious. However, one factory, called "New Lanark", has not seen layoffs and wage cuts, and its turnover is still considerable. Curious, the local committee approached Robert Owen, the owner of the factory's shareholder and manager, and asked him for advice to the community to help solve the problem of worker unemployment and poverty. To this end, Owen wrote his famous book, "Report to Lanarkshire". In his report, he listed five key conclusions:
First, labor is the source of all wealth and national prosperity. That is, laborers are creators of wealth, not capitalists. It is the laborers who feed the capitalists, not the capitalists who feed the laborers.
Second, workers create far more value to society than they receive, and their income is often only necessary to make ends meet.
Third, if manual labor is properly managed and controlled, it will continue to create greater value.
Fourth, how can we rationally organize labor so that it is under proper control, which can solve Britain's economic problems.
Fifth, as long as the population is properly managed and the labor force can give full play to its value, there will never be a surplus population in society, and poverty will not occur due to rapid population growth.
Give a voice to workers
Among them, the third is of greatest interest to capitalists. They found that the factories managed by Irving did not regulate and exploit workers as harshly as most factories. At that time, most factories had a fourteen-hour working day, while the workers in the new Lanark factory worked only ten and a half hours a day. The necessities of life on the factory campus are sold at cost and no child laborers under the age of twelve are recruited – even if they are cheap. Every year, the factory invests a portion of its profits into charity, not only to create model elementary schools, nurseries, kindergartens, but also to establish a foundation for the Sickness and Injury Reserve.
The greedy factory owners thought that the new Lanark would be eliminated by the industry for eliminating participation in the overtime competition, but who knew that the factory's production enthusiasm was very high and the quality of the product was also at the top. During the economic crisis of 1806, most factories closed their doors and workers were laid off and unemployed. Although the new Lanark plant was closed for four months, during that time the workers still received the same wages as usual, as Owen said, "not a penny deducted from any worker's wages."
Later, in reminiscence, Owen concluded: For thirty years, the New Lanark factory has always ensured that 2,500 workers have a job to do; And wages are always paid on time and never deducted. In addition to paying expenses and interest, shareholders received a share of £300,000 in profits. At the time, it was nothing short of miraculous. Because the new Lanark plant operates 3 to 5 hours less per day than others, and a lot of the profits are used to improve the housing of employees and the education of their children. This has become a mystery that capitalists cannot solve even if they want to solve their minds.
Nueva Lanark
The secret of the success of the new Lanark plant
Robert Owen did not have a complicated background, he began to earn a living independently at the age of 9, working as an apprentice in a fuel shop and a clerk in a coat store; At the age of eighteen, he borrowed a hundred pounds from his brother and co-founded a small textile workshop with a friend. After his partner fell out, he divided three spinning machines, hired three workers himself, and continued to work alone. Because his workshop was able to weave high-quality products, he made a good profit. At the age of twenty, Owen was hired by the owner of a large mill to become the manager of a large mill with five hundred workers. He said in his autobiography:
"I noticed early on that people care a lot about dead machines and ignore and ignore living machines."
He believes that in order to improve the quality and quality of products, we must not rely on machines alone, but also improve the quality of people. To this end, Owen introduces the concept of humanistic management into his work, and uses various means to improve the working and living conditions of workers, win their trust and mobilize enthusiasm. This new management philosophy became the secret of Irving's business success. The greedy factory owners squeezed their employees in every way, and as a result, the employees used grinders and produced inferior products to cope with the work, resulting in the loss of competitiveness of the products. In contrast, in the factories managed by Irving, the employees are highly motivated, they trust the managers to carry out methodical production operations.
Owen was deeply influenced by the French materialist Ervis, and believed that the environment determines the character of a person, so it was necessary to create a good environment for people in order to develop the same good character. After taking over the management of the new Lanark plant, he also practiced this philosophy. The factory is located in a remote and backward part of Scotland, and its employees are mostly of bad character, lazy and prone to petty theft. They were often hostile to their leaders and passively resisted Irving's reform plans. To this end, Owen has shown infinite patience and restraint to transform his character by improving their working and living environment.
First, Owen spearheaded the renovation of buildings and streets on campus, procured new machines to replace old ones, opened high-quality grocery stores, sold quality goods at cost, opened schools for employees' children, and established kindergartens. At first, everyone was still resistant, thinking that the new factory owner was just squeezing more profits through this method; It was not until after the "suspension without pay" incident in 1806 that everyone recognized Owen's sincerity and developed heartfelt trust and love for him, making this factory one of the most productive factories.
Owen stumbles upon the secret of capitalist exploitation
Britain in the 19th century was in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, and productivity made a qualitative leap. Engels said in "Anti-Dühring": "Most people with the same social status as Irving think that the industrial revolution is just a chaos that is convenient for fishing in troubled waters and making a fortune." Owen saw the Industrial Revolution as an opportunity to apply his beloved theories and turn chaos into order. ”
When he took over New Lanark, Owen already had three thousand pounds in assets and was co-opening a factory in Manchester, at a time when he had a successful career and a happy marriage. He does not degenerate into "personified capital" like the vast majority of capitalists. He was concerned about the poverty of the laborers, and even though he provided people with far superior working and living conditions than in other factories, he did not think that he had fed the workers, and he often said, "These people are my slaves", admitting that he exploited the workers.
In Revolution in Human Thought and Practice or Future Transition from Irrational to Rational, Owen asks the question:
"The wealth that 2,500 workers in Nueva Lanark produced every day for society would have taken 600,000 people less than half a century ago. I once asked myself: Where is the difference between the wealth consumed by these 2,500 people and the wealth that the previous 600,000 people should have consumed? ”
The Industrial Revolution gave such a huge boost to the development of the productive forces that it only took 2,500 workers to produce goods that used to take 600,000 people to produce. In the past, it took a lot of wages to feed 600,000 people, but now it can solve the basic living problems of 2,500 employees with a small expenditure. The remaining £300,000 of profits were divided among the shareholders.
Owen knew very well that the £300,000 went to the shareholders only because they owned the means of production. The profit of 300,000 pounds was created by the blood and sweat of 2,500 workers, without whose hard work there would have been no industrial revolution and no social progress, but their return was only a small salary, no richer than that of their parents and grandparents fifty years ago. Advances in productivity have multiplied wealth, but the creators of wealth, the vast number of workers, are still living only on the subsistence line. The answer is very clear, most of the wealth created by social progress falls into the hands of capitalists, bankers, bureaucrats, real estate developers, and financial giants, and the reason why they can occupy the dividends generated by the progress of society is not because they pay more labor than others, but because they monopolize social resources and occupy the means of production.
It was through this purely business approach that Owen discovered the secret of capitalist exploitation in the process of business computing. In capitalist society, the broad masses of working people do not share much in the fruits of social progress, and most of their wealth is stolen by the bourgeoisie. The annual turnover of the factory climbs year by year, while the wages of workers rise slowly like turtles crawling; This is most felt by employees who are at the forefront of sales.
After discovering this secret, the capitalist Owen completely turned to the side of laborers and actively fought for the interests of laborers. In 1815, he proposed to amend the factory law to limit the working day, which was attacked by capitalists; It was not until 1833, with the unremitting efforts of Owen, that the "National Production League" was established in Britain, which was the first general union in the true sense of British history. History is so wonderful that one of the world's first trade unions was founded under the leadership of a capitalist - of course, such capitalists are rare and rare.