There's no such thing as the middle class. You either own means of production, you sell your labour to those who do, or you belong to the criminal class that doesn't contribute to the growth of capital. The middle class is a fairy tale capitalists tell us to keep us in the labour class instead of the far more sensible criminal class.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

I always wanted to ask this so might as well now, feel free to answer if you want: what are the means of production? In $cureent_year, that is.

We are not in 1870 Germany. We don't all work in huge factories owned by Rockefellers. I work in IT. My means of production is a laptop. I do own a few. I sell my labor to whoever needs IT services. Am I a capitalist or a communist? In the past I work for a big company and used their laptop. Was I being exploited?

The painter that is coming to fix my walls owns his ladder and spraygun. I assume he bought the paint with his own money. I don't know about the van, he might own it too. He sells his labor to me, who don't own anything of his. Is he a capitalist?

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The company is and always has been the means of production. Shared distribution of the profits of a company, no owner taking it all and distributing wages.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So everybody should be a contractor? I have done both and I honestly appreciate the benefits of a salary without all the risks and overhead of contracting. Or founding and managing a cooperative.

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

I have worked for ESOP operations before and you get all the benefits of working for a company, because it is a company, but it's owned by the people that work there, not shareholders or a singular owner. So when the business does we'll everyone makes more money.

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments (4 replies)