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Cake day: March 1st, 2026

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  • The nature of work (employment) under capitalism is different though.

    1. It overrides intrinsic motivations (love, community, fun, meeting needs) and forces upon us an extrinsic motivation (make as much money for the boss as possible or starve to death.)
    2. It is inherently cruel and wasteful. We already produce enough to meet everyone’s needs, yet the capitalist hoards the fruits of working class labor, then forces us to buy it back from them. And whatever can’t be sold will be discarded rather than given to people who need it. Food will be thrown into dumpsters while children starve in the streets. Poverty is a feature under capitalism, not a bug. When you see a hungry person under capitalism, remember that they are not hungry because they failed to earn food, they are hungry because food was willfully withheld from them.
    3. It is inherently exploitative. Your employer will never pay you the full value of your labor. If they did, they wouldn’t have any incentive to employ you. They always steal some or a lot of the value you produce with your labor.
    4. It is inherently authoritarian and alienating. It separates you from the fruits of your labor. It forces you to compete with your coworkers. You have no say in what you produce, how you produce, and where you send it after it’s produced. You have no say in the hours you work, when you take breaks, what you wear, how you talk, and how to treat customers. If you break the rules, your employer will deprive you and your family of your livelihood.

    Yes, children will always work. Work is a good thing. But it is for all the above reasons and more that we must not let capitalists employ children. And they’re also the reasons why capitalism must be abolished entirely. It cannot be reformed.
















  • Ravenheart@lemmy.ziptoComic Strips@lemmy.worldTipping
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    1 month ago

    This excuse for worker exploitation has always baffled me. 1. The contract was signed under duress: “Take this shitty job or continue to be unemployed.” Consent made under duress is not consent. 2. It was agreed to under an extreme power asymmetry: If you refuse the job, your family will have to go hungry, but the company will easily find some other desperate soul to fill the position. 3. I haven’t even begun to touch on all the class, racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination that workers face.

    There’s nothing even close to meaningful or fair negotiation under such conditions.