On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 11:47 AM, Jim Farmelant wrote: > > Marx’s critique of bourgeois rights
Reiterated at the end of Chapter 10 of Capital: "In place of the pompous catalogue of the “inalienable rights of man” comes the modest Magna Carta of a legally limited working-day, which shall make clear “when the time which the worker sells is ended, and when his own begins." > > It must be acknowledged that our labourer comes out of the process of > production other than he entered. In the market he stood as owner of the > commodity “labour-power” face to face with other owners of commodities, > dealer against dealer. The contract by which he sold to the capitalist his > labour-power proved, so to say, in black and white that he disposed of > himself freely. The bargain concluded, it is discovered that he was no > “free agent,” that the time for which he is free to sell his labour-power > is the time for which he is forced to sell it, that in fact the vampire > will not lose its hold on him “so long as there is a muscle, a nerve, a > drop of blood to be exploited.” For “protection” against “the serpent of > their agonies,” the labourers must put their heads together, and, as a > class, compel the passing of a law, an all-powerful social barrier that > shall prevent the very workers from selling, by voluntary contract with > capital, themselves and their families into slavery and death. In place of > the pompous catalogue of the “inalienable rights of man” comes the modest > Magna > Carta of a legally limited working-day, which shall make clear “when the > time which the worker sells is ended, and when his own begins.” Quantum > mutatus ab illo ! > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39965): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39965 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116961607/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
