• underwire212@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Whatchu think wage labor is? Companies lease you for your labor, and can nullify the contract agreement (i.e. fire you) at will. If you work for a wage, you’re a wage slave.

    • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.netOP
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      2 months ago

      On the one hand, yes, I can see your point.

      On the other hand, let’s not minimize American prison slavery by saying “we’re all slaves”. If you strain the definition you can argue all workers under capitalism are enslaved, but even then, some forms of slavery are far more brutal and dehumanizing (and racist. Let’s not forget racist) than others.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Ah, I never meant to imply that “all slaves are equally treated just as bad”, thereby minimizing the suffering of others.

        Of course some forms are far worse than others. And of course we want to help those suffering the most first and foremost.

        I meant my comment as a solidarity statement. Not the straw man you crafted, apologies for the misunderstanding.

    • Comment105@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Slaves can’t end their own contract at will.

      You people will never understand the difference.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I mean yeah I can leave whenever I want…I can “choose” my master so to speak, but unless I want to starve to death I’m forced to choose a master.

        It’s literally just a nicer form of slavery. If you have a gun pointed to your head with the option “choose a master or I pull the trigger”, is that really a choice? I’d argue not.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        That’s like living as another slave of a dictatorship, versus living as a free person in a democracy. In context I think they’re talking about typical (dictatorship) corporations.

        • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          He is most likely talking about the typical corporations, but it doesn’t mean he’s right about pointing the finger at wages. Wage labor isn’t the cause of wage slavery and neither is the existence of a company. It’s the authoritarian company structure, which is systemic to capitalism, that is causing an unfair power dynamic between the employer and employee. That power dynamic is what creates wage slaves.

          As far as wages are concerned you can get a wage and not be a wage slave. It comes down to whether the company is with an authoritarian (capitalistic) or a democratic (socialist) structure.