What Marx is describing in this passage is the modern equivalent of the feudal system, of which Western Europe did not fully rid itself until the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. But a return to the two tier system of noble and serf seems to be the laissez-faire capitalist's ultimate goal."
That was the future that Karl Marx saw if laissez-faire capitalism took precedence over human needs. Thomas Jefferson offered us a different choice, in an 1823 letter to a Mr. A. Coray:
"The equal rights of man, and the [potential for] happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government. Modern times have the signal advantage, too, of having discovered the only device by which these rights can be secured, to wit: government by the people, acting not in person, but by representatives chosen by themselves, that is to say, by every man of ripe years and sane mind, who contributes either by his purse or person to the support of his country."--(The Complete Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition ; Volume 15, p. 482; 1904.)
There is no reason that Jefferson's ideal of representative democracy cannot be applied to the workplace as he foresaw it being applied to our government. It has been shown to work well where it has been tried; only those whose innate reactionary tendencies and inability to see economics as anything other than a modern feudal system (such as Marx described) are truly resistant to even trying such innovation.
For myself, I like the choice offered by Jefferson's vision of the future much better than Marx's. Let us hope that we have the wisdom to choose Jefferson's vision for our nation's future. But the choice is ours. We humans are, after all, the animal that chooses.
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