If it wasn't for leftists fighting for worker rights in this country, we would all still be working 12, to 14-hour shifts for much lower wages. We wouldn't have much leverage in negotiating our terms of employment with wealthy, powerful employers. The workplace would be a much more hazardous, toxic place than it is now, due to the lack of safety regulations. We wouldn't have the benefits that many of us take for granted, like a 40-hour work week, health and unemployment insurance, labor unions, overtime pay, sick leave, paid vacations, pensions..etc. All of that came through struggles between labor and their bosses/employers. The employers want to cut overhead as much as possible, which includes the cost of labor, in order to increase profits. Human labor wants to increase wages and benefits. That's just the nature of the beast called capitalism.
The bottom line of capitalist production is private profits, making money, not creating products or jobs to meet people's needs. Capitalism needs wage labor because without it there aren't any paying consumers. Advanced technology will in the near future, require us to produce everything we consume, not for a profit but simply to meet our consumption needs. Production automation, autonomous systems, robots, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, nanotechnology, supercomputers, all of this is going to replace wage labor, creating unprecedented numbers of unemployed individuals, that under a capitalist system, will need to be fed, and housed. etc. The billionaires are now talking about giving everyone a
"Universal Basic Income"/ Universal Income, to mitigate the unemployment problem and keep capitalism on life support, but that's not a real solution. The solution to technology replacing human labor is producing the products and services we consume for the purpose of meeting our needs, rather than for monetary gain.
Those who claim that new jobs will replace the tens of millions of jobs that are going to be lost by technology, don't grasp the scale of the problem. There won't be enough technicians (maintenance and repair jobs) to replace the millions of jobs that will be eliminated by technology. More, not everyone can be a technician, it takes a certain level of intelligence and ability, to repair complex machinery and electrical systems. Not everyone can do that type of work, they simply don't have the focus, patience, or intelligence to do it. The technology, in the not-to-distant future, will also repair itself, using artificial intelligence, robots, and nanotechnology, so even technical jobs will be lost eventually, if not greatly reduced. So we're going to have to resolve the massive unemployment problem that is going to naturally arise from the advanced technology that we are currently developing in the 21st century.
The unemployed will no longer have the wages to pay for what they consume, hence millions of people are just going to either starve to death in homeless encampments around the country (highly unlikely) or they're going to most likely take their pitchforks out and take what they need by force (war). The rich, the so-called pillars of society, who are intelligent and have a bit of common sense, realize that the pillars of society rest upon the foundation of wage labor. Eliminate wage labor and the whole edifice of capitalism crumbles, due to a lack of paying consumers
(no customers = no money = no markets = no capitalism). Robots don't need to buy stuff. That's the only reason why the billionaires are offering all of us as much as $3000 monthly ("Universal Income"). In order to preserve their privilege and power, dependent upon an obsolete economic system and mode of production. They will own the technology, and essentially create a type of techno-feudalism, a high-tech fiefdom. You and I, of course, will become the serfs.
No one in the media or in positions of power speak about the obvious solution to the
advanced technology replacing wage labor problem, and that is simply adopting an economic system and mode of production that doesn't involve the private accumalation of capital (i.e. money). Producing, not for money, but to meet our consumption needs. We organize and develop production and the distribution of products and services that we use, for the purpose of using those products and services, not to make money. Markets, money, belong to an age when production was highly, if not completely, dependent upon human drudgery, work, sweat, blood, pain and suffering, one socioeconomic class dominating and exploiting another, in order to amass capital and power. Thanks to advanced technology, we don't need capitalism or capitalists, by socializing, and democratizing
the means of production (the technology, facilities, and equipment/machinery that produces, delivers, and stores what is produced and consumed by consumers).
You and I, and everyone else, own the means of production. Not just the rich and powerful who exist now under capitalism, but the working class, all of us, in this new and necessary order of production, created by advanced, 21st century technology, own and control the machinery, systems, and process of production. We organize production together, as a society, a community, to meet our consumption needs, not to sell products in a marketplace, because that dynamic is no longer compatible with conditions created by our advanced technology. How would this new more compatible system and mode of production function?
In the beginning, technology will not allow us to completely replace human labor, but it will greatly automate production and make it much more efficient, reducing the amount of human labor (drudgery) required to produce everything that we need (meeting our consumption needs). Each healthy, abled adult member of society under the age of 60, will have the civic duty to work 20 hours weekly, five days a week, generally, in the field that they choose to work in (people over 60 will be able to volunteer if they wish and continue working). You're not an "employee", in the workplace, you're a
worker-owner of the means of production and a valued member of society.
How will people get paid? Well, we don't get paid wages anymore, we don't work for a wage, we work to support the system that provides us with a high standard of living. Every member of society has a house with all of the modern amenities, appliances, devices, tools, trinkets..etc. Everyone has a right to housing, food, healthcare, education, and transportation (both private and public). You have the right, to go to the distribution center (i.e. store), and get food, clothing, furniture, computers, and a smartphone.
You have a right to two pairs of shoes, every two weeks, to give you an example. Four pairs a month, forty-eight a year. How many people need or even want forty-eight pairs of shoes? You can go to the store and grab two jackets a month. In this new economic system and mode of production, we would all have a right to two desktop computers every three years and one laptop. You can get a new smartphone every two years. If you need more than what you're entitled to, there's a process for that too. Not bad. You have the right to a new sofa or office chair, every three months. Just to give you an idea. We have the technology to know exactly, how much everyone is taking, what is being taken from the store, and who is taking it. We know exactly how many "red shiny boots" we need to produce, based on "consumption patterns". We produce enough for everyone and everyone receives an education, that inculcates and develops a social conscience (people will not just think about themselves but will be committed to positively contributing and serving their comrades, their fellow citizens, and a higher purpose).
Will some people become hoarders of colorful socks and coffee mugs? Yes, every society has its loony people and we will have people who will fill their closets with 2457 socks in different colors. Some people will fill their kitchen cabinets with hundreds of coffee mugs. Every society has its crazy people. But in general, most people will be satisfied with ten or maybe even twenty colorful socks and five coffee mugs. They could have more than that if they wanted more, but they don't need or want more, hence they don't get more. So we can by employing advanced technology, meet all of our consumption needs and wants, without capitalism. Money, markets, wage-labor, employers and employees, exploiters and exploited, landlords vs renters, all of this will be obsolete, something that we did in the past before we developed the advanced technology to overcome it. We will all own the technology and the means of production, together, collectively.
WE WILL ALL BE RICH. NO MORE SCARCITY. WE WILL ALL ENJOY EXTREME ABUNDANCE.
We don't need money, a universal income, markets, rich employers, wage labor, none of that. That's the past, we can enter into a new era of production, that doesn't involve all of the aforementioned elements that are inherent to capitalism. We can transcend capitalism, thanks to advanced technology and a new approach to production and labor. We need to evolve beyond capitalism, into the public ownership of production and take the reins of power, together, as a community. We are all in this together, so let's work together to overcome the obstacles to our health, wealth, and happiness. There's nothing humanity can't achieve working together as a team and community. We empower each other.
