[Proudhon-seminar] Now some criticism

[rafael hotz]

"Shall the laborer who is capable of finishing his task in six hours have the right, on the ground of
superior strength and activity, to usurp the task of the less skilful laborer, and thus rob him of his
labor and bread? Who dares maintain such a proposition? He who finishes before the others may
rest, if he chooses; he may devote himself to useful exercise and labors for the maintenance of his
strength, and the culture of his mind, and the pleasure of his life. This he can do without injury to
any one: but let him confine himself to services which affect him solely. Vigor, genius, diligence,
and all the personal advantages which result therefrom, are the work of Nature and, to a certain
extent, of the individual; society awards them the esteem which they merit: but the wages which it
pays them is measured, not by their power, but by their production. Now, the product of each is
limited by the right of all."

When he talks about "equality of wages in society" (p.125), I don´t see consistency in his argument...

Proudhon says that the most skilled labourer couldn´t have a bigger reward, since he would be encroaching the right of the less skilled one of having the means to get more.

But he completely ignores the fact that maybe the less skilled worker has no interest at all in working more time in order to get a better reward.

And how does Proudhon expect to acheive his ends without surrendering another´s right of possession?

I can´t possiblly think that Proudhon actually would support removing a hard worker from a piece of land to provide means to a less skilled guy get more payment. This would be falling into economic waste and pure communism. Pretty strange for him, that rejects communism and preaches free market.

Personally I tend to see the right of possesion associated to voluntary collectivities, as "work teams", having some right of exclusion at the extent there´s labor mixing... Proudhon seems, at least in WIP, to see all land availible to anyone who desires, and by some kind of magic, he would squeeze everyone´s share in order to satisfice other people´s caprice.

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