(09-12-2012, 05:07 AM)FireIceTalon Wrote: Dude, he is speaking in the context of who owns the machinery. If the Bourgeois own the machinery, then yes, he is absolutely right and demonstrably so: there were many impoverished and unemployed workers back then, and there still are today. If the workers own the machines, it is a completely different ball game - because they have self-determination and are not subject to the will of a ruling class. It would seem silly to me for anyone to detest a machine anyways, since it is a inanimate object. The ruling class creates more machinery to drive wages down, but this only matters because the ruling class OWNS the means to production (the machines in this case). It has nothing to do with the machines themselves, and everything to do with private property ownership.
Do you still think you're arguing with something I've said? Because I can't see any trace of my own statement in there.
All I said was that Marx predicted the impoverishment of workers through mechanization. You can add "during capitalism" if it makes you happier.
What I care about is that he did predict it. And he was wrong. End of story.
-Jester