It appears that the meaning of
“exploitation” most prominent in Marx’s thinking amounts to “the
inadequate remuneration of a producer”, or “an insufficient share of the
producer in the value of his output”.
However, the meaning of this concept of “exploitation”, and most
alternative denotations of it, are open to contestation under
innumerable circumstances. In fact, in a free society (which communism
promises to be) people will have and — as we will see below — amply
exercise the right of debating whether or not they are affected by
“exploitation”.
Even if it were possible to unequivocally distinguish capital from
labour and prove that value is only created by labour, the issue of
exploitation would remain indeterminate/open to contestation
This is because no production is possible without engaging in social
relationships characterised by differential power among the
participants. Whenever differential power prevails amongst a group of
humans there is the possibility of divergent assessments of processes
and outcomes brought about by activities involving dominance,
subordination, and dependency. Exploitation in Marx’s sense is a
variant, an element, one hypothesis among others in a large set of
possible evaluations of power-based production. People, not Marx, will
decide if his conception is useful. When free to follow their own
assessment they tend to dismiss Marx.
For Marx’s elementary error is to assume that power is a historically
specific attribute of capitalist social relations (and earlier
historical stages) but will no longer play a role in the future — under
communism.
Even if labour ensures for itself sole possession and the exclusive
right of disposition of the means of production, at once power
relationships will emerge among the labourers. There will be competition
for power accompanied by all phenomena associated with such a clash of
interests (from contented obedience to mobbing and revolt). This is
clearly borne out by experiments with worker cooperatives and grand
scale attempts at communism.
Marx was hopelessly naïve concerning this unsuspected cornerstone
(the ineradicable role of power in production) of his shaky theoretical
cathedral. His oversight has cost millions of people their lives.
Marx was unable to follow the concept of power to a sufficiently high
level of abstraction.
Insinuating a benign power vacuum under
communism, he paved the way for ruthless power-seekers who imposed their
repressive and self-serving agenda on the people under the pretence of
abolishing “exploitation”.
The functional division of labour in modern complex production
processes justifies differentiation of categories like capital(ist),
management, labour (and still further distinctions), while the
production of value requires cooperation within and among these groups,
giving inevitably rise to conflicts that may be couched in terms of
“exploitation” (“my share in managerial decision power/pecuniary
remuneration/protection from work hazards etc. is inadequate relative to
the value I produce.” “No, it isn’t.” “Yes, it is!”). Admission and
expression of such conflicts may be suppressed (as under communism) but
their ongoing occurrence cannot be conjured away, except in theory,
which is the path that Marx chose.
Incidentally, anarcho-capitalists fall prey to a similar error.
Thinking that unfettered freedom will give rise to processes free of
power and the need to conquer and defend incumbent power — in a word:
politics. Thus, they dream of a society without politics, when in fact
freedom presupposes politics as a means to establish a power structure
capable of supporting a society where liberty thrives to the most
feasible extent. For individual freedom to prevail a lot of individual
freedom has to be restricted and much space must be gained for
collective rights and decisions. In fact, freedom encourages dissent and
therefore the management of conflict (a central task of politics),
including forms of conflict-suppression, is essential for liberty.
Submitting the below considerations, I have joined the discussion in the comment section of this blog post: Marx’s labour theory of value and exploitation under capitalism