it absolutely would not work, you cannot excise the primary contradictions of the mode of production through a punishment regime. labor costs have to go down as rates of profit fall to maintain growth of profits. labor costs go down through employment of precarious workers and the creation of precarious conditions for workers.
I disagree. Even working within a capitalist framework it is possible to impose penalties for particular behaviors that make the potential cost of those behaviors high enough to not be worth doing.
We always say that fines are the price of doing business, but that means if you make the fine high enough the business goes bankrupt. If you make the cost of being caught high enough, and personal enough, it will change behavior.
Would you be willing to hire a 14 year old if you know that if the inspector who comes by every 2 weeks hears a whisper about a 14 year old working you’ll go to prison? Would you pressure your underling to hire 14 year olds if you knew that situation would mean you, your boss, and the CEO also go to prison?
It’s not like corporations will just always disregard the law by their nature. They try to make the most money possible, so if you make the risk of doing bad things high enough, they will avoid doing those things.
the most you can manage in this case is a transfer of labor-cost savings abroad or onto some other vulnerable group. it is impossible to deny the motion of capitalism through the word of a law. it needs new markets to exploit or thinner margins. a capitalism that tightly controls these factors is one that can't grow, it is a fantasy. socialism is the only antidote
The corporations will prevent your law from existing or being enforced. Capitalists are not separate from the state, they are its primary controller.
If profits necessitate child labor then only a concerted anti-capitalist push will reverse it. Labor laws didn't emerge because they were good and popular they emerged because a militant labor force was already earning them through praxis and the state attempted to head off even greater gains through a legalized labor process that must follow "the rules", i.e. not use all of the tools at its disposal.
Basically by the time you'd get those laws and enforcement you'd already have the power to do even more.
it absolutely would not work, you cannot excise the primary contradictions of the mode of production through a punishment regime. labor costs have to go down as rates of profit fall to maintain growth of profits. labor costs go down through employment of precarious workers and the creation of precarious conditions for workers.
I disagree. Even working within a capitalist framework it is possible to impose penalties for particular behaviors that make the potential cost of those behaviors high enough to not be worth doing.
We always say that fines are the price of doing business, but that means if you make the fine high enough the business goes bankrupt. If you make the cost of being caught high enough, and personal enough, it will change behavior.
Would you be willing to hire a 14 year old if you know that if the inspector who comes by every 2 weeks hears a whisper about a 14 year old working you’ll go to prison? Would you pressure your underling to hire 14 year olds if you knew that situation would mean you, your boss, and the CEO also go to prison?
It’s not like corporations will just always disregard the law by their nature. They try to make the most money possible, so if you make the risk of doing bad things high enough, they will avoid doing those things.
the most you can manage in this case is a transfer of labor-cost savings abroad or onto some other vulnerable group. it is impossible to deny the motion of capitalism through the word of a law. it needs new markets to exploit or thinner margins. a capitalism that tightly controls these factors is one that can't grow, it is a fantasy. socialism is the only antidote
The corporations will prevent your law from existing or being enforced. Capitalists are not separate from the state, they are its primary controller.
If profits necessitate child labor then only a concerted anti-capitalist push will reverse it. Labor laws didn't emerge because they were good and popular they emerged because a militant labor force was already earning them through praxis and the state attempted to head off even greater gains through a legalized labor process that must follow "the rules", i.e. not use all of the tools at its disposal.
Basically by the time you'd get those laws and enforcement you'd already have the power to do even more.