Page:Shop Talks on Economics.djvu/47



There are several ways whereby wage-workers may try to improve their condition today. In Lesson V we discussed Low Prices and their effect upon the condition of working class life. We discovered that as the prices on the necessities of life fall, wages fall proportionately, because of the competition among wage-workers for jobs.

It would be impossible for an employer of labor arbitrarily to lower wages, just as it is impossible for capitalists arbitrarily to raise the prices on commodities. The conditions must be favorable to such a rise or fall in prices. It is the Army of Unemployed men and women that force wages (or the price of labor-power) down when the cost of living falls. We were unable to find where low prices would benefit the working class.

In discussing prices in the last two lessons, we have not said much about wages, or the price of labor-power. Labor-power is a commodity just as stoves, coats or flour are commodities. And the value and price of labor-power are determined exactly as the price and value of all other commodities are determined.

Wage-workers are always trying to get higher wages, or a better price for their labor-power.