How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph) or (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Capital therefore takes no account of the health and the length of life of the worker, unless society forces it to do so. Its answer to the outcry about the physical and mental degradation, the premature death, the torture of over-work, is this: Should that pain trouble us, since it increases our pleasure (profit)? But looking at these things as a whole, it is evident that this does not depend on the will, either good or bad, of the individual capitalist. Under free competition, the immanent laws of capitalist production confront the individual capitalist as a coercive force external to him. (10.5.8)
A key force governing the capitalist system is competition. Whereas capitalist economists such as Adam Smith see competition as a force that benefits all, Marx sees it as a pressure on capitalists that causes them to exploit workers. He argues that if an individual capitalist decides to exploit his or her workers less, that capitalist will be out-competed by other capitalists. Thus, in Marx's view, there will always be injustice against and exploitation of the working class, at least until capitalism ends.
Quote #8
For 'protection' against the serpent of their agonies, the workers have to put their heads together and, as a class, compel the passing of a law, an all-powerful social barrier by which they can be prevented from selling themselves and their families into slavery and death by voluntary contract with capital. (10.7.7)
Solidarity among the working class allows workers to join together, as in unions, to further their interests, such as forcing laws to be passed that improve working conditions. Marx also talks about class struggle in the Communist Manifesto.
Quote #9
The one-sidedness and even the deficiencies of the specialized individual worker become perfections when he is part of the collective worker. The habit of doing only one thing converts him into an organ which operates with the certainty of a force of nature, while his connection with the whole mechanism compels him to work with the regularity of a machine. (14.3.12)
Manufacture organizes work in such a way as to create a collective worker. Does this weaken the working class, since workers become overly specialized, or does it strengthen the working class, since workers can gain solidarity from their proximity to one another?