GREEN BOOK: The Solution of the ECONOMIC PROBLEM 'Socialism' PART 2

Description

have taken place which contribute to solving the problem of work and wages, i.e. the relationship between the workers and the employers, between the producers and the owners. The developments include fixed working- hours, wages for additional work,different types of leave, minimum wages, profit sharing and participation in administration. In addition, arbitrary dismissal has been outlawed and social security has been guaranteed, along with the right to strike and whatever other provisions are found in almost all modern labour laws. Of no less significance are the changes in the field of ownership such as the emergence of systems limiting income or outlawing private ownership and transferring it to the state. Despite all these not inconsiderable developments in the history of the economic problem, nevertheless the problem still basically exists. The |Partners notmodifications, improvements, provi- |wage-workers sions and other measures have madethe problem less severe than it was in past centuries by gaining many advantages for the workers. Yet, the economic problem has not been solved. All the attempts which have concentrated on ownership have not solved the problem of producers. They are still wageworkers, even when ownership has been transferred from the extreme right to the extreme left or has been given various intermediate positions. Attempts to improve wages are as important as those which lead to the transference of ownership. The benefitsreceived by workers, guaranteed by legislation and protected by Trade Unions are all that have been achieved in tackling the problem ofwages. Thus the hard conditions of the producers immediately after the IndustrialRevolution have been transformed, and, in the course of time workers, technicians and administrators have gained previously unattainable rights. However, the economicproblem still, in fact, exists.  [C:\Users\Microsoft\Documents\Calibre Library]