On the Renting of Persons: The Neo-Abolitionist case Against the Employment System

8/9/2019 On the Renting of Persons: The Neo-Abolitionist case Against the Employment System

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On the Renting of Persons:The Neo-Abolitionist Case Against the

Employment System

David EllermanWWW.Ellerman.org

Senior Fellow, Center on Global Justice Visiting Scholar, Philosoh! Deartment

"niversit! o# Cali#ornia at San Diego "niversit! o# Cali#ornia at $iverside
http://www.ellerman.org/http://www.ellerman.org/


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%rguments #or Wor&lace Democrac!

Pragmatic arguments:

Development of human potential.

Greater quality and productivity.

Spillover effects for political democracy.

Theoretical arguments:

Human rental contract violates inalienale rights.

Property should e ased on getting fruits of one!slaor.

"y purpose is to outline the theoretical case

against the renting of persons.


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Coercion'versus'consent mis#raming


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Sohisticated de#ense o# slaver! ( autocrac! )voluntar! contractual relationshi

%ut sophisticated &e.g.' not (divine right)*defenses of autocracy from +oman and medievaltimes on,ard ,ere ased on an e-plicit or

implicit contract of alienation'pactumsubjectionis & old name for a non/democraticconstitution*.

0nd sophisticated defenses of slavery &not tomention feudalism* from +oman la, on,ard,ere ased on e-plicit or implicit self/salecontracts.


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*odern De#ense in +iberal+ibertarian -hought

+oert o3ic4: free society should allo, people to alienateright of self/government to a (dominant protectiveassociation.) (The comparale question aout an individualis ,hether a free system ,ill allo, him to sell himself into

slavery. 5 elieve that it ,ould.) &Anarchy, State andUtopia*

"odern 6conomic Theory: (o, it is time to state theconditions under ,hich private property and free contract,ill lead to an optimal allocation of resources.... The

institution of private property and free contract as ,e 4no,it is modified to permit individuals to sell or mortgage their

persons in return for present and7or future enefits.)&6conomist 8arl 8hrist in 8ongressional testimony*

%asic classical lieral point: 9hy outla, a mutually

voluntary act et,een consenting adults


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Emlo!ment S!stem ) $enting o# Persons

0olitionism ,as successful in aolishing owningother

persons< current system is rentingother persons.

= (Since slavery ,as aolished' human earning po,er is

foridden y la, to e capitali3ed. 0 man is not even free tosell himself< he must renthimself at a ,age.) >Paul

Samuelson'Economics?

= @9e do not have asset prices in the laor mar4et ecause

,or4ers cannot e ought or sold in modern societies< theycan only e rented. &5n a society ,ith slavery' the asset price

,ould e the price of a slave.*@ >Aischer' Dornusch' and

Schmalensee 1BCC'Economics?

%rits say @car hire@< an4s say @car rental@. Same thing.


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istor! o# Voluntar! Slaver! Contracts

+oman Fa,:Institutesof ustinian:

= 6-plicit self/sale contractGier4e'.e$" !ol" Theory' 1B;;?

= (The theory of popular sovereignty developed y "arsiglio >"arsilius' 12E/1#$2? and %artolus >1#1#/1#E? ,as destined to play a maKor role in shapingthe most radical version of early modern constitutionalism. 0lready they are

prepared to argue that sovereignty lies ,ith the people' that they onlydelegate and never alienate it' and thus that no legitimate ruler can ever enKoya higher status than that of an official appointed y' and capale of eing

dismissed y' his o,n suKects.) >Nuentin S4inner'Foundations' 1BEC?


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Coercion'versus'consent mis#raming


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$e#raming issue as/ %lienation vs. Delegation


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Contractual %nal!sis o# Emlo!ment Contract

%asic issue is ot @consent vs. coercion@ ut consent

to alienation vs. consent to delegation contract.

ot even controversial that the employment contract

is an alienation' not a delegation contract.

The employer is not the delegate' representative' or

trustee of the employees.

"ar-ist analysis is Kust superficial in acceptinglieral @consent vs. coercion@ framing and then

ma4ing a special plea that ,age laor is not @really@

voluntary.


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3nalienabilit! o# resonsible agenc!

5 can (use) my selfto do something and e responsile for it.

= %ut 5 cannotfactually transfer my (use) of my self to an employer so that hecan (employ) me and e solely responsile for the results.

%ut there is nevertheless the legal contract for an employer to rent' hire' oremploy an employee' and the legalresponsiility for the results of thatemployment &e.g.' costs L revenues* is imputedsolelyto the employer.

5 can use a tool li4e a wrenchand e responsilefor the results of that use.

= 5 can factually transfer the use of the ,rench toanother person' e.g.' rent it to them' and they canuse it and e solely responsile for the results.

= Thus the contract to rent a ,rench is a validcontract that can e fulfilled.


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0lienation contract is one that puts person in legal

position of a non/person or a person of diminished

capacity.

%ut genuine consent of adult person ,ith full

capacity to an alienation contract cannot create a defactonon/person or de factodiminished capacity.

Hence the Fa, accepts a surrogate performance as

fulfillingO the contract: (ey the master.)

%ut then the legalrights of the person are legallyreduced to those of a non/person or diminished

person as long as the contract is fulfilledO y

oeying the master.

Thus alienation contract is legali3ed fraud on

institutional scale.

ow a trul! voluntar! contract can be inherentl! invalid

Fegal Picture

Aactual Picture


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3ntuition Pum #or 3nalienabilit!/-he Case o# the ired Criminal

"oment of Truth: Fegal system admits the legalfiction ehind alienative relation ,hen legalnon/personO commits a crime.

Same for modern alienation relation ,herepersons are rented:

= (0ll ,ho participate in a crime ,ith aguilty intent are liale to punishment.

0 master and servant ,ho soparticipate in a crime are lialecriminally' not ecause they aremaster and servant' ut ecause they

Kointly carried out a criminal venture

and are oth criminous.) &%att'#aw ofaster and Ser$ant' 1B;E*


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Where *ar= went wrong on inalienabilit!

Hegel got inalienaility right in his critique of the self/salecontract 5n!hilosophy of -ight >J;;?. %ut he reali3ed' the critique,as too strong and ,ould apply to the self/rental contract as ,ell'so he did a little ,al4ing/ac4 >J;E? to at least get it y the

censors< responsile agency can supposedly e alienated on apart&timeasis &good ne,s for hired criminals*.

"ar- mista4enly interprets the Hegel!s ,al4ing/ac4 as if it ,erea serious description of alienaility and quotes it.

@5 may ma4e over to another the use for a limited time' ofmy particular odily and mental aptitudes and capailitiesHegel. Nuoted in "ar-' %apital /ol" I' 8hap.5' footnote?


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Evolution o# the 1+abor -heor!7

@0nd it is this fairly ovious truth ,hich' 5 contend' lies at the heart of the "ar-ist charge

of e-ploitation. The real asis of that charge is not that ,or4ers produce value' ut that

they produce ,hat has it.@ >8ohen' G. 0. 1BC1. (The Faour Theory of alue and the

8oncept of 6-ploitation.) 5n The /alue %ontro$ersy' 22U2#. Fondon: erso' 21B?


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Proert! %nal!sis o# Emlo!ment S!stem

0s the self/rental contract' it is legal alienation of

responsile human actions. Surrogate

performance is (oey the employer) and

resulting legal rights are same as for a rentedinstrument:

= 3ero legal o,nership of produced products and

= 3ero legal liaility for used/up inputs.

= %ut o,ner of rented instrument gets the rental

payments &,ages or salaries*.


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$esonsibilit! Princile Violation under emlo!ment relation

Faorresponsile for

&N'UI'P* Faor!sproduct

Faor legally

appropriates

&P'P'F* laor as a

commodity

Faor

responsile forut does not

appropriate

&N'UI'P*

U &P' P' F*&N'UI'UF*

,hole

product.

@5t ,ill e seen later that the laour e-pended during the so/

called normal day is paid elo, its value' so that the overtime issimply a capitalist tric4 to e-tort more surplus laour. 5n anycase' this ,ould remain true of overtime even if the laour/

po,er e-pended during the normal ,or4ing day were paid forat its full value.@ >%apital /ol" I' 8hap. 1' sec. #' fn. &D6 old*?

So "ar-ian theory not even a critique of ,age laorper se.

9ages , and otherprices ,ere never usedin property analysis.

ot a "ar-ian@9ages/are/too/damn/lo,@e-ploitation theory.


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2verview/ 4eo'%bolitionist Case%gainst the $enting o# Peole

8ontractual 8ase: +esponsile agency L decision/ma4ingfactually inalienale et,een persons so contract toalienate human action inherently fraudulent and invalid.

Property 8ase: uridical Principle of +esponsiility

&modern version of FTP* implies assigning positive andnegative fruits of people ,or4ing in an enterprise to thosepeopleMso people ,or4ing in a firm are the legalmemers of the firm as in wor0ers cooperati$e.

5nalienale rights theory L property theory oth imply theaolition of employment &self/rental* contract in additionto the already abolished1= self/sale contracts'

= political constitutions of suKection' and

= coverture marriage contracts.


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On the Renting of Persons: The Neo-Abolitionist case Against the Employment System

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