# 1880: A Worker's Inquiry



## rogne (Apr 20, 2011)

Σαν σήμερα πριν από 121 χρόνια, ο Καρλ Μαρξ δημοσίευσε στο _La Revue Socialiste_ ένα ερωτηματολόγιο, _"in the hope that maybe we shall induce a republican government to follow the example of the monarchical government of England by likewise organizing a far reaching investigation into facts and crimes of capitalist exploitation"_.

Μερικές απολύτως επίκαιρες ερωτήσεις από αυτή την αυτοσχέδια έρευνα, όπως τις διάλεξε συνάδελφος στο Φόρουμ του ΣΜΕΔ:

29. If you work at home, describe the conditions of your work room. Do you use only working tools or small machines? Do you have recourse to the help of your children or other persons (adult or children, male or female)? Do you work for private clients, or for an employer? Do you deal with him direct or through an agent?

53. Are you paid time or piece rate?

54. If you are paid time rate, is it by the hour or by the day?

55. Do you receive additions to your wages for overtime? How much?

56. If you receive piece rates, how are they fixed? If you are employed in industries in which the work done is measured by quantity or weight, as in the mines, don't your employers or their clerks resort to trickery, in order to swindle you out of part of your wages?

57. If you are paid piece rate, isn't the quality of the goods used as a pretext for wrongful deductions from your wages?

58. Whatever wages you get, whether piece or time rate, when is it paid to you; in other words, how long is the credit you give your employer before receiving payment for the work you have already carried out? Are you paid a week later, month, etc.?

59. Have you noticed that delay in the payment of your wages forces you often to resort to the pawnshops, paying rates of high interest there, and depriving yourself of things you need; or incurring debts with the shopkeepers, and becoming their victim because you are their debtor? Do you know of cases where workers have lost their wages owing to the ruin or bankruptcy of their employers?

60. Are wages paid direct by the employer, or by his agents (contractors, etc.)?

74. Describe any interruptions in employment caused by changes in fashions and partial and general crises. Describe your own involuntary rest periods.

75. Compare the price of the commodities you manufacture or the services you render with the price of your labor.


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