[471] “The mass of workers are to-day exploited by those people whose property they use. Captains of industry in their dealings with proprietors have to submit to a similar kind of treatment, only to a much less degree. But they occasionally share in the privilege of the exploiters, for the full burden of exploitation falls upon the working classes—that is, upon the vast majority of mankind.” (Doctrine de Saint-Simon, p. 176.)
[472] “It is our belief that profits diminish while wages increase; but the term ‘wages’ as we use it includes the profits that accrue to the entrepreneur, whose earnings we regard as the price of his labour.” (Le Producteur, vol. i, p. 245. The article is by Enfantin.)
[473] We might sum up the different senses of the word “exploitation” as used by Sismondi, the Saint-Simonians, and Marx respectively as follows:
(1) Sismondi thinks that the worker is exploited whenever he is not paid a wage sufficient to enable him to lead a decent existence. Unearned income seems quite legitimate, however.
(2) Exploitation exists, in the opinion of the Saint-Simonians, whenever a part of the material produce raised by labour is devoted to the remuneration of proprietors through the operation of ordinary social factors.
(3) Marx speaks of exploitation whenever a portion of the produce of labour is devoted to the remuneration of capital either through the existence of social institutions or the operation of the laws of exchange.
[475] Doctrine, p. 191.
[476] See [p. 79, note].
[477] Doctrine, pp. 191-192.