Notes on Labor at the End of the Century

Abstract

With the publication of Marx's The Communist Manifesto 150 years ago, came modern socialism. To the many critiques of capitalism that already existed at the time, one of Marx's most important contributions was to add the dimension of agency: the emerging working class was placed at the center of a conscious movement to go beyond capitalism. As workers struggled within capitalism, they would, Marxists argued, transform themselves and develop the potential to transform society.

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