Exploitation, Class Conflict, and Socialism: The Ethical Materialism of John Roemer
Author(s)
Przeworski, Adam
Abstract
John Roemer’s general theory of exploitation provides an analytical framework for the fundamental problem of any theory of revolution: under what conditions would anyone living under a particular organization of society rationally opt for an alternative? I believe that his formulation is incorrectly specified and that the answer is erroneous. I begin by summarizing Roemer’s two theories of exploitation, and then I examine his claim that while class struggle can be understood in terms of the exploitation of labor, accumulation of capital is a technical fact, not related uniquely to labor exploitation. Roemer fails to demonstrate that anyone living under capitalism, including workers, would have good reasons to prefer socialism. I believe that I know a valid answer to Roemer’s question: for workers, socialism is preferable to capitalism not because it would increase their consumption at the cost of capitalists but because in a socialist society everyone could jointly decide to which needs societal resources should be allocated.
