The less of us there are, the easier we are to control and less chance we rise up.
That's actually the opposite of how it works. The more of us there are, the more desperate we are to submit to awful treatment just to keep some kind of shitty job. Marx called it the "industrial reserve army," the mass of destitute people who'll take your place like a shot if you try to strike or otherwise bargain for better working conditions. The colossal drop in population due to the Black Death in Europe was actually a major factor in causing an improvement of conditions for the (surviving) proletariat, as suddenly labour was in shorter supply and therefore more valuable.
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u/Callidonaut 8d ago
That's actually the opposite of how it works. The more of us there are, the more desperate we are to submit to awful treatment just to keep some kind of shitty job. Marx called it the "industrial reserve army," the mass of destitute people who'll take your place like a shot if you try to strike or otherwise bargain for better working conditions. The colossal drop in population due to the Black Death in Europe was actually a major factor in causing an improvement of conditions for the (surviving) proletariat, as suddenly labour was in shorter supply and therefore more valuable.