Jesus.
- This topic has 49 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 2 hours, 18 minutes ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I know most atheists, like most anyone, do not comprehend socialism and are dismissive of Marxism, equating it with religious sects. Lenin and Mao persecuted and killed priests, nuns and monks, and destroyed ancient buildings, books and art. Buddhist monks in Mongolia were forced into the army.
But you can’t call the Roman proletariat a working class. Of course, there would have been those who did some work, shopkeepers etc., but their livelihood was the dole, paid by the Emperor. The Imperial dole was paid to all who applied, as long as they were freemen, was paid for life, and had nothing to do with work or the lack of it.
Yet the proletariat furnished the ranks of the early Christians, not the slaves (contrary to popular belief). Kautsky explains the rise of the large landed estates (worked by slaves) and the consequent expropriation of the small farmers, who thus became the urban proletariat.
Robin Lane Fox: Pagans and Christians is another splendid source.“ Yes. It means those who reproduce themselves.
It only means the working class today”This is one of the problems that capitalism, following the introduction of more effective contraception, more and more members of the proletariat are less keen to reproduce themselves.
I don’t think this is due to any reluctance to have children, but rather the economic pressures that the profit motive that impacts on all sections of society.
Wages are likely to be set at the cheapest level which workers are prepared to accept. In previous periods those wages include the price of the generally inevitable cost of raising children. With choice about reproduction, the economic pressures will always favour the cheapest wages, i.e. the wages of workers who are reluctantly do without having children
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.