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The '''Reserve army of labour''', also referred as the '''Industrial reserve army (IRA)''' is Karl Marx's term for the pool of unemployed and partly-employed workers in [[capitalism]]. The reserve army of labour serves as a pool of potential replacements for those workers who are currently employed, thus enabling the capitalists to maintain a high degree of [[exploitation]] of the employed workers by holding against them the threat of dismissal and replacement by someone from the reserve army. For this reason the capitalists, despite their occasionally professed concern about unemployment, are in fact not interested in abolishing the reserve army of labour -- ''i.e.,'' | The '''Reserve army of labour''', also referred as the '''Industrial reserve army (IRA)''' is Karl Marx's term for the pool of unemployed and partly-employed workers in [[capitalism]]. The reserve army of labour serves as a pool of potential replacements for those workers who are currently employed, thus enabling the capitalists to maintain a high degree of [[exploitation]] of the employed workers by holding against them the threat of dismissal and replacement by someone from the reserve army. For this reason the capitalists, despite their occasionally professed concern about unemployment, are in fact not interested in abolishing the reserve army of labour -- ''i.e.,'' in employing all of the available labour.<ref>Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1957. ''Political Economy,'' (Lawrence and Wishart) p. 168.</ref> | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
Revision as of 03:23, 22 September 2025
The Reserve army of labour, also referred as the Industrial reserve army (IRA) is Karl Marx's term for the pool of unemployed and partly-employed workers in capitalism. The reserve army of labour serves as a pool of potential replacements for those workers who are currently employed, thus enabling the capitalists to maintain a high degree of exploitation of the employed workers by holding against them the threat of dismissal and replacement by someone from the reserve army. For this reason the capitalists, despite their occasionally professed concern about unemployment, are in fact not interested in abolishing the reserve army of labour -- i.e., in employing all of the available labour.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1957. Political Economy, (Lawrence and Wishart) p. 168.