Labor Pains

"Look, what does a capitalist do? Let me ask you that, Mike. Huh? Tell me. I mean, what does he make, besides money? I don't know what he makes. The workers do all the work, don't they? Well, what if they got organized?"
--John Reed (Reds)

Marx's (1867) framework of class conflict is motivated largely by his labor theory of value. Like nearly everything he wrote, this theory is refutable thru observation and reason. For example:

Marx: The value of a thing is determined by the amount of labor put into producting it.

Reality: Value is subjective and has no direct relationship to labor. Consumers place value on what is wanted. Toiling to create a product that no one will buy generates no value.

Marx: Capitalists appropriate all value that labor produces less subsistence-level wages to workers.

Reality: Wages come out of production. The more capital used in production, the greater the output of labor (i.e., the greater the productivity). Higher productivity improves standard of living. Wages to labor depends on consumer demand on what is being produced as well as the supply of workers who can do the work.

High worker supply suppresses wages even in strong product markets. Unless, of course, some group intervenes to prop wages above market rates.

Reference

Marx, K. 1867. Das kapital, Vol 1. Hamburg: O. Meissner.