Trade Unions and Wage Theories: The Case of J. S. Mill and Marx

Abstract

The intensity of class struggle in England of 1860s began to transform trade unions from mutual aid association societies to crucial bargaining fac­tors. Two different political strategies, which in the theoretical level are reflected in the interventions of Marx and J. S. Mill, evolved inside the work­ing class movement. They both turn against the dominant analytical frame­work of the wage fund theory, according to which every working contest is finally proved contradictory to the working class own interests. Mill, modify­ing arguments that he had previously maintained, supported a reformist strategy, which in last resort did not dispute capitalist rule. Marx, on the con­trary, appeared polemic to a political project like that, stressing the ir-rec- onciled contradiction of long term class interests between capital and labour.