A Marxist Argumentative Scheme on Basic Income and Wage Share in an Anti-capitalist Agenda

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, we present an anti-capitalist argument for basic income based on its predicted effects on the wage share dynamics and its relation with the working class’ bargaining power. Our considerations are located in the Marxist tradition and based mainly on contributions to the Marxist analytical framework made by Rosa Luxemburg and Michał Kalecki. We argue that basic income should lead to a rise of the share of wages in the GDP, by significantly improving workers’ bargaining position in various ways: through increasing the effective demand and investments by redistributing income to the advantage of the poorer groups of the society; through guaranteeing the realisation of basic needs outside the labour market; through positive influence on the collective bargaining power, especially during a strike; and through enhancing engagement in alternative relations of production as well as in political struggle for a better situation of working people. We also distinguish some necessary conditions in a realistic historical scenario where the positive, anti-capitalist dynamic launched by basic income could be set into motion.