Marxist writings have often spoken of “wage slaves.” That was not just a casual remark. It links the condition of the wage earner to that of the slave. Looking at wage earners’ freedom through the lens of Marx’s surplus theory exposes that freedom as illusory. In capitalism, most workers are trapped into being either a wage-earner producing surplus for an employer or else a wage-earner serving an employer and living off the distribution of some other productive worker’s surplus. Freedom requires changing the system because otherwise you are forever trapped in it.
