Labour voucher
Encyclopedia
Labour vouchers are a device proposed to govern demand
for goods in some models of socialism
, much as money
does under capitalism
.
hence they are not transmutable into Capital. Once a purchase is made the labour vouchers are either destroyed or must be re-earned through labour. Therefore, with such a system in place, monetary theft
would become impossible.
Such a system is proposed by many as a replacement for traditional money while retaining a system of remuneration for work done. It is also a way of ensuring that there is no way to 'make money out of money' as in a capitalist market economy
.
Additionally, the only kind of market
that could exist in an economy operating through the use of labour vouchers would be an artificial market
(arket) for mostly non-productive goods and services; as with the dissolution of money, capital markets could no longer exist and labour markets would also likely cease to exist with the abolishion of wage labor which would by necessity occur with the adoption of vouchers.
Author and activist Michael Albert
and economist Robin Hahnel
have proposed a similar system of remuneration in their economic system of participatory economics
(parecon). A difference is that in parecon "credits" are generally awarded based on both the time spent working and the amount of effort and sacrifice spent during labour, rather than simple contribution. Some later advocates of participism
and parecon have also proposed awarding more based on job difficulty or danger.
Also, in contrast to the physical note or cheque format used for labour vouchers in the past, parecon credits are proposed as being entirely digital in keeping with advances with technology and are stored in electronic accounts and usable through cards similar to current day debit cards.
and Robert Owen
. Two early attempts at implementing labour vouchers (called labour notes at the time by their proponents) were made by both following their experiences attempting to establish a utopian community at New Harmony, Indiana
, in which currency was prohibited.
In 1827, Josiah Warren
established the Cincinnati Time Store
where goods could be purchased with labor vouchers representing an agreement to perform labor. He folded the store in 1830 in order to devote his effort to establishing communities that implemented his principles of labor-based prices.
Beginning in 1832, Robert Owen
and his followers attempted to implement labor notes in London and Glascow by establishing marketplaces and banks that accepted them.
The followers of Robert Owen stood for a society of co-operative communities. Each community would own its own means of production
and each member of a community would work to produce what had been agreed was needed and in return would be issued with a labour voucher certifying for how many hours he or she had worked; a person could then use this labour voucher to obtain from the community's stock of consumer goods any product or products which had taken the same number of hours to produce.
Owen believed that this co-operative commonwealth could begin to be introduced under capitalism and in the first half of the 1830s some of his followers established "labour bazaars" on a similar principle: workers brought the products of their labour to the bazaar and received in exchange a labour voucher which entitled them to take from the bazaar any item or items which had taken the same time to produce, after taking into account the costs of the raw materials. These bazaars were ultimately failures but the idea of labour vouchers appeared in substantially similar forms in France in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
.
Although he disagreed with the manner in which they were implemented by Owen, they were later advocated by Karl Marx
in 1875 as a way of dealing with any immediate and temporary shortages upon the establishment of socialism. Marx explained that this would be necessary since socialism emerges from capitalism and would be "stamped with its birthmarks". In Marx's proposal, early socialist society would reward its citizens according to the amount of labour they contribute to society
.
Marx was adamant in saying that labour vouchers were not a form of money as they cannot circulate - a problem he pointed out with Owen's system of labour-time notes.
During the Great Depression
, European communities implemented local currencies with varying success. More modern implementations as time-based currencies
were implemented in the United States starting in the 1970s.
Inclusive Democracy
is unique in proposing two kinds of vouchers. Basic vouchers (BVs) issued to each citizen according to need; are used for essential goods and services such as health care. And non-basic vouchers (NBVs) awarded to each worker for labor contributed are used to pay for non-essential commercial goods and services.
, minarchist or anarcho-capitalist generally oppose labour vouchers as they are not money and thus claim an economy using them could not set prices according to marginal utility
and would theoretically have to rely on the labour theory of value which adherents of the subjective theory of value
generally see as inflexible and restricting economic freedom of choice for the consumer. Although some proposed systems which advocate labour vouchers (namely participism
) reject the labour theory of value.
The system has also been criticized by many libertarian socialists, particularly anarcho-communists; who propose abolishing all remuneration and prices and advocate instead a gift economy
with value determined by calculation in kind
. Peter Kropotkin, in criticizing anarcho-collectivism's
retaining of labour vouchers/cheques said, "for after having proclaimed the abolition of private property, and the possession in common of all means of production, how can they uphold the wages system in any form? It is, nevertheless, what [anarcho-]collectivists are doing when they recommend labour-cheques."
The World Socialist Movement
has argued against using labour vouchers either as a permanent or a temporary system while transitioning to their desired libertarian communist economy based on free access. They claim that seeing as most of the occupations that currently exist under capitalism will no longer exist, scarcity would no longer be an issue. They also state that,
Demand
- Economics :*Demand , the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it*Demand curve, a graphic representation of a demand schedule*Demand deposit, the money in checking accounts...
for goods in some models of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, much as money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
does under capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
Outline
Unlike money, vouchers cannot circulate and are not transferable between people. They are also not exchangeable for any means of productionMeans of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
hence they are not transmutable into Capital. Once a purchase is made the labour vouchers are either destroyed or must be re-earned through labour. Therefore, with such a system in place, monetary theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
would become impossible.
Such a system is proposed by many as a replacement for traditional money while retaining a system of remuneration for work done. It is also a way of ensuring that there is no way to 'make money out of money' as in a capitalist market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
.
Additionally, the only kind of market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
that could exist in an economy operating through the use of labour vouchers would be an artificial market
Artificial market
An artificial market or arket is an economic institution proposed mainly by libertarian socialists as a replacement for currently existing markets based on money and private ownership and control of an economy's means of production...
(arket) for mostly non-productive goods and services; as with the dissolution of money, capital markets could no longer exist and labour markets would also likely cease to exist with the abolishion of wage labor which would by necessity occur with the adoption of vouchers.
Author and activist Michael Albert
Michael Albert
Michael Albert is an American activist, economist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles...
and economist Robin Hahnel
Robin Hahnel
Robin Hahnel is a Professor of Economics at Portland State University. He is best known for his work on participatory economics with Z Magazine editor Michael Albert. He is currently a visiting professor at Lewis & Clark College....
have proposed a similar system of remuneration in their economic system of participatory economics
Participatory economics
Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system proposed primarily by activist and political theorist Michael Albert and radical economist Robin Hahnel, among others. It uses participatory decision making as an economic mechanism to guide the production, consumption and...
(parecon). A difference is that in parecon "credits" are generally awarded based on both the time spent working and the amount of effort and sacrifice spent during labour, rather than simple contribution. Some later advocates of participism
Participism
Participism is a libertarian socialist political philosophy consisting of two independently created economic and political systems: participatory economics or "parecon" and participatory politics or "parpolity"...
and parecon have also proposed awarding more based on job difficulty or danger.
Also, in contrast to the physical note or cheque format used for labour vouchers in the past, parecon credits are proposed as being entirely digital in keeping with advances with technology and are stored in electronic accounts and usable through cards similar to current day debit cards.
History
Labour vouchers were first proposed in the 1820s by Josiah WarrenJosiah Warren
Josiah Warren was an individualist anarchist, inventor, musician, and author in the United States. He is widely regarded as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical published, an enterprise...
and Robert Owen
Robert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
. Two early attempts at implementing labour vouchers (called labour notes at the time by their proponents) were made by both following their experiences attempting to establish a utopian community at New Harmony, Indiana
New Harmony, Indiana
New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, United States. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat. The population was 916 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. Many of the old Harmonist buildings still stand...
, in which currency was prohibited.
In 1827, Josiah Warren
Josiah Warren
Josiah Warren was an individualist anarchist, inventor, musician, and author in the United States. He is widely regarded as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical published, an enterprise...
established the Cincinnati Time Store
Cincinnati Time Store
The Cincinnati Time Store was a successful retail store that was created by American individualist anarchist Josiah Warren to test his theories that were based on his strict interpretation of the labor theory of value. The experimental store operated from May 18, 1827 until May 1830...
where goods could be purchased with labor vouchers representing an agreement to perform labor. He folded the store in 1830 in order to devote his effort to establishing communities that implemented his principles of labor-based prices.
Beginning in 1832, Robert Owen
Robert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
and his followers attempted to implement labor notes in London and Glascow by establishing marketplaces and banks that accepted them.
The followers of Robert Owen stood for a society of co-operative communities. Each community would own its own means of production
Means of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
and each member of a community would work to produce what had been agreed was needed and in return would be issued with a labour voucher certifying for how many hours he or she had worked; a person could then use this labour voucher to obtain from the community's stock of consumer goods any product or products which had taken the same number of hours to produce.
Owen believed that this co-operative commonwealth could begin to be introduced under capitalism and in the first half of the 1830s some of his followers established "labour bazaars" on a similar principle: workers brought the products of their labour to the bazaar and received in exchange a labour voucher which entitled them to take from the bazaar any item or items which had taken the same time to produce, after taking into account the costs of the raw materials. These bazaars were ultimately failures but the idea of labour vouchers appeared in substantially similar forms in France in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first person to call himself an "anarchist". He is considered among the most influential theorists and organisers of anarchism...
.
Although he disagreed with the manner in which they were implemented by Owen, they were later advocated by Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
in 1875 as a way of dealing with any immediate and temporary shortages upon the establishment of socialism. Marx explained that this would be necessary since socialism emerges from capitalism and would be "stamped with its birthmarks". In Marx's proposal, early socialist society would reward its citizens according to the amount of labour they contribute to society
To each according to his contribution
To each according to his contribution is considered by socialists and Marxist socialists as a characteristic of society directly following the transition to socialism, but preceding the final step to communism...
.
" . . . the individual producer receives back from society -- after the deductions have been made -- exactly what he gives to it. What he has given to it is his individual quantum of labor. For example, the social working day consists of the sum of the individual hours of work; the individual labor time of the individual producer is the part of the social working day contributed by him, his share in it. He receives a certificate from society that he has furnished such-and-such an amount of labor (after deducting his labor for the common funds); and with this certificate, he draws from the social stock of means of consumption as much as the same amount of labor cost. The same amount of labor which he has given to society in one form, he receives back in another."
--Critique of the Gotha Programme, 1875
Marx was adamant in saying that labour vouchers were not a form of money as they cannot circulate - a problem he pointed out with Owen's system of labour-time notes.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, European communities implemented local currencies with varying success. More modern implementations as time-based currencies
Time-based currency
In economics, a time-based currency is an alternative currency where the unit of exchange is the man-hour.Some time-based currencies value everyone’s contributions equally. One hour equals one service credit...
were implemented in the United States starting in the 1970s.
Systems that advocate labour vouchers
The following political and economic systems propose the adoption of labour vouchers (in some form or another) either permanently or as a temporary means of remuneration during a transitional stage between a monetary economy and a completely moneyless economy based on free association.- OwenismOwenismOwenism is the utopian socialist philosophy of 19th century social reformer Robert Owen and his followers and successors, who are known as Owenites....
- MutualismMutualismMutualism is the way two organisms of different species biologically interact in a relationship in which each individual derives a fitness benefit . Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation...
- Collectivist anarchismCollectivist anarchismCollectivist anarchism is a revolutionary doctrine that advocates the abolition of both the state and private ownership of the means of production...
- DeLeonism
- ParticipismParticipismParticipism is a libertarian socialist political philosophy consisting of two independently created economic and political systems: participatory economics or "parecon" and participatory politics or "parpolity"...
- Inclusive DemocracyInclusive DemocracyInclusive Democracy is a political theory and political project that aims for direct democracy, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and marketless economy, self-management and ecological democracy...
Inclusive Democracy
Inclusive Democracy
Inclusive Democracy is a political theory and political project that aims for direct democracy, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and marketless economy, self-management and ecological democracy...
is unique in proposing two kinds of vouchers. Basic vouchers (BVs) issued to each citizen according to need; are used for essential goods and services such as health care. And non-basic vouchers (NBVs) awarded to each worker for labor contributed are used to pay for non-essential commercial goods and services.
Criticism
Capitalists, whether statistState capitalism
The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
, minarchist or anarcho-capitalist generally oppose labour vouchers as they are not money and thus claim an economy using them could not set prices according to marginal utility
Marginal utility
In economics, the marginal utility of a good or service is the utility gained from an increase in the consumption of that good or service...
and would theoretically have to rely on the labour theory of value which adherents of the subjective theory of value
Subjective theory of value
The subjective theory of value is an economic theory of value that identifies worth as being based on the wants and needs of the members of a society, as opposed to value being inherent to an object....
generally see as inflexible and restricting economic freedom of choice for the consumer. Although some proposed systems which advocate labour vouchers (namely participism
Participism
Participism is a libertarian socialist political philosophy consisting of two independently created economic and political systems: participatory economics or "parecon" and participatory politics or "parpolity"...
) reject the labour theory of value.
The system has also been criticized by many libertarian socialists, particularly anarcho-communists; who propose abolishing all remuneration and prices and advocate instead a gift economy
Gift economy
In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
with value determined by calculation in kind
Calculation in kind
Calculation in kind is a type of accounting based on physical magnitudes and physical quantities rather than a common unit of accounting for economic calculation. Calculation in kind, or valueless calculation, is often described as the form of calculation that would supersede monetary calculation...
. Peter Kropotkin, in criticizing anarcho-collectivism's
Collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism is a revolutionary doctrine that advocates the abolition of both the state and private ownership of the means of production...
retaining of labour vouchers/cheques said, "for after having proclaimed the abolition of private property, and the possession in common of all means of production, how can they uphold the wages system in any form? It is, nevertheless, what [anarcho-]collectivists are doing when they recommend labour-cheques."
The World Socialist Movement
World Socialist Movement
The World Socialist Movement is an international organisation of affiliated socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain...
has argued against using labour vouchers either as a permanent or a temporary system while transitioning to their desired libertarian communist economy based on free access. They claim that seeing as most of the occupations that currently exist under capitalism will no longer exist, scarcity would no longer be an issue. They also state that,
Labour vouchers would tend to maintain the idea that our human worth is determined by how much or how many goods we can own (or produce). Labour vouchers imply that someone must police who takes the goods produced by society. In other words there must be people who spend their time ensuring that other people do not take things without paying for them. That is normal in a profit oriented society, but a waste of human labour in socialism.
See also
- Time-based currencyTime-based currencyIn economics, a time-based currency is an alternative currency where the unit of exchange is the man-hour.Some time-based currencies value everyone’s contributions equally. One hour equals one service credit...
- To each the full product of his labourTo each according to his contributionTo each according to his contribution is considered by socialists and Marxist socialists as a characteristic of society directly following the transition to socialism, but preceding the final step to communism...
- Local currencyLocal currencyIn economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government , and intended to trade only in a small area. As a tool of fiscal localism, local moneys can raise awareness of the state of the local economy, especially among those who may be unfamiliar or...
- Cincinnati Time StoreCincinnati Time StoreThe Cincinnati Time Store was a successful retail store that was created by American individualist anarchist Josiah Warren to test his theories that were based on his strict interpretation of the labor theory of value. The experimental store operated from May 18, 1827 until May 1830...
- Local Exchange Trading System, a labor/for/labor barter system, which may not include actual currency notes/script
- Ithaca HoursIthaca HoursThe Ithaca HOUR is a local currency used in Ithaca, New York and is the oldest and largest local currency system in the United States that is still operating. It has inspired other similar systems in Madison, Wisconsin; Corvallis, Oregon; and a proposed system in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania...
, a successful experiment with a community currency
External links
- Explanation and critique of labour vouchers by the World Socialist MovementWorld Socialist MovementThe World Socialist Movement is an international organisation of affiliated socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain...
- http://www.deleonism.org/text/dsdb107c.htm Marx's advocacy of labour vouchers.