This is an interesting, if fairly, Marxist, view. I wonder though if there is much thought given to the restructuring and unification of the ruling classes which happened during the Reformation in much of Europe (where instead of a hodge-podge of independent cities, lords, royalty, and church men often both cooperating and at odds, one ended up with a supremacy developing in the hands of factory owners, coupled with a very sympathetic and now highly developed absolute monarchy). In other words, one thing that made Capitalism quite a bit worse than Feudalism (Marx being blind to this fact) was that power was far more consolidated in the former, and so the lower classes had fewer options in navigating the power relationships.
What is the alternative to this sort of inequality? I would argue that open source begins to show a way, insofar as effectively the worker as individual owns the means of production (owns, meaning here, "has the right to utilize or direct utilization of"). This sort of commons development has been shown successful in many other areas, including manufacturing (google "Emilia-Romagna Manufacturing").
It isn't Capitalism if everyone is a Capitalist (i.e. has the capital to start his or her own business).
'I would argue that open source begins to show a way, insofar as effectively the worker as individual owns the means of production (owns, meaning here, "has the right to utilize or direct utilization of").'
I would recommend reading up on the Cooperative movement, if you haven't.
'google "Emilia-Romagna Manufacturing"'
I did, but I'm not sure I'm getting relevant results. Could you expand on this?
Regarding manufacturing in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, it tends to be based on the same sorts of informal collectives that open source utilizes, but in heavy manufacturing with many small shops working together on specific projects to compete with large manufacturing firms.
The model is very successful there and it allows for large numbers of small businesses to take on big businesses by working cooperatively.
What is the alternative to this sort of inequality? I would argue that open source begins to show a way, insofar as effectively the worker as individual owns the means of production (owns, meaning here, "has the right to utilize or direct utilization of"). This sort of commons development has been shown successful in many other areas, including manufacturing (google "Emilia-Romagna Manufacturing").
It isn't Capitalism if everyone is a Capitalist (i.e. has the capital to start his or her own business).