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The costs of production of labor consist of precisely the quantity of means of subsistence necessary to enable the worker to continue working, and to prevent the working class from dying out. The worker will therefore get no more for his labor than is necessary for this purpose; the price of labor, or the wage, will, in other words, be the lowest, the minimum, required for the maintenance of life.

— Friedrich Engels Principles of Communism (1847)

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More quotes by Friedrich Engels

The capitalists soon had everything in their hands and nothing remained to the workers.

Principles of Communism (1847)

Hegel was the first to state correctly the relation between freedom and necessity. To him, freedom is the insight into necessity.

Big industry, competition and generally the individualistic organization of production have become a fetter which it must and will shatter.

Principles of Communism (1847)

Abolish competition and replace it with association.

Principles of Communism (1847)

Freedom does not consist in any dreamt-of independence from natural laws, but in the knowledge of these laws, and in the possibility this gives of systematically making them work towards definite ends.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Friedrich Engels (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.