Oct 12, 2019, 8:12 PM
by Bill Joslin
Guilds acted as a counter balance to managerial classes.
A manager didn’t obtain trade or craft specific knowledge. When asking a craftsman “how long for this?” or “how much material for that?”,the manager stood at the mercy of the craftsman’s knowledge. The manager had no way of calculating if the craftsman lied or not.
In this relationship, the craftsman and guilds they belonged too, could use this barrier of knowledge to protect their own interests (or to abuse managerial ignorance)
the introduction of stop-watch managers allowed the managerial class to break down the craftsman skill into menial tasks any 200 pound gorilla could perform with minimal training or knowledge. (mechanization did this too)
this transferred productivity from skilled workers to unskilled workers and broke down the barrier of knowledge that counter balanced managerial incentives.
It also transferred productivity from the middle to the lower classes.
…and the result was a void in protecting worker interests.
marx then applies lower class preference for sour grapes to inter class negotiation… and underclass, left unable to protect their interests because they had nothing to trade (skill) in negotiation with their uppers, lapped it up.
The trade unions, armed with marxist sophistry, filled the gap which was left by the destruction of the guilds and traditional craftsman knowledge.