It is literally irrelevant in this case, it’s still an investment with an expected positive return for the capitalist and the workers are the ones who produce all the value, and yet are paid pennies. The capitalist just steals a large portion of their work from them, protected by the dictatorship of capital. Marx actually thought about risks taken by businesses while developing the labor theory of value, it is discussed in Capital.
The only capitalists risking anything are the petite bourgeois (because it’s usually not feasible for them to diversify sufficiently), and even then the worst that can happen to them is a bankruptcy, which means they will have to do real work like the rest of us.
I’m sure there are some decent small business owners who care about their workers somewhat. (if they really cared about their workers they would make their venture a co-op, but they actually care about profits more than they care about people).
But the fundamental problem with capitalism is that even such small businesses are less profitable, thus don’t have as much money to bribe politicians or use anticompetitive practices, and thus will eventually be outcompeted and replaced by a soulless exploitative corporation that only exists to increase shareholder value. This is literally the point of vol. 3 of Capital.
It is literally irrelevant in this case, it’s still an investment with an expected positive return for the capitalist and the workers are the ones who produce all the value, and yet are paid pennies. The capitalist just steals a large portion of their work from them, protected by the dictatorship of capital. Marx actually thought about risks taken by businesses while developing the labor theory of value, it is discussed in Capital.
The only capitalists risking anything are the petite bourgeois (because it’s usually not feasible for them to diversify sufficiently), and even then the worst that can happen to them is a bankruptcy, which means they will have to do real work like the rest of us.
The “only” risk is to lose everything you have when you believe in your company and try to save it - and the people working for you.
It is simply not such a black and white world where we only have poor workers and Apple, Amazon etc. on the other side.
I’m sure there are some decent small business owners who care about their workers somewhat. (if they really cared about their workers they would make their venture a co-op, but they actually care about profits more than they care about people).
But the fundamental problem with capitalism is that even such small businesses are less profitable, thus don’t have as much money to bribe politicians or use anticompetitive practices, and thus will eventually be outcompeted and replaced by a soulless exploitative corporation that only exists to increase shareholder value. This is literally the point of vol. 3 of Capital.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_bourgeoisie
They specifically referred to that middle ground between “poor workers and Apple, Amazon etc.”