竞争是商品经济的伴侣。在资本主义社会,到处充满了竞争。就劳动力的买卖而言,也不例外。具体说来,这种竞争包括三个方面的含义:其一,作为劳动力商品的所有者——工人,为了维持自己和家庭的生存,使自己不致于失业,不得不极力出卖自己的劳动力,因而他们之间存在着竞争;其二作为劳动力商品的买主——资本家,他们为购买到价廉而适用的劳动力也必然展开竞争,尤其是在其经济繁荣时期,这种竞争更为激烈;其三,劳动力的买主和卖主,即资本家和工人之间也会围绕劳动力的价格展开竞争。前者想要贱买,后者想要贵卖。“他们本身之间竞争的激烈程度完全取决于相对过剩人口的压力”(《马克思恩格斯全集》第23卷第702页)。总之,这种竞争的结果必然要给资本家带来更多的利益,使工人受更深的压迫。但另一方面,由于这种竞争,工人也会努力提高自己的劳动技能和熟练程度,从而使整个社会的劳动力商品质量得到普遍提高。这客观上又会促进社会劳动生产率的提高,推动社会生产力的向前发展。 Competition is the companion of the commodity economy. In a capitalist society, there is full competition. As far as the labor market is concerned, it is no exception. Specifically speaking, this kind of competition includes three meanings: First, as the owner of the labor goods, the workers, in order to maintain their own survival and their own family, so that they will not be unemployed and have to sell their labor force, thus There is competition between them; second, as the buyer of the labor goods, the capitalist, they must also compete for the purchase of a cheap and suitable labor force, especially in the period of their economic prosperity; and the third The buyers and sellers of labor, the capitalists and the workers, also compete around the price of labor. The former want to buy cheap, the latter want to sell expensive. “The intensity of the competition between themselves is entirely dependent on the pressure of a relative surplus population” (Complete Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 23, p. 702). In short, the result of such competition must inevitably bring more benefits to capitalists and make workers more oppressed. On the other hand, due to this competition, workers also strive to improve their labor skills and proficiency so that the general quality of labor goods in society as a whole is generally raised. This will objectively promote the improvement of social labor productivity and push forward the development of social productive forces.