Capitalism did not create child labor working
in fields or factories. It inherited it from the previous political systems.
Do children have rights?
As children are separate individuals, with their own capability to reason
(though they are incapable of using it fully), children have the same right to
life as any adult. However, the application of this right differs (I will
discuss these applications sometime in the future) as their ability to reason
is not as fully developed as an adults.
Do parents own their children like they own their car?
Parents do not own their children, but are merely their guardians. Guardians
are individuals who make decisions for the child -- in the child's
self-interest -- until the child is old enough to make decisions for himself. If
a parent gives birth to a child -- and claims to be its guardian -- then the
parent is responsible for taking care of the child, unless the parent turns
the child over to someone else (for adoption).
Are parents responsible for children?
A parent as a child's guardian is responsible for the child, until they
formerly revoke guardianship, and/or the child is considered an adult. A
parent that gives birth to a child, claims to be its guardian, and leaves the
child in a trash bin has attempted murder (and has committed murder if such a
reprehensible action results in the child's death).
Doesn't capitalism lead to child labor in factories?
No. Capitalism did not create child labor working
in fields or factories. It inherited it from the previous political systems.
Observe that in communist Cuba of today 11 year old children are forcibly
sent off to "summer camps" where they spend time working in fields
cutting sugar cane and tobacco -- this is called by leftists as
"volunteerism" and "education". Yet little mention is made
of this.
What halted child labor in factories?
Throughout history the parents of most families could not produce enough to
support their families without having their children work also. It was the
accumulation of capital by the industrialists that increased the productivity
of adults, so that children did not have to work in fields or factories. In
poor non-capitalist countries they are still working in fields and factories,
because the parents are not productive enough to support their children.
Historically, children working in factories (and
fields) was only a transitory stage between early feudalism and capitalism.
Prior to working in factories, before the Industrial Revolution, many children
(and their parents) used to die and starve, as evidenced by the high infant
mortality statistics before the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Observe
that is was not until families left the "country" and went into the
"cities" that they were able to produce enough food to eat. The
clearest evidence of this is population and infant mortality statistics:
population did not go up and infant mortality did not go down until the
Industrial Revolution.
If life was so great before capitalism in the
"country", why was infant mortality so high and population numbers
considerably lower before capitalism? Answer: because life was not so great
until the Industrial Revolution made its appearance.
Will labor laws banning child labor in non-capitalist countries put an
end to child poverty?
Contrary to leftist rhetoric passing child labor laws
in these countries will not solve the problem, but will only lead to mass
starvation -- which is why the "poor" themselves resist such laws. It
is primarily for the benefit of the rich, leftist
"humanitarians" -- that live in capitalist countries -- who cry out for
these laws, that these laws are implemented.
What is a proper solution?
The real solution is to make the parents productive enough so that they
can produce enough for themselves -- and for their children. What these poor
people in India and the like need, are not more humanitarians like Mother
Theresa, but more businessman like Bill Gates. What these countries
need is not more government controls, but more freedom.
Suggested Reading:
What is Capitalism? and Effects of The Industrial Revolution on Children and
Women in Ayn Rand's in Capitalism
: The Unknown Ideal.
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