In the Context of a Strike, a Focus on the Extreme Pay of Executives is Legitimate

I have pointed out that leftists should not focus on individuals who are rich in the struggle against the power of the class of employers since it is not just individuals who are the class enemy but also the economic, political and social structures that sustain the wealth of employers. However, in the context of a strike, the level of so-called “pay” of executives constitutes a focus for contrasting the pay of regular workers, who are exploited and oppressed, and the so-called pay of excutives, whose pay reflects, not a wage, but the exploitation of regular workers.

Although the use of such executive pay is legitimate, Marxists should, in addition, indicate that such pay is only the tip of the icerberg–that profits of capitalist companies in general flow from the exploitaiton of regular workers and from the exploitation of regular workers in the particular industry in question.