Originally Posted by Unionist

Lassalle's Iron Law of Wages was discredited in both theory and practice a long time ago, as was its Malthusian basis. Even Marx, who sought to show the impoverishment of the proletariat, was opposed to Lassalle's theory.

Michels' Iron Law of Oligarchy has a bit more going for it in my opinion. Societies do naturally give rise to elites although these are not always as rigid as some might suppose. In Michels' theory, IIRC, organisation was the basis of elite power, but other elite theorists have come up with different explanations. In democratic societies you can also have a form of 'elite pluralism', which I think comes closest to where we are - not a monolithic elite controlling everything but a relative degree of pluralism and competing centres of power. We will never have a fully democratic and pluralist society but we can at least try to limit the power of governments and elites.