09/15/2021
Karl Marx was one of the most influential, if not the most influential, minds of the communist movement. By meticulously studying philosophy, history, and collaboration with Friedrich Engels, Marx was able to give us a comprehensive analysis and critique of the capitalist mode of production. This was expressed in September 14, 1867 with the publishing of Capital: A Critique of Political Economy.
From this, many tools of analysis were conceived, which led to multiple theories within the context of Marxism—one of them being the Marxist theory of alienation.
As self-determining beings, we seek jobs with meaning and a worthwhile feeling of doing something for others. We seek work that allows a certain amount of freedom, which is hard to come by if you aren’t wealthy.
We are continuously coerced by the threat of starvation, homelessness, and overall deprivation to sell our labor power to capital. Once sold, our labor power is owned and controlled by our bosses. Therefore, part of our time, activity, and lives are owned by our bosses.
Bosses decide whether or not we get lunch or bathroom breaks, monitor our social media comments, and can even coerce us to work for free when the day is done. They do this without any input from us, the workers.
According to Marx, what characterizes humans is our capacity for consciously self-directed activity. Because labor under capitalism is unfree, it doesn’t belong to our essential being.
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