Marx Alienated Labor PDF

Marx Alienated Labor Marx (1818-1883) Studied Law in Bonn and then Berlin was part of the “Left” Hegelian banned from professorship, became journalist “Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the goal is to change it” Emigrated to Paris in 1843, met Engels Welcomed an at...

Marx Alienated Labor Marx (1818-1883) Studied Law in Bonn and then Berlin was part of the “Left” Hegelian banned from professorship, became journalist “Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the goal is to change it” Emigrated to Paris in 1843, met Engels Welcomed an attempt to assassinate the King of Prussia Banned, moved to Brussels in 1845 Wrote the Communist Manifesto (pamphlet) 1848 Revolution of 1848… After the revolution, exiled to London Wrote his theoretical work (Capital) Lived and died in poverty “Alienated Labor” Analysis of “capitalism” or critique of “political economy” (fact of private property) Show the inner contradictions of capitalism that will lead to its collapse Positive vision of communist society is not developed Reading: Early manuscript analyzing one effect of capitalism: Alienation Capitalists = Private (exclusive) ownership of the means of production Workers = own only “labour power“ “By labour-power or capacity for labour is to be understood the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing in a human being, which he exercises whenever he produces a use-value of any description.” (Capital, vol. I, ch. 6) Wage-Labour = exchanging labour power for means of survival Capitalism, more concretely Accumulation + Equivalence Equivalence or commensurability of everything with everything Everything can be exchanged for everything Capital is something to be accumulated I invest money (in machines and labour power) so that I can extract more money → Surplus A commodity is anything that can be bought and sold on the market realized labour If you can compare amount of labour, then you can compare commodities and convert this measure into a “common expression,” e.g. gold or money Capitalism, more concretely What makes all labour commensurable? Labour is a commodity (bought, sold, exchanged) What is the value of labour-power? Whatever it takes to reproduce the labour-power expended Where does the surplus comes from? Labour-power is a commodity (has a value = WAGE) that produces commodities If these commodities have more value than the value of the labour-power it takes to produce them… SURPLUS! On the market Worker: C → $ → C (relation of exchange) Capitalist: $ → C → $+ (production of surplus) Labour versus Wage-Labour For Marx, labour is essential to humanity Leisure is a means to work, not the other way around! Labour = Externalization of your capacities External objects help us know who we are Also bind us to the human community Others use and enjoy my product = they recognize my value Only if → identify with the fruit of our labour, see it as ours Wage Labour → Alienation Alienation/estrangement = being foreign to oneself (1161) Seeing as alien or external something that should be essential to your own being Alienation I sell the essential part of me (labour power) in order to buy necessities of life (and luxuries) (1162) I don’t own myself when I work (I sell my power) My productive life (where I should express myself) is not my own. I am myself only in my leisurely life Reversal of relation Should be: I feed myself to be productive and creative But it is: I work, produce things, to feed myself Hence I don’t see the product of my labour as mine Not the result of free creation (1162) Alienation (cont.) I am disconnected from nature (1161) No direct access to my sustenance (buy it at grocery) No direct access to the resources I need to work (wood) I am disconnected from other human beings (1164) Relations mediated by commodities and by money Encounter each other as buyers or sellers, as consumers or producers I am disconnected from humanity (my species-life…)  Human being is a species-being (1163) has the ability to relate to “essences” not only individuals Individual life and Species-life An individual cat goes about satisfying its needs in a cat-like way. Individual life is one with species life. Its species-life connects it to its world (a cat-world) which is not a world of “essences” (this cat → this mouse) Productive life of human being is consciously a human, universal life, hence the product is a “universal” one Not memy chair but humanschairs as human things Alienation = Reversal of the relation Should be: I exist as individual to create universal expressions of humanity Now is: I express my essence to keep my individual life Human life at the service of individual life Recap Alienation from “My” productive activity (“my” labour power) My work “My” product Nature You cannot go out and hunt and pick plants wherever you want. You will be fined and imprisoned Other individual human beings Humanity / my species-being Question Is alienation a subjective feeling or an objective fact? Marx would say: You are in denial Alienation can be a subjective feeling, but for Marx it is an objective fact even if someone does not feel that way Note: Both owners and workers are alienated Owner enjoys the fruits of our labour, but products are not the expression of his life He may not even be aware of this Kind of sounds like Socrates hedonism; If you are not doing what is good for you, you are not happy, even though you may think you are happy Solution Root of the problem: Wage-Labour Private property is an effect of commodification, which is an effect of wage-labour (93) People can own whatever because the workers don’t own their labour and their product Property is defined by who can buy and not who can do Private property = exclusive relation (I can use x if I own x, I can own x only if you don’t) Give workers direct access to what they need Not more money, not more access to private property Common ownership of the means of production Different way of “owning” What would that look like? Co ops? Sharing in ownership and decision making Questions Is it the essence of human beings to create? If we aren’t creative are we failing to fulfill our essence? Was there ever a time where people lived in a way where they could be creative instead of working to survive? How could the workers have collective ownership of the means of production? What would this look like and how would it work?