Work Play and School in Marxs Views On Education

Faculty of Education, University of Calgary
Work, Play and School in Marx's Views on Education

Author(s): Robin Small
Source: The Journal of Educational Thought (JET) / Revue de la Pense ducative, Vol. 16, No. 3
(December 1982), pp. 161-173
Published by: Faculty of Education, University of Calgary
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23768316
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The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16, No. 3, December 1982
161
Abstract
A prominent feature of Marx's programme for education is the combina
tion of schooling with work for the child. The reasons for his plan are both
theoretical and practical. Marx regards labour as essential to human
development; he rejects the claim of progressive education that 'play is the
work of the child'. On the practical side, Marx uses the factory school as
his model, not forseeing its replacement by full-time schooling.
Robin
Small*
Work,
The relation
but nowhere
orientation
between
in Marx's
School
Views
on Education
school
and work has been a recurring topic of debate in educational

theory,
standpoint. The choice is understandable,
given the general
to the problems
of education.
As a theory of human development,
it
more so than from Marx's

of this approach
the importance
emphasizes
and
Play
of labour
for reform in education,
programme
society for which
in the formation
of society
it directs its attention
and of the individual
towards
the needs
As a
person.
of the class
in modem
is the main task in life. In the writings of Marx himself we can find attempts
and work from both the theoretical and practical point of view. But
this is only the beginning:
in each case there are complexities
which rule out any simple assessment
of his claims. In the following discussion
I shall attempt to outline these complexities
and provide an
to present
of school
of the ideas which underly Marx's

in the life of the child.
analysis
a place
Six
labour
the theme
for child
arguments
"Juvenile
here is the resolution
Workingmen's
and Children's
Labour
(Both
that children
may be workers,
which
held
Association,
Marx
in Geneva
drafted
in 1866.
this resolution
Sexes)",
it Marx puts forward a plan for child labour

policy:
in which school
and work both find
labour
A text of importance
International
plan for an education
for the first Congress

Although
is also concerned
of the
its heading
reads
with schooling.
In
and education.
but workers
He begins by stating the assumption of his

for whom attendance
at a school will also be
compulsory.
We consider the tendency of modem industry to make children and juvenile persons of both sexes co-operate
in the great work of social production, as a progressive, sound legitimate tendency, although under capital it
was distorted into an abomination. In a rational state of society every child whatever, from the age of 9 years,
ought to become a productive labourer in the same way that no able-bodied adult person ought to be exempted
from the general law of nature, viz.: to work in order to be able to eat, and work not only with the brain but
with the hands too.1
This passage
with school.
provides
a good
To do that however
least six of these can be identified

cited,
we can
(1)
Faculty
for assessing
we must take into account

in his various
Marx's
programme
his reasons
writings on the subject.
for combining
for favouring
work
this policy.
At
Starting with the passage
just
ought to work in order to eat, the same
rule
identify:
A moral
must apply
starting-point
argument:
Marx
to children.
He calls
of Education,
Monash
argues
that if adults
this "the general
University,
law of nature".
Victoria,
Obviously
the statement
Australia.
is not a
162
'law
of nature'
Marx
it is after all a familiar fact that in most

by physical science;
who
not
consume
but
do
people
produce. Rather it is a moral principle which
of nature' because
he takes it to have a universal validity, and perhaps also because
of the kind described
there are some
societies
a 'law
calls
he takes it to be somehow
which
principle
'self-evident'.2
said
to his ability,
according
or more
rights,
those
Marx
to each
should
also
seems
to his needs!".3
of justice.
It goes
in production;
engage
both the nature and the extent of this contribution.

simply
to correspond
individual
to the needs,
is used
ability
that talents
presumably
is still one
principle
abilities
and duties.
(2)
An economic
Marx
labour,
industry and hence
large-scale
part only of modern

within the home,
of the family.
because
society;
where
Production
its operation
the traditional
tasks
Child
labour
which
call
nor
of
concept
individuals.
Yet
is
relation
the
between
of child
with the existence
is not of course
claimed
of women
various
of
to be a
and children
tasks in the livelihood
the elimination
implies
for no particular
about
assumption
call for the abolition
is incompatible
by age and sex allocated

however,
by machinery,
involves
wish".4
The
of the same
programme's
labour
and
that all
for everyone,
The
person.
family had relied upon the labour
of labour
statement
individual.
between
widely
the applicability
of child
pious
each
upon
each
duties
is said by the formulation
of each
or less
the Gotha
prohibition
an empty,
a division
placed
From
about
further than the simple

something
vary more
Rebutting
this theme and the
on its banner;
This too is a statement
in consumption,
in that it asserts
"A general
link between
"inscribe
It is not to be simply the same
the demands
and preferences
argument.
writes:
as shown
to determine
of equality,
to be a close
of the future would
according
a principle
generally,
who consume
There
the society
of such
skill or strength.
distinctions,
In the factory
women
and children could perform the same unskilled
work as men. The
therefore,
system,
was that the individual
economic
consequence
wage could be reduced below the level necessary to
could proceed all the faster. In
support a whole family, and the process of capitalist accumulation
just cited Marx does not specify that capitalist industry alone requires child labour
passage
however does he deny it. Marx does hold that in a socialist society children will engage in work;
it is not clear that the reasons for this will include an economic
In such a society
justification.
based
the moral
laws of wage-labour
upon the economic
argument for child labour is closely bound
economic
argument
argument
(3)
An
is instead
educational
a claim
which
which
argument,
would
up with the idea
assumes
no basic
is best presented
have no relevance.
presumably
change
the
nor
but
an
So if
of a classless
in the mode
in a frequently
society, the
of production.
quoted
passage
from
Capital:
As we can learn in detail from the study of the life work of Robert Owen, the germs of education of the future
are to be found in the factory system. This will be an education which, in the case of every child over a certain
age, will combine productive labour with instruction and physical culture, not only as a means for increasing
social production,
In this appeal
expresses
but as the only way of producing fully developed
to a traditional
ideal
one of his most central themes,
from his early writings

as well
the humanist
the guiding
to his most mature works.
as its final outcome,
if indeed
model
human beings.5
of all-round
thread in his criticisms
It provides
there is any such
a model
end
development
of the division
for the process
state.
Marx
of labour
of development
The
is whether the
question
of the different aspects of personality can proceed in harmony, or whether one or more
development
sides will be held back by circumstances.
The task of education
is determined by this continuing
hence its need to take in the whole
process
range of activities which contribute to personal
development.
Marx
activity
also
modifies
of labour,
subordination
the traditional
regarded
of human
humanist
with deep
purpose
ideal
suspicion
to the necessity
in another
way:
by classical
of nature.
The
by widening
thinkers
because
rehabilitation
it to take in the
of its apparent
of the concept
of
labour
and its introduction
writers and in particular
into a programme
by earlier
socialists
for education
163
had already
been
At the same
time, Marx
such as Fourier.
by other
attempted
had from his
earliest
period as a writer shown an attraction to the idea of human 'self-creation'

by means of
It is not surprising that he should go on to present labour as an element of education,
amongst
other reasons
as a plausible
corollary to the use of humanist ideas in a socialist programme.
labour.
(4)
An argument
about
production.
true secret of producing

period
efficient
of childhood".6
motion
production
by machinery
an efficient
machine"8
labour
Marx
the concept
transition
plays
(5)
by machine
of 'training',
These
A political
the demand
labour
argument,
to the uniform and
a technical
of
requirement
by its use in a capitalist
system.
which need to be carried out in
with which
can learn to work at a

young people
In this way child labour produces the kind of
It is true that Marx often lays emphasis on the lack of
this is less an inconsistency
Perhaps
Skill
to machinery;
for the abolition
from a
has to be trained
in childhood.
production.
of labour
determined
to a few basic operations
of traditional
than an ambiguity
in
is systematically
eliminated
in the
habits of attention and discipline
become far
yet certain
are more like character
a part in the supply
to be describing
requirement
production.
however.
from handicrafts
and labour
who has to work at a machine,
he seems
of "the quickness
in industrial
more important.
is to be found in uniting education
Here
are best acquired
required
power
reduces
Because
way.
for particular kinds of

"I am quite sure that the
so that he can learn to adapt his own movements
and not a social
argues,
these habits
training involved
approval
workpeople
of an automaton".7
continuous
required
the statement of an employer:
As Marx himself puts it, "One
to it from early youth upwards,
All machinery,
that is, training in the abilities
training
Marx cites with apparent
kinds
traits than skills, but in both cases
a form of training
power.
found in Marx's
'Critique
of child
as "an empty,
labour
of the Gotha
pious
After describing
Programme'.
wish",
Marx
on:
goes
Its realisation if it were possible would be reactionary, since, with a strict regulation of the working
time according to the different age groups and other safety measures for the protection of children, an early
combination of productive labour with education is one of the most potent means for the transformation of
present-day society.9
Why does
scope
Marx
make
of the school
'the value
Marx
of labour',
in the everyday
Perhaps
In commenting
said:
"it was a kind of education
Marx
of social
in the classroom.
not by instruction
transformation
of society.
contribution
on the limited
of instruction
in
that the young must get from the adults
Marx
only by the experiencing

It will
to the growth
be this kind
is not at all against
only in order to locate
it from the school
for the inclusion
It is plausible
to read this remark as a reference to the experience
here of something
like class consciousness,
is speaking
or at least an
relations and their significance.
But if this consciousness
is nothing but an
of real life, it can be acquired
expression
it is the other side of his insistence

on a suggestion
of life".10
struggle
of the workplace.
understanding
this assertion?
curriculum.
political
it where
of an organized
and
of class relations
of education
education.
it can take place

conscious
at first hand, and
that in tum leads
On the contrary,
in a more effective
class,
working
to the
he removes
way,
as a
of social
the agent
revolution.
(6)
A tactical
operation,
possible
theory:
argument:
and has proved

to call upon
existing
"Communism
the claim
that the combination
itself to be a success.
tendencies
general
going
Again:
terms, actual
"The
relations
theoretical
springing
on under our very eyes".12
point is that Marx
rather than set up new policies
is for us not a state of affairs which
reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism

state of things".
of work and education
The underlying
conclusions
the real movement

class
a communist
struggle,
based
. . . merely
from a historical
programme
only upon
an ideal
which abolishes
of the communists
from an existing
For this reason
or plans
is to be established,
in
is already
wants wherever
for education
to which
the present
express,
in
movement
could
not
The Journal of Educational Thought. Vol. 16. No. 3, December 1982
164
of the future' were already present in the education

exist unless 'the germs of the education
of the
is to identify which of the existing tendencies
is the key to the
present. The task of the revolutionary
future. As we shall see, Marx believed the introduction of a combination
of work and school to be a
reform
which
also
six main
Marx's
the possibility
implied
for the combination
arguments
so one can hardly give a single
kinds;
his arguments
have little relevance
cal and moral arguments,

For this reason
new
to the society
as one might expect,
of education.
system
assessment
general
they are worth exploring
of the reasoning
of the twentieth century.
whose
in more
are of widely
behind
different
the idea.
Some
of
It is the more philosophi
force is least affected by social
developments.
detail.
alternative
The progressive
ideas
Marx's
of a wholly
can be understood
on work and education

from which
other standpoints
the same
theme
has been
more clearly
if we look into his relation
treated.
first of these
The
I shall
to
call the
Marx refers to this approach

in a brief but important passage
in
tradition in education.
progressive
for educational
reform put forward by a pioneer of English
He discusses
one scheme
Capital.
socialist
"As early as the end of the seventeenth
thought:
in the history of political
economy)
and the present
education
Industry of all Useful
mode
clearly realised
(a phenomenal
figure
for abolishing
the present system of

of
proposal for a 'College
. . ,"13 Bellers'
had been discovered
and republished
by Robert Owen,
What impressed Marx in reading Bellers'

of his own experiments.
on the educational
value of work for children. He cited a number of
it as a forerunner
who recognised
was his emphasis

pamphlet
remarks on the point: "An idle learning
to the lamp of life, when
minds silly". Marx recalls
children's
adds
of labour
of the division
and Husbandry'
Trades
century, John Bellers
the necessity
oil
and their modern
little better than the learning
being
inflames
thinking
it ...
A childish
this last remark "a foreshadowing
. . . Labour
of idleness
silly employ
leaves
the
the Basedows
protest against
imitators".14
This rather cryptic comment

which
a most important point. It refers to a tradition in education

expresses
but an
activity which is play rather than work as Marx
learning through activity
it. One classic
of
this theme is the most influential of modem works on
expression
advocates
understands
Rousseau's
education:
the same
ideas
Rousseau's
Dessau
from
to 1793.15
of adults,
of language
teaching
Basedow's
through
innovations
the philosopher
used
Kant
contemporary
'natural'
incorporated
phenomenon.
a movement
based
tendency
campaign
of picture
thought,
The
crafts. Tradi
books
and
the
Philanthropinum
widespread.
and financial
of education
gave a wide circulation
in
the
tongue.
the original
system
of the child.
on children
and simple
on the mother
soon became
of a national
of the needs
of educational
of the twentieth
by the use
for moral
figure of
first translated
which operated
to impose
as the text for his lectures
in Switzerland
on a recognition
into the mainstream
who
style of life for the child.
exercise
Although
which
Methodenbuch
of Pestalozzi
games,
method
with an emphasis
conversation,
Basedow's
in refusing
and 'natural'
through
in the Philanthropin's
influential in the establishment
experiments
education
progressive
learning
is to an educational
Basedow
the Philanthropinum,
school,
in Basedow's
it began
allusion
It was
Rousseau
to a simple
sponsor
were
supporters
followed
instead
Marx's
(1724-1790).
were not an isolated
success,
as a local
active
modified
met with only partial

acted
Basedow
keeping
too was
in 1762.
Basedow
by setting up a model
emphasised
programme
instruction
tional
first published
Bernhard
into practice
1774
dress and manners

school
Emile,
Johann
period:
In Knigsberg
on pedagogy,
support.16
in Prussia.
and
Other
The
to similar ideas for a
Many of these themes were later
and can
readily
be recognized
century.
in the
The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16. No. 3, December 1982
one may wonder,
Why,
only in a general
unclear.
The answer
separate
and incompatible
idea
was Marx
so hostile
way, offering a summary

seems
165
to this whole
He refers to it
approach to education?
which leaves the reasons for such a judgement
upon a sharp distinction between work and play as
dismissal
to lie in his insistence
While learning through work is a central part of Marx's

is
not in fact it seems not to exist for him. His 1866
learning through play
calls for gymnastics
in the school programme,
on education
but only as a form of 'bodily
and
alongside
military training. In Capital Marx again refers to the introduction of
human
activities.
of education,
resolution
education'
drill
military
movement
Silver
into the school,
coming
out:
points
Drilled
to instil discipline
and to 'build
In the same
we cannot
place
during
and social
intentions
way,
mention
this rationale,
But as Harold
writing.
inclined
it or not, endorsing
whose
. . .
precise
to mischief
system of education
a policy
an educational
of drill were
and
as "only
calcu
similar
something
could only be
purpose
of bodily
organized
exercise
as a recognition
sport, gynmastic
In the Soviet
Union,
for example,
physical
of the
and military
training
to it. The later history of education
of work, not an alternative
in socialist
societies
education
has been
two important functions: as a preparation for work and military service, and as a
and strength of character.20 More recently, sport has been used as an
as having
regarded
whether he realised
too was
was
of the advocacy
and less
punctual',
identify Marx's
to bear out this conclusion.
tends
This
Marx
character'.
Under
in education.
drill is a corollary
in which
of military training in the school,
the introduction
of play
with approval.17
the period
Marx was,
soldiers",19
good
in approving
for boys,
and
obedient,
'prompt,
his condemnation
of the Prussian
Despite
insubordination".18
lated to make
cultural
"The
were
boys
at least
into prominence
moral training in responsibility

for enhancing
instrument
ably trace all these

rules
out such
national
prestige
back
developments
international
through
to Marx,
but nothing
One cannot reason

competition.
in his remarks on physical education
interpretations.
idea of the relative importance

of work and play in human
One way to bring out Marx's
which is in some ways its polar opposite.
Here one might
is to look at the approach
development
: "Man only plays when he
recall the famous remark of Schiller in his treatise on 'aesthetic education'
is in the fullest
would
a human
reject
of human
in any account
materialism
and he is only fully a human
being,
this claim:
life. The
but why?
connection
One
answer
disinterested
satisfaction,
it is directed
towards
imply that an object
in which
of it should
of it, it is not an aesthetic
account
represent
semblance,
reality
Schiller
for Marx
kind which
nor
needs
this category
knowledge
is to be attained.
insistence
on the importance
knowledge.
Marx
life: the emphasis

not amount
seems
seems
by it".
His theory of ideology

of objective
to make
activity
of aesthetic
The
worth
of reality; all that is

as it does take
which neither seeks to
of such
is based
and
'pure'
he refers to semblance
one that needs
'honest'
it is usually
to be overcome
for other human
for example,
implies
quite different from Schiller's.
to the
if genuine
But the
on this notion of appearance.
activities
with reality a part of any worthwhile
in his early writings,
experience
not, of course,
to reality.
reality has implications
the confrontation
For that reason
does
must be devoid
is the "semblance
of its relation
a misleading
"This
explains:
this to be a
he claims
of that reality; for inasmuch
Its concern
to be lackingwhen
of reality,
on 'objective'
to) an account
represented
is independent
maintains,
semblance
take no account
judgement".22
to be
is a representation
aesthetic
Schiller
to Schiller,
According
or consume.
of a desire to possess
rather than reality.
we discover
is that our judgement
required
Now
rather than the outcome
semblance
he
towards
but one feature of
may not be evident,
of play brings it out: the link between play and semblance.

is an activity which aims at aesthetic
Kant,
satisfaction;
following
when
being
lies in his bias
notion
Schiller's
play
Marx
Clearly
plays".21
of the word
sense
than
aspect
(though
of
it does
Art on this view is
166
in an objective
of human personality
form, and its value lies in the fact that it
of human powers which imagination
by itself cannot. Thus play understood
provides a confirmation
for its own sake cannot be regarded by Marx as having the importance
as a concern with semblance
an embodiment
of objective
hence
activity.
his polemical
Marx's
writes:
an escape
of play
as 'mere
He singles
labour".23
his idealism,
does
to terms with reality:
up with his notion of human nature. He

history of the world is nothing but the creation of
is bound
the socialist
man through human

despite
from the real task of coming

amusement'.
of labour
on the importance
man the entire so-called
insistence
"For
It may be instead
rejection
out for special praise the contribution made by Hegel who

the importance
of labour in the development
of human
acknowledge
Here Marx possibly has in mind Hegel's

account of the relation between master and
personality.24
of Spirit. The master claims independence
from the world of things by
slave in The Phenomenology
being
to risk his life in the struggle for power; unable to do this, the slave remains dependent
confronts reality on behalf of the master. It may seem that this puts the master in a
willing
and therefore
of advantage.
position
of liberation.
But Hegel
The activity of labour

. . . The
which
satisfaction
and
serves
within itself the beginning

of reality, he can work on it.
into something
that is permanent
attains
accordingly
a place
to be objective,
visible
Marx
here is not a 'disinterested'
describes
for education
consequence
imitators'
toils
contains
the independence
by this
and remains
means
the direct
is that Marx's
for play in the development

uses
(he
to the senses
and hence a power
picture of a
and therefore
one,
of
pleasure
all doubt".26
beyond
cannot
be
but only in objective reality. So the activity which brings it about must also be an
that is, it must be a form of labour.
found in semblance
one
'objective'
The
that
my personality
ledging
that bondage
overcome
of that independent
being as its self'.25 The same idea appears in Marx's
mode of labour: "When looking at the object I would have the individual
apprehension
truly human
The
cannot
into the form of object,
"passes
consciousness
knowing
goes on to explain
the slave
Although
the derogatory
concern
with reality prevents
of personality.
word
The dismissal
this judgement.
) expresses
Nachstmper
him from acknow
of 'the Basedows
and their
Marx
cannot
the progressive
idea that 'play is the work of the child'. As far as he is concerned,
work is the
work of the child. At least, this is the conclusion
that follows from the distinction between work and
accept
so far. The picture however alters somewhat

if we use another comparison,
this
play as discussed
time with an attitude which does not want to replace work with play in the life in the child, but rather
wants to transform work into something
a more
is really
The
theme of combining
the educational
public
one.
schemes
education.
The
development
anticipate
too readily
and Engels
and contain
Fourier's
production
like play.
throws
Here Marx's
at first simply negative,
judgement,
further light on his general
what
idea
of work and education.
struggle.
were
concept
plans
of 'harmonious
The problem
as
remarks
for education,
education'
of human
to an early
of existing
In The German
This
as the aim of new plans
writers, however,
as criticisms
concerning
life. His Utopia
it appears
belonging
of its overthrow.
observations".27
masterly
Fourier's
them
their value
Despite
say that "Fourier's
in the writings of the early socialists.
and Fourier
verdict on the Utopian
treats
the achievement
some
like Owen
Marxian
Manifesto
with those of human
and manufacture.
with work is common
learning
of thinkers
usual
of class
Marx
So
The
Communist
kind
praise.
one which
alternative
Utopian
The
subtle
education
is praise
and how
in the historical
society,
it argues,
they
on the other hand,
. . . are by far the best of their

of a rather relative
similar
sort; but still
were they to Marx's
is designed
to reconcile
is a modern
one: its mode
fragmentation
is a rather negative
stage
Ideology,
In
for
the demands
of production
ideas?
of industrial
is industry
that arises out of this way of life is one that
Fourier
recognizes
involves
and attempts to solve. He demands an education

which is 'compound',
in that it
and body, instead of leaving one or the other out completely
as conventional
It is also 'integral',
in that the development
of mind and body proceeds not just in
both mind
education
does.
one direction
but in a many-sided
the child
endowing
The first demand
elaborate
a noise,
activities".29
changing
or 'tribes',
in the work of the 'tribe of Imps',

them according
of Imps
group
to age.
designated
Fourier
which
includes
particular
will
that the basic
to their desires
to
and
running around,
are organised
to 'industrial
of the very
into various
attraction'
in the kitchen by shelling
task within this operation
Fourier
insignia.
in helping
argues
appeal
sets out a scheme
of Harmony
the child is introduced
which
Each
by various
Fourier
things, exploring,
The children
At two yean,
to size.
"It will not limit itself to

thirty vocations
those which
On the basis of this analysis,
groups
and sorting
the child to labour.
in particular
for handling
of his writing.
joining
according
about
degrees.".28
or "the penchant
kind so characteristic
writes:
it will develop
is to introduce
fit them well for certain jobs,
or to make
constantly
in diverse
Fourier
way.
instead
vocation;
of this education
of children
imitate,
and harmonious
with a single
and dominant
be graduated
drives
167
is carried
by
peas
out by a
says:
The enticement which is offered to children of various ages in all the workshops can only give the Imp of 24
months the illusion that he is working. It flatters his self-esteem. It persuades him that he has accomplished
something and that he is almost the equal of the lower Imps of 26 or 28 months who are already members of
this group, bedecked with plumes and ornaments which inspire profound respect in the beginning Imp.30
The
mixture
of good
the future gives
on existing
proposals
The source
fancy.
sense
them
and extravagant
a certain
contribution
"Labour
charm.
Marx,
of the education
descriptions
restricted
by the decision
of
to base
his
is suspicious
of ideas which belong to the realm of imagination
and
attack on Fourier, however, lies in a difference over the concept of
conditions,
of his sharpest
work itself. He writes:
fantasy in Fourier's
undeniable
cannot
become
play, as Fourier
would
like, although
it remains
his
the suspension
not of distribution,
but of the mode of
expressed
Marx is in sympathy with Fourier's
itself, in a higher form, as the ultimate object".31
production
of social life at the level of production and not merely by looking
attempt to seek the transformation
for new forms of exchangethe
he
relatively superficial strategy of such writers as Proudhonyet
great
that Fourier's
assimilation
concept of 'attractive work' (travail attractif) is an unacceptable
real solution is more complex.
It involves
the 'suspension'
(Marx uses the
of a higher form of
term Aufhebung
) of labour in its existing form and the achievement
considers
of work
to play.
Hegelian
labour in which
Marx's
labour
to have
The
the opposition
that such
an idea
and play
to this problem
has two aspects.
a loss of freedom
and autonomy,
approach
is 'a curse',
of work
is expressed
in the writings
is somehow
overcome.
On the one hand, he rejects the assumption

lies only in leisure.
and that happiness
of Adam
Smith,
Marx
that
Claiming
replies:
Certainly, labour obtains its measure from the outside, through the aim to be attained and the obstacles to be
overcome in attaining it. But Smith has no inkling whatever that this overcoming of obstacles is in itself a
and that, further, the external aims become
stripped of the semblance of merely external
liberating activity
natural urgencies, and become posited as aims which the individual himself posits hence as self
realization.
. . .32
It is true that alienated

explain
in the same
becomes
attractive
labour
passage,
the individual's
work,
mere fun, mere amusement,

e.g.
composing,
Later
holds
Marx
as Fourier,
is at the same
adds:
"Adam
for the individual.
is indeed
a loss
self-realization,
with griseffe-like
time the most damned
Smith considers
But it is something
labour
else,
and freedom,
of independence
not be the case.
but this need
Under
conceives
seriousness,
psychologically,
too, in addition
Marx
goes
conditions,
in no way means
which
naivet,
favourable
on to
"labour
that it becomes
it. Really
the most intense
free working,
exertion".
as to the fun or displeasure
to this emotional
relation
it
with his
168
. . . It is a positive, creative activity".33 Marx wants to restate the terms of the argument, so
that it will raise not simply questions about subjective
but also the
feelings of pleasure or displeasure,
more important issue of 'self-realization'.
This is the real point about the 'damned
seriousness'
of
activity
If our attention
free labour.
one
that Marx
even
Now
experience.
sign that the process
can become
a form of labour
which
as 'free labour'
composing
is
is genuinely
composition
that it is not
in a system
especially
in the capitalist
that it is
suggests
is to assume
be the case,
workers'
'productive
it is present
because
condition,
in his description
That might sometimes
sense.
But Marx
is
'free'.
this activity 'labour',

and what makes it 'free'
of labour is that in it we somehow
encounter
sufficient
in the
engaged
might take the effort and
I take it he has in mind not just musical
to describe
artists and poets
considering
feature
of the individual
reality to be one
the note of conviction
production
in order to earn a living.
primarily
makes
with an independent
is a useful one.
gives
literary or scientific
on personal
where
mood
But a further consideration
of self-realization.
The example
but also
done
on the immediate
merely
in confrontation
involved
struggle
indeed
based
were
we might take that to be an objection.
activity,
The two main questions are therefore: what

labour? Let us take these order. One necessary
the resistance
of a real world.
forms of play
in many
is not a
This
most obviously
in those that
it seems. However
involve competition,
and in others as well. But it is a necessary condition,
the
one in the usual sense: where composing
is concerned,
it is clearly
reality need not be an 'external'
the limitations
Marx
makes
of our own
mental
and physical
another point as well: that labour
to be attained
and the obstacles
with the importance
constitution
that call for effort and determination.
its measure
"obtains
from the outside,
through the aim
to be overcome
in attaining it". Here the concept of labour is linked

the activity itself. We need not
the aim which is 'outside'
of the outcome
assume
that this has to be an object of some kind, though in the case of composing
it will be. The
of an actor or singer is work when its standard is important and presumably
in such a
performance
case appeal would be made to whatever criteria of assessment
would be appropriate.
Where there are
'mere amusement'.
no such criteria, singing is to recall Marx's
expression
We
can
now
turn to the notion

Labour
'self-activity'.
this Marx
saying
and if possible
is 'free'
is attempting
to show
too are to reconciled
of 'free labour',
when
that the two do not exclude
apart from himself,
activities,
the purpose
to which
important:
it represents
the element
subordination
character
What
to a purpose
of the activity
Marx
counts
in labour.
he realises
he has
which
child.
play.
forced,
Even
is chosen
against
Fourier
Marx
Although
changing
however,
but it cannot
by the individual,
In
aims,
and necessity
happens
is, not
at the same time, in the nature

which
will".34
the law to his
gives
That
subordination
in all labour
it is consistent
believes
to "the penchant
These
as we have
become
Fourier
though,
to recognise
that 'free labour'
agrees
activities".
for the adult person,
For Marx
of freedom
of
To be free is to posit one's
the purpose
is present
idea
posits".
and 'internal'
As Marx puts it, "What
his own
which
is his failure
play.
activity by appealing
and constantly
to subordinate
himself
but when
is
it is
with the voluntary
as a whole.
he insists that it can never become

an 'attractive'
work'.
of form in natural objects;

his own purpose,
with Marx's
'external'
ohter. The ideas
or 'attractive
of necessity
linked
the individual
between
them through acting upon the world.
that exists
is closely
which
each
of 'free labour'
that the worker brings abut a change
merely
which
are "aims
the distinction
to reconsider
in the notion
own aims and to realise
element
its aims
comes
that children
for handling
are just the impulses

Fourier
seen,
wants
the continuing
to resemble
play in some
can be introduced
things, exploring,
already
a transformation
this is an illusion.
Work
presence
observed
respect,
to labour
as
running around,
in the play of the
of work along
can become
of this
the lines of
free rather than
play.
169
One may wonder whether Marx believes

'free labour' to be possible for the child. He does use the
in describing
the enlistment of children in the factory system: "Forced
labour for the
expression
usurped the place, not only of the children's

play, but also of free labour in the domestic
on for the family itself, and within moderate limits".35 But in this traditional form of
capitalist
carried
circle,
the livelihood
of the family is the aim of all its members, including the child. They do not
production
in the sense used in our earlier discussion
work as 'individuals'
of free labour. In such a context, the
idea of individual
'self-activity'
the family
as a whole.
inevitably
different,
The
free labour
The regulation
We
of child
seen
have
education
begins
qualification
and even a necessary
as more
rationale
to consider
with a broad
certain age should
seems
in modem
Possibly
It may be a preparation
part of development
is
society
to be appropriate.
towards
for
this goal,
than that.
labour
the general
It remains
education.
of free labour refers (if at all) only to

for child labour
is not to be seen as 'free labour'.
function,
not be represented
in a programme
a similar
in education
in its educational
but it should
implied
but for the child
therefore the work included
and the concept
hardly applies,
situation
of Marx's
his ideas
statement
of intention:
work as well as attend school.
of such a policy.
in a 'rational
The passage
this policy:
for the combination
programme
on the practice
The
state of society',
that follows
of work
and
1866 resolution
on
every child of a
both qualifies
and defines
However, for the present, we have only to deal with the children and young persons of both sexes belonging
to the working people. They ought to be divided into three classes, to be treated differently; the firstclass to
range from 9 to 12; the second, from 13 to 15 years; and the third, to comprise the ages of 16 and 17 years. We
propose that the employment of the first class in any workshop or housework be legally restricted to two; that
of the second, to four; and that of the third, to six hours. For the third class, there must be a break of at least
one hour for meals or relaxation.36
In going
into detail of this kind, Marx
labour
on child
in Britain.
one of his regular
earlier,
when
reports
of the British
system
of child
Factory
labour
had
the devices
mentioned
the ages
between
was working
He had looked
used
contributions
to the New
become
of 8 to 13 should
legislation
of the Factory Acts eight years

York Daily Tribune discussed
the 1858
well-established.
by manufacturers
in mind: the existing
clauses
By this time the 1844
Inspectors.
already
with a model
into the education
laid down
In describing
the factory
its effects,
Marx
that children
requirement,
only half of each day at work and the other half attending
spend
to circumvent
Act which
its main
school.
The half-time system founded upon the principle that child labour should not be permitted unless, concur
rently with such employment, the child attend some school daily, is objected to by the manufacturers on two
grounds. They object to their responsibility of enforcing the school attendance of the half-times (children
under 13 years of age), and they find it cheaper and less troublesome to employ one set of children instead of
two sets, working alternately 6 hours. The first result, therefore, of the introduction of the half-time system
was the nominal diminution to nearly one half of the children under 13 years employed in factories.37
went
Marx
on
to explain
of children
reclassification
to keep
the efforts of inspectors

was
The
motives
for evasion
since
the wages
Marx
the conclusion
obtain
'nominal'
nature
medical
a check
of this reduction,
practitioners
on this practice,
due
as being over
he observed,
in large
part to the
13 years of age.
the enforcement
Despite
of this law
inadequate.
quite
families,
the
by helpful
full-time
of the school
drew from the inspectors'
wages
were
compelling
not only for employers

but for
but to the parents. Hence
their respective
looks
work".38
reports, that "on the one hand, the parents,
are anxious
for their children,
while the only thing the mill-owner

to perform
laws
of the child worker were paid not to the children
In
to withdraw
for in the juvenile

The
Communist
them from school
hands is strength enough

Manifesto
Marx
had
if they can
and half wages,

to enable
already
them
accused
The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16, No. 3. December 1982
170
the traditional family among the working class by turning parents into
one purpose of legislation as the
of their children.39 Marx recognizes
in
the
exploitation
accomplices
victims of
the
he
does
not
blame
their
but
of
children
parents, themselves
against
parents;
protection
an economic
system which had made older forms of family life impossible.
industry of destroying
modern
system stood a separate part of the Factory Acts dealing with child
print works. Here the law of 1845 required periodic rather than daily schooling.
During every period of six months the child had to attend school on at least 30 days and for a total
results: at one extreme it
period of at least 150 hours. In practice this could lead to widely varying
five
months'
work.
school
with
alternation
of
one
month's
mean
an
By the time the next
might
the half work
Alongside
in cotton
workers
period
of instruction
period
would
came
but the hours of school
over the six months,
from school
buffeted
"and
at which no learning
also in many cases
could
themselves.
due to overcrowding
of teachers
to the employment
be spread
the last
during
until the tale of 150 hours
of the schools
take place
learned
time would
more evenly
wrote an inspector,
from work to school
to work,
to these faults were the deficiencies
Added
'schools'
thus",
everything
vary from day to day in accordance

"the child was, as it
would
attendance
of the factory owner:
with the requirements

were,
the inspectors
commented,
In other factories the school
around,
have been forgotten.40
who were wholly
reports told of
and
Inspectors'
and inadequate
was told".41
supervision
for their task. One of
unqualified
ought to keep a
accomplished
of literacy
minimal
standard
but
even
this
be
able
to
their
own
of
attendance
and
names,
sign
register
teachers were
difficulties facing responsible
The overwhelming
found lacking.42
was sometimes
Act was
by the 1844
the reforms
the demand
that school
masters
in one inspector's
report.
In many schools where there is a competent teacher, his efforts are of little avail from the distracting crowd of
at the best,
children of all ages, from infants of three years old and upwards; his livelihood,miserable
depending on the pence received from the greatest number of children whom it is possible to cram into the
space. To this is to be added scanty school furniture, deficiency of books, and other materials for teaching,
and the depressing effect upon the poor children themselves of a close, noisome atmosphere. I have been in
many schools, where I have seen rows of children doing absolutely nothing; and this is certified as school
attendance, and, in statistical returns, such children are set down as being educated.43
described
these
In surveying
legal
difficulties,
children
of working
education
as possible.
requirements
the ludicrous
educational
evade
machinery,
and with as many loopholes
spirit of capitalist
clauses
in the opposition
production
of the Factory
Acts;
which
the factory
shines
in its
clearly
education
owners
in
in
it is conspicuous
of which this compulsory
to which they have recourse
the
for requiring
on the government
reluctance
in consequence
and in the shifty expedients
clauses,
"The
educational
it is manifest
part illusory;
full blame
placed
He concluded:
of the so-called
wording
the lack of any administrative

the most
Marx
only with the greatest
is for
offer to these
in their endeavours
to
the law".44
Yet for all these objections

schooling
Capital,
with labour
which
was
education
clauses
expressed
an even
Marx
for children.
published
have,
more
appears
in 1867,
of late years,
optimistic
in the end as a strong supporter
of the system combining
his earlier reports up to date for the first volume of

in the way of the
he added a comment that "the obstacles
In bringing
been to some
extent overcome".45
Later in the same
work he
assessment:
Although the education clauses of the Factory Acts go a very little way, at least they embody a proclamation
that the giving of elementary instruction is to be a necessary accompaniment of child labour. The success of
the Act in this respect gave the first proof that it is possible to combine education and physical culture with
manual labour; and, on the other hand, to combine manual labour with education and physical culture. By
questioning the school-masters, the factory inspectors soon discovered that the factory children, although
they received only half as much instruction as the regular day scholars, learned quite as much and often more.
"This can be accounted for by the simple fact that, with only being at school for one half of the day, they are
171
always fresh, and nearly always ready and willing to receive instruction. The system on which they work,
half manual labour and half school, renders each employment a rest and a relief to the other; consequently,
both are far more congenial to the child, than would be the case where he kept constantly at one. It is quite
clear that a boy who has been at school all the morning cannot (in hot weather particularly) cope with one who
comes fresh and bright from his work". Further information will be found in Senior's speech at the Social
Science Congress in Edinburgh in the year 1863. He shows there, among other things, how the monotonous
and needlessly long school day for children of the upper and middle classes uselessly adds to the labour of the
teacher, "while he not only fruitlessly, but absolutely injuriously, wastes the time, health, and energy of the
children".46
In a footnote
Commissioners
could
have
is being
Marx
some
nave
the 'success'
adds
work as well as play to give
and commissioners.
inspectors
amount
of evidence
system.
The idea that children
half asleep
children,
taken
from the evidence
of a silk factory who "naively
to the Children's
declares
As Harold
and from the same
was contradicted
would
after their half-day's

but not in the way
",47 One might wonder
at face value.
school
been
for
from reports of
assemble
the same
after working
that, on the contrary, they "came

may have
who
claim
the failure of the half-time
'fresh and bright' to the classroom

The
Marx's
set of citations
toward
Employment
7 wish my own children
out, one could
points
pointing
who claimed
work".48
that Marx
Silver
sources
come
by witnesses
...
'
variety to their schooling
here: the employer or the reader taking his testimony

of the half work system is based upon a very selective
factory
the morning
a remark
by the owner
during
to school
a 'rest and relief
for such
intended.
based on evidence
of this kind eventually led by the end of the nineteenth
opposition
to
of
the
the
total
discontinuation
century
part-time system. Even in 1867, when Marx endorsed the
Widespread
in Capital,
policy
later point of view

goal,
the drive towards

the half-time
full-time education
and not as the plan for a future education
of 'success'
was not borne out by events.
for all children
as a temporary
system appears
was well under way.
measure
in the advance
From a
towards
this
which Marx took it to be. To this extent, his diagnosis
Yet is remains
to Marx's
credit that his attempts to come
to
with the problems

led him to raise important questions
about the
which underly our thinking on these themes. We can find in his criticisms of alternative
assumptions
terms
approaches
to education,
a contribution
and in his own theory as well,
which
deserves
attention.
Notes
1
The General
Council
of the First International,
1866-1868
(Moscow:
Progress Publishers,
1964), pp.
343-44.
2
See e.g. the references to "self-evident laws of nature" in Marx, Capital, trans. E. and C. Paul (London:
J.M. Dent, 1930), p. 817.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
The Marx-Engels
Reader, ed. R.C.
Tucker, second edition (New York: Norton, 1978), p. 531.
Ibid., p. 541.
Capital,
p. 522.
Ibid., p. 521, note.

Ibid., p. 449.
Ibid.
The Marx-Engels
Reader,
p. 541.
The General Council of the First International, 1868-1870
CW 5, p. 49. Here and throughout 'CW'

Lawrence and Wishart, 1975-).
(Moscow:
Progress Publishers, 1964),p.
stands for Marx and Engels,
Collected
147.
Works (London:
172
CW 6, p. 498.
13
Capital,
p. 527.
"
'All Tongue and No Hand': Two Theories of Socialist Education
Ibid.,p. 528. See also R.T. Sidwell,
Educator of
before Owen", Educational
Theory, 22 (1972), pp. 78-86, and J.T. Zepper, "John Bellers
Marx?", Science and Society, 43 (1979), pp. 87-91.
14
15
307-11.
See W. Boyd,
The History of Western Education,
eighth edition (London:
A. and C. Black,
1966), pp.
16
The Educational Theory of Immanuel Kant, ed. E.F. Buchner (Philadelphia-London:

J.B. Lippincott
Company, 1904), p. 16 and pp. 242-46. See also Kant, Philosophical Correspondence, 1759-99, ed. and trans.
A. Zweig (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), pp. 83-85.
17
Capital,
p. 521.
18
H. Silver, "Ideology and the factory child: attitudes towards half-time education", in P. McCann (ed.)
Popular Education and Socialization in the Nineteenth Century (London: Methuen, 1977), p. 148. SeealsoJ.S.
Hurt, "Drill, discipline and the elementary school ethos", ibid., pp. 167-191.
19
The General Council
1868-1870,
p. 141.
20
See J. Riordan, "Marx, Lenin and Physical Culture", Journal of Sport History, 3 (1976), pp. 156-60; and
V. Zilberman, "Physical Education in the Soviet Union", McGill Journal of Education, 17 (1982), pp. 65-75.
21
Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education
Clarendon Press, 1967), p. 107.
22
23
24
25
p. 238.
26
27
28
1972),
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Wilkinson and L.A.
Willoughby
(Oxford:
pp. 197-99.
Ibid.,
CW
of Man, trans. E.M.
3, p. 305.
Ibid., pp. 332-33
and 342.
The Phenomenology
Hegel,
of Mind, trans. J. Baillie, second edition (London:
Allenand
Unwin, 1949),
CW 3, p. 227.
CW 5, p. 512.
The Utopian Vision of Charles Fourier, ed. and trans. J. BeecherandR.
p. 258.
Bienvenu (Boston: Beacon Press,
Ibid., p. 308.
p. 310.
Ibid.,
Grundrisse, trans. M. Nicolaus
Marx,
(Harmondsworth:
Penguin Books,
1973), p. 712.
Ibid., p. 611.
Ibid., pp. 613-14.
Capital,
Ibid.,
p. 170.
p. 419.
The General Council

CW
Ibid.,
1866-1868,
p. 344.
16, p. 207.
pp. 206-07.
CW 6, pp. 499-500.
Capital,
p. 427.
Ibid.
CW
16, p. 195, and Capital, pp. 425-26.
The Journal of Educational Thought. Vol. 16, No. 3. December 1982
43
Capital,
p. 426.
44
Ibid., p. 425.
45
46
Ibid., pp. 521-22.
47
48
Silver, art. cit., p. 148.
173

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Faculty of Education, University of Calgary

Work, Play and School in Marx's Views on Education

The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16, No. 3, December 1982

and work has been a recurring topic of debate in educational

more so than from Marx's

for reform in education,

it directs its attention

and of the individual

of the ideas which underly Marx's

here is the resolution

it Marx puts forward a plan for child labour

and work both find

plan for an education

for the first Congress

He begins by stating the assumption of his

least six of these can be identified

we must take into account

writings on the subject.

Starting with the passage

ought to work in order to eat, the same

this "the general

The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16, No. 3, December 1982

it is after all a familiar fact that in most

of the kind described

there are some

both the nature and the extent of this contribution.

industry and hence

part only of modern

with the existence

tasks in the livelihood

call for the abolition

by age and sex allocated

family had relied upon the labour

is said by the formulation

further than the simple

this theme and the

This too is a statement

It is not to be simply the same

of the future would

up with the idea

but as the only way of producing fully developed

one of his most central themes,

from his early writings

to his most mature works.

as its final outcome,

thread in his criticisms

there is any such

for the process

The Journal of Educational Thought, Vol. 16, No. 3, December 1982

and its introduction

writers and in particular

had from his

period as a writer shown an attraction to the idea of human 'self-creation'

true secret of producing

to the uniform and

by its use in a capitalist

which need to be carried out in

can learn to work at a

for the abolition

to a few basic operations

are more like character

a part in the supply