Jeremy Rivera

Masterson:

Intro to Philosophy

Of Life and Labor: A modern response to Karl Marx

Man progressed out of a natural state where we labor for our own subsistence into

an industrial society where work is not for direct subsistence but for production. Marx’s

view of labor during industrial times underlines the stark difficulties of an unresponsive

capitalist society where, during his time, workers conditions were harsh and

unsympathetic. “Labor produces for the rich wonderful things – but for the worker

privation,”1 Marx argues that work depreciates the worker by objectifying him, alienating

him from his personal, social and racial identity, and impoverishes him in proportion to

the work he completes. He also argued that the idea of private property enabled this

process to exist. Having progressed into a post-industrial society with better working

conditions and compensations, we must re-evaluate the criticisms leveled against labor

and ask what is the impact of labor on the worker. By scrutinizing labor in our post

industrial society we can see that work actually enriches the worker. This enrichment is

economic, in the monetary compensation received, emotional, in the job satisfaction

received, and personal, in the experience received by the worker.

It is very important to remember the time period in which Karl Marx wrote,

during the industrial revolution in Europe. The continent had just moved away from a

system of surf based labor, where unpropertied people paid “land-rentiers” for small

1
From “The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 677, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl
Marx
parcels of land to do subsistence farming. The industrial revolution spawned capitalists

who owned factories and production companies, and provided a new system of industry

and labor. In this transition, Karl Marx saw a continuation of oppression by those with

property over those who could not afford to purchase land. “The distinction between

capitalist and land-rentier, like that between the tiller of the soil and the factory worker

disappears and … the whole of society must fall apart into two classes- the property-

owners and the propertyless workers.”2. Mass industrialization spawned numerous

dangerous jobs that held little compensation, and no guarantees of safety. It seemed to

Marx that this new system of capitalism and private property subjected the workers to an

even worse sort of bondage than surfs were subject to in feudal Europe because of the

degrading effects of industrialized labor upon the worker.

“Labor produces not only commodities: it produces itself and the worker as a

commodity”.3 Marx begins to outline his objection to the estrangement inherent in

industrial labor, and outlines them in three distinct ways. The first threat presented by

industrialized labor is the “Objectification of labor”4. Marx saw the modern means of

production as creating a product that was an “independent power” from the worker and

represented “labor which has been congealed in an object.”5 Workers were no longer

recognized as independent, thinking individuals. Seen from an ethical standpoint the

capitalist’s actions ran afoul of Immanuel Kant’s “Categorical Imperative…`so act as to

treat humanity… in every case as an end withal, never as means only…”6 workers

2
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 675, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
3
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
4
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
5
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
6
“The Experience of Philosophy” Pg 570, cited work The Categorical Imperative by Immanuel Kant
became one among many, and were represented as just numbers on the capitalist’s

financial ledger.

“Labor appears as loss of reality for the workers; objectification as loss of the

object and object bondage; appropriation as estrangement, as alienation..”7 The nature of

working in production creating objects that are outside of one’s self became Marx’s

sticking point for underlining the alienation, or separation from the work itself. Work was

external to the worker and so his own efforts became as foreign objects, this effect was

defined by Marx as self-estrangement. “The whole character of a species character- is

contained in its life- activity; a free conscious activity is man’s species character.”8

Having now identified himself as a worker, and not a free conscious being, he is now cut

off from his nature, and by extension he is alienated from his entire species because his

entire his life-activity is a now “a mere means for existence”. Additionally, the previous

object of labor was the objectification of man’s species life and to tear that away from

him, in the way that alienated labor does, makes the whole object of the species life

foreign to the worker. Furthermore, man is alienated from his fellow man on an

individual basis because he cannot relate to the species as a whole. Alienated labor

creates products which are estranged from him, and are under the dominion of another

man and so the labor is coerced under the dominion of another man.

In essence Marx believes that work is contrary to the workers existence and

happiness, but John Stuart Mills argues that each individual desires his own happiness.

“Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as an end.”9 Indeed, even

Jean Rousseau stresses that “Man’s first law is to watch over his own preservation; his
7
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg. 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
8
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 678, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
9
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 571, cited work Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
first care he owes to himself…”10 Therefore, there must be some pleasure either inherent

in work or as a consequence of working in order to motivate people to perform labor, and

the act of labor itself must not be a necessarily painful and alienating event in order for it

to attract workers. Certainly, we need to keep Marx’s critique in its proper perspective or

it easy to be offended by his aggrandized defamation of capitalism. The modern work

place has reacted to the pressures of organized labor and made many concessions for the

comfort of the worker.

“We proceed from an actual economic fact. The worker becomes all the poorer the

more wealth he produces,”11 Marx is quick to call his opinions facts, when they are

obviously based in something other than solid factual argument. There are many ways

that work actually enriches the worker, and the first of which is material compensation.

“The more objects a worker produces the fewer he possesses and the more he falls under

the dominion of his product…” clearly each worker is provided wages with which he can

provide shelter and food for him and any dependents he may have in his household, so

Marx is contradicted by the economic enrichment of labor to the worker. Above and

beyond this wages also enable the worker to pursue recreation in his free time away from

work. Marx states that “[labor] produces intelligence- but for the worker idiocy,

cretinism.” However, because of the wages provided by labor man is free to pursue self

betterment through education because of the wages he earns. Neither basic subsistence

nor greater self fulfillment would be possible without a job, short of the lucky

coincidence of a large inheritance or lottery fortune.

10
“The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right” pg 49 by Jean Rousseau
11
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
 “The direct relationship of labor to its products is the relationship of the worker

to the objects of his production.”12 Man is not alienated from mankind simply because the

product of his labor is sold, because he himself purchases similar objects made by similar

workers. The cyclical nature of consumer capitalism provides both the demand for goods

and services and the labor to produce the products that are in demand by the very workers

that create them. In fact, there is a strong sense of common identity that man gains from

working. This is reflected in a connection to the product itself, pride in workmanship, and

also satisfaction in having a job. Every object a man creates, carries his signature, his

fingerprint exist in its manner and form. Inherent in the very act of creation is a pleasure

that is even reflected in religious writings, “[a]nd God saw every thing that he had made,

and, behold, it was very good.”13.

“Man’s species nature is estranged from him means that one man is estranged

from the other, as each of them is from man’s essential nature “In contrast to Marx we

can see that workers gain a sense of identity as a worker through their relationship with

other workers. This is not just a familiarity with immediate co-workers, but also identity

and unity as workers in general. This was one of the driving motivations that enabled the

American Unions to gain such strength in the 1930’s. Other workers in a similar field

have similar experiences and hardships on the job and so feel a sense of community that

stretches beyond immediate co-workers.

“The worker becomes an ever cheaper community the more commodities he

creates.” 14A key element of a workers life is completely ignored by Karl Marx because it

doesn’t fit into his schema of depreciation and degradation: Experience. Every day of

12
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 679, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
13
The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:31 Authorized King James Version.
14
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx
work contributes new pieces of knowledge to the worker that did not exist before, and is

an invaluable element of the capitalist society. The more experienced the worker, the

higher the wages he is paid, and the more respected he is in his work environment. This is

a progressive enrichment throughout the workers life, and not only enriches him

financially, but also socially, as more experienced members of society are often delegated

places of honor. Native American tribes defer to their Elder, who have a lifetime of

experience at their disposal, to make the decisions for the well being of the tribe. Even in

capitalistic society experience is valued, and seniors receive special discounts as a tribute

of respect. By realizing that a direct effect of working enriches the worker we can reverse

Marx’s statement about work, and show that the worker becomes an ever more expensive

commodity the more commodities he creates.

Overall, when looking at Marx’s criticisms of capitalistic labor systems we can

see that in our modern workplace all of his harsh critiques have been answered in full.

What was once an “actual economic fact”15 of systemic degradation is now baseless

opinion. Work no longer is an objectifying, alienating impoverishing system of

oppression; it is now a system of progressive development of the individual. Labor

provides experience, which progressively enriches the worker, identity, that instills job

satisfaction, and economic compensation which allows for the opportunity of even more

personal growth.

15
“The Experience of Philosophy” pg 676, cited work Alienation and the Power of Money by Karl Marx