I'll define freedom...government comes later.

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Marx and Work

By Joshuah Mello

According to the Bible, Genesis Chapter 3 Verse 19, work is “laid on” humankind as retribution for Adam’s violation of God’s law. It is with this view of labor that Adam Smith declares “labor to be a curse.” It is through this positioning of labor which leads it to become estranged from the laborer himself. It thus becomes an outside imposition on the wage laborer. A result of the opinion of labor as a curse is the inference that non-work (i.e. rest) is the positive human action. It is this necessary and logical inference that Karl Marx takes issue with.

Marx asserts that to view labor as a curse refutes its place in the daily life of humans and their desire to satisfy their needs. Labor and man’s ability to transform his environment to satisfy his needs is a defining trait and is present in all human activities, including rest. When we position labor as a threatening and non-self imposed curse we in essence alienate the man from his labor. When the goals or “aims” of the labor do not meet the needs of the laborer himself, the labor as well as the produce becomes the opposition of his “liberty and happiness.” Then, and only then, does rest alone assume on the attribute of freedom.

Marx claims that true “liberty and happiness” can be found in working toward non-alienated goals and overcoming the ensuing difficulties. When the laborer’s work becomes synchronized with his needs, this work leads to true “liberty and happiness.” Marx doubts Smith’s understanding of man’s daily necessity for labor, even in a state of rest, to satisfy more colloquial needs. It is when this labor and the “labor of production” become unified that mankind will truly know liberty and freedom.

In his early works, Marx discusses his understanding of labor and its relation to “alienation” and “freedom.” Labor, in reference to wage labor, is seen as the cause of alienation and the antagonist of freedom. Alienation being “the renunciation or relinquishment of a thing or a claim or a power” (Simond’s Glossary) and true freedom being man’s ability to shape nature and produce for his own needs.

Capitalism, according to Marx, has turned labor into a “commodity”­¾something to be bought and sold. Labor loses its status as a human activity and assumes the role of a material tradable item. Marx states “the worker becomes a cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates” (Tucker p. 71). This refers to advances in technology and manufacturing tools. The more products that are produced and the easier the production becomes the more money laborers need and the less labor power is valued. “Objectification of labor” is the result of this status as a commodity (Tucker p. 71). The work done by the laborer loses its quality as a “free expression of human powers” (Simond’s Glossary) and becomes simply a sellable item.

This disjunction between man and his labor constitutes Marx’s first observation of alienation. He maintains that a laborer is no more related to his product than any “alien object” (Tucker p. 72). This alienation is multiplied millions of times by millions by millions of products and millions of laborers.

Man is also alienated from his “means of life”¾nature. Wage labor requires objectification of the laborer in order to allocate work and physical subsistence. Labor power must be traded for both the basic human needs and the materials for production. His work must be sold as a commodity to obtain the essential materials for survival. This dual relationship between labor and its “means of life” further objectifies one’s labor.

Another form of alienation occurs not after production, but during. The necessity of work to acquire the “Means of life” and the “means of production” places this work in an opposing position to the laborer (Tucker p. 74). It is in this situation, during the act of production, that the work itself becomes alien to the worker. “It is therefore not the satisfaction of a need; it is merely a means to satisfy needs external to it” (Tucker p. 74). This affirms the holding by Smith that labor is viewed as a curse and is something to be avoided.

This alienation is further compounded by the fact that this coerced labor is not owned by the laborer, but by the owner of the means of production. This leaves only the basic “animal functions” (Tucker p. 74) to be claimed by the laborer himself; the human activity of production belongs to another. Since Marx maintains that this activity of production (transformation) is the essence of humankind, it could be said that the laborer is alienated from the essence of his own life.

Marx draws distinction between animals who draw their “species-being” from their life activity and humans who are defined by “free, conscious activity” (Tucker p. 76). Since labor’s activity is coerced and in opposition it is neither free nor conscious. As a result the laborer becomes what he does, and is defined by activity, similar to an animal. This further alienates the laborer; his own species-being becomes alien.

Thus, freedom is man’s ability to own his own labor and produce. When the work is utilized to satisfy a need and no longer used to satisfy needs external to it (Tucker p. 74) man becomes truly free. This freedom restores man’s species-being and de-objectifies his labor. Rest does not equal freedom; work on one’s own behalf is true freedom. Rest only attains the status of freedom when work is placed in the opposing position that it assumes wage labor.

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JMello

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