Estranged Labour

Throughout these manuscripts, Marx attempts to explain that the product of the worker is in fact the culmination of his labor manifested into a physical commodity, hence the product of the worker’s labor is labor given a form. He also discusses that the more the worker puts into the production of this labor-object, the less he retains of himself. Marx explains that what the worker produces for the world of other men, he takes away from himself.

However, Marx does not explain that in order to produce, and in fact in order to live and justify working for a wage, a worker must purchase goods for himself to use; goods that come from the labors of other men. So, given that men take away from themselves what they produce for others, they also take in what others have produced for them. Marx does not adequately discuss this aspect, choosing to focus more on the what the worker loses, instead of also discussing how many more options and quantities of commodities now exist for the worker to purchase with the wages earned through labor.

Marx seems to focus solely on what the worker gives up. In truth, the more produced for others does mean less for the individual producing the goods, however, if workers are considered as a group instead of as a singularity, there is far more available for the workers to now acquire and enjoy as production increases. Marx also neglects to include that many laborers actually enjoy the jobs that they have and gain satisfaction from working, a non-physical but still important benefit. Marx also focuses on produced goods, not so much on services. The manufacture of actual goods in a modern economic environment is mostly automated and accounts for a much smaller percentage of production than services provided for others. The higher quality of service that a modern laborer provides enriches the community as a whole, thus adding value to the work the worker is performing.