Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Marx turns to the scientific study of political economy, which he believes has conflated the way things are with the way things should be. It takes for granted that the capitalist’s profit is the chief goal of economic activity rather than trying to explain why the present economic system is designed around the greed of the few. He compares it with the Biblical account of evil, which simply presents it as a facet of human nature rather than offering a substantive explanation of how it developed. Marx takes a hard look at economic realities, namely the reduction of the worker to the status of a mere commodity as industrial production accelerates. The chief problem, according to Marx, is that the product of labor has become alienated from labor itself, which he calls a “loss of realization” (108). The further the worker is pulled away from the results of their efforts, the worse their condition becomes, because they are working ever harder and have less and less to show for it.

Marx argues that labor reflects a profound connection between the worker and their natural environment. Nature both provides the materials for labor and the sustenance of the laborer.