Karl Marx and the Capitalist Mode of Production
Karl Marx provided very succinct and undeniable evidence and arguments about the capitalist mode of production whose roots are ingrained in the ideologies of political economy. He notes that despite the political economy failing to adequately and confidently convince nor define the capitalist mode of production, its applications have been presupposed by adopting the principles of separation of labor, private property, wages, capital and land, and competition among others (Marx and Engels 32). Marx notes that capitalism is an ideology devised by the property owners and employers to oppress the poor and workers as well as perpetuating the notion of greed and war in the name of competition (Marx and Engels 32). Nonetheless, in order to coherently understand and appreciate Marx\u2019s arguments about capitalism, it is critical to evaluate the historical development of the ideology with respect to human as a species beings and nature.
The Origin of the Capitalist Mode of Production
Marx in his paper critiquing the German ideology and the discussion of the fetishism of commodities illustrates the origin of the capitalist mode of production stemming from privatization and property ownership to the division of labor and competition (Marx 1; Marx 46). Marx (46) as he coined the concept of fetishism of commodity pointed out that from an outward view, the term commodity may be regarded as a trivial and simple thing but in reality, a queer thing embedded with a myriad of theological niceties and metaphysical subtleties. He pointed out that the first premises of commodity and materialistic things are inherent in humans basing on the consciousness ability of humans that sets them distinct from other animals. Humans have two primary perception and use of materials; the materials that nature provided which can be used without modification whereas due to their consciousness ability they are implored to produce other materials as a means of subsistence (Marx 1).
The Creation of Commodities and Labor
Production of other materials for subsistence is affected by their physical organization, hence by subsistence production, humans are able to produce material life. The ability of men to produce actual material life or commodities relies on the existence of subsistence and the ability to reproduce. Therefore, for instance, a table is a commodity produced from wood through the employment of the human brain and energy hence in doing so creating labor and commodity which are inseparable and independent (Marx 46). The productive activities are the products of human organization and deployment of human nerves, brain, and muscles. The activities create work while deployment of human efforts creates labor, therefore, labor time attracts a price as well as the quality and quantity of products. Therefore, human labor is measured by the value of the products hence a commodity is a product of social characterization of human labor and materials stamped or valued by the products quality and quantity of the applied labor. These relations are what Marx (47) referred to as fetishism of commodities where utility is concerted to commodity through labor offered by individuals or a group of individuals whose works in independent. A labor community is created it creates a group of producers while the relation between material and products creates property owners and divisibility of labor based on the value and uniqueness of products and the ability to produce them.
Division of Labor and Social Class Inequities
The differences among nations are based on their production forces, divisibility of labor and other internal intercourses. The division of labor results in further labor divisions such as the separation of commercial and industrial agriculture, property owner and worker, country and town that further result in a conflict of interests. The process creates a complex system of division of labor influenced by the interconnectedness of materials, instruments of production and the aftermath of labor. This resulted in the oppression of the poor by the powerful social classes by forcing them to slaves for cheap sources of production. Division of labor as well as increased social class competition for profits creating private property and propertied people and salves (Marx 2). The ownership proceeded estate and feudal property that control materials as well as the division of labor based on nobility, ruling classes, and other social organizations. The entire process created a capitalist mode of production where the property owners exploited the marginalized and propertied individuals, courtesy of the division of labor ideology. The competition which is a by-product or labor division fueled the oppression of the propertied citizens as the property owners greedily orchestrated their plans to produce more and create more profits. Therefore, Marx points out that capitalist mode of production through separation of labor, private property, greed, and capital is a tool for the privileged to oppress the marginalized and there is nothing for the worker to celebrate about (Marx 32).
The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat
Marx and Engels (1) note that the division of labor and capitalism created a system of salves and freeman, plebeian and patrician, self and lord, journeyman and guild master but in simple terms, it infers to the oppressed and the oppressor. Class antagonism is the epicenter of the capitalist mode of production from time immemorial to modern bourgeois society. As old oppression forms such as slave and freeman were disregarded other new conditions were reinvented such as worker and the private property owner or the employer. The society with its modes of production has ever been split into two antagonistic groups of the bourgeoisie and proletariat that drove further part with the expansion of trade and exchange of commodities and immense developments. Marx and Engels (3) note that the bourgeoisie development was accompanied by class advancement while the proletariat further succumbed to oppression, poverty, and marginalization. The ruling class through the governments in which the proletariat trust does not care about their status and issues but rather is a system created by the bourgeoisie to manage and propagate their interest and affairs. Marx and Engels (4) point out that the bourgeoisie through the strategic orchestration of division of labor ideology managed to convert lawyers, physician, priests to scientists and poets to merely paid wage laborers ever working to make them richer and richer. They do so by treacherously and strategically revolutionizing the means and instruments of production such as invention and extensive use of machinery to motivate the laborers while creating more profits for them. Machines that are more efficient lead to massive redundancy and layoffs creating a huge gap between available skilled labor and workers; the job insecurity is provided with an excellent tool to continue exploit the workers (Marx and Engels 8).
Estrangement and Alienation in the Capitalist System
The capitalist mode of production and separation of labor drawn from political economist views the estrangement of freedom makes the bourgeoise and proletarian system inevitable (Marx 1). Capitalism creates an estranged and money system of competition and exchange; devaluation and value create an actual economic system where the worker inevitable becomes as poorer as he increases his production efforts. The more the wealth and products a worker producer the poorer they become as well as the more expensive a commodity is created by a worker the cheaper the worker becomes. In a capitalist system devaluation of human labor is inversely proportional to the value of the commodities they produce. An employee is a commodity based on the ability to rent their expertise and time where labor results in the product of labor. The realization of labor under realistic economic conditions depicts a loss of realization for the employees as well as bondage to work, loss of the object as well as their alienation. Workers have lost the sense of realization to a case they work and starve to death, loss of objectification where they are robbed the necessary objects to improve their work and life while their alienation depicts a system where the more commodities they produce the less they can own hence forced to succumb to their product. Marx thus classified human labor into two based on the relation of an employee with the product of labor as an estrange object that exercises over the employee and the relation of the employees and act of production that self in self-estrangement. Therefore, the capitalist mode of production creates alienation of workers for the benefits of the bourgeoisie while the employer of private property owner endeavors to create a system that works against the worker but not himself in an effort to each themselves. Therefore, a division of labor, competition, and capitalism is but a system for the bourgeoisie to oppress the proletariat for material and wealth accumulation for the sustainability of their social class.
Works Cited
Marx, Karl. "A critique of the German Ideology." Marx/Engels Internet Archive, 1932, pp. 1-4.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. "Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians; Chapter 2: Proletarians and Communists." Manifesto of the Communist Party. New York, NY: Toughstone, 2004, pp. 1-15.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. "Estranged Labor." The economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. Prometheus Books, 1844, pp. 32-38.
Marx, Karl. "Section 4: the fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof." Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, 1867, pp. 46-59.
