the capitalist method of production.”
“What was that?”
“Under the capitalist system, the worker labors for someone else. His
labor is thus something external to him—or something that does not belong to
him. The worker becomes alien to his work—but at the same time also alien
to himself. He loses touch with his own reality. Marx says, with a Hegelian
expression, that the worker becomes alienated.”
“I have an aunt who has worked in a factory, packaging candy for over
twenty years, so I can easily understand what you mean. She says she hates
going to work, every single morning.”
“But if she hates her work, Sophie, she must hate herself, in a sense.”
“She hates candy, that’s for sure.”
“In a capitalist society, labor is organized in such a way that the worker
in fact slaves for another social class. Thus the worker transfers his own
labor—and with it, the whole of his life—to the bourgeoisie.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“We’re talking about Marx, and we must therefore take our point of
departure in the social conditions during the middle of the last century. So the
answer must be a resounding yes. The worker could have a 12-hour working
day in a freezing cold production hall. The pay was often so poor that children
and expectant mothers also had to work. This led to unspeakable social
conditions. In many places, part of the wages was paid out in the form of
cheap liquor, and women were obliged to supplement their earnings by
prostitution. Their customers were the respected citizenry of the town. In
short, in the precise situation that should have been the honorable hallmark of
mankind, namely work, the worker was turned into a beast of burden.”
“That infuriates me!”
“It infuriated Marx too. And while it was happening, the children of the
bourgeoisie played the violin in warm, spacious living rooms after a refreshing
bath. Or they sat at the piano while waiting for their four-course dinner. The
violin and the piano could have served just as well as a diversion after a long
horseback ride.”
“Ugh! How unjust!”
“Marx would have agreed. Together with Engels, he published a
Communist Manifesto in 1848. The first sentence in this manifesto says: A
spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism.”
“That sounds frightening.”
“It frightened the bourgeoisie too. Because now the proletariat was
beginning to revolt. Would you like to hear how the Manifesto ends?”
“Yes, please.”
“The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly
declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all
existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist rev-
olution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a
world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!”
“If conditions were as bad as you say, I think I would have signed that
Manifesto. But conditions are surely a lot different today?”
“In Norway they are, but they aren’t everywhere. Many people still live
under inhuman conditions while they continue to produce commodities that
make capitalists richer and richer. Marx called this exploitation.”