The Byproduct Of A Capitalist Economy: Exploitation Of The Worker

In the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx states, "With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion the devaluation of the world of men" (Marx 71). This contradictory assertion finds justification in Marx's depiction of the estranged laborer; his life, according to Marx, is adversely affected by the capitalist mode of production. Not only is the worker exploited monetarily, in the form of under-compensation and overworking, other vital facets of his life are damaged in the process. The psychological as well as physiological side-effects caused by the excessive labor demands of the bourgeoisie also contribute to this exploitation of the laborer. Marx further explicates this notion in his later works such as The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, to justify his expectations for a proletariat revolution.

It must first be established that the capitalist mode of production encourages growth in capital, thus a growth in wealth. The increase in value of "the world of things", or in Marx's view, the material world, is propagated by capitalists, or the masters of labor. Any increase in wealth, or in profits, is generally accomplished through the increase in the output of labor, and through the laborers themselves. In his remarks Marx assumes an increase in the "value of the world of things" and its correlating requirements of labor cause the following devaluating consequences.

Marx refers to the laborer in the capitalist system as a commodity, an object much in the same manner as the product created by the laborer. His labor is manifested in the product of his work, "labour which has been congealed in an object" (71). It then follows that the summation of the laborer's work and worth is the quantity of objects he can produce. Objectifying labor dissociates the human element from labor and, when coupled with advances in productive technology, turns the laborer into merely a cog in the machinery. This "objectification of labor", in Marx's view, essentially dehumanizes the laborer who experiences a "loss of reality" (72) with far-reaching psychological ramifications.

Furthering the devaluation of the state of the common laborer, Marx explains that "the worker puts his life into the object, but now his life no longer belongs to him but to the object" (72). The time invested into the object, the embodiment of his labor now out of his possession, is unobservable and imaginary. After a prolonged period of labor "the poorer he [the laborer] himself-his inner world-becomes, the less belongs to him as his own" (72), in a sense a devaluation in the spirit of the laborer.

The increasing value of the world necessitates an increased amount of laborers, or of labor time. Marx notes the estrangement of the laborer is not limited to the product of his labor, but "in the act of production-within the producing activity itself" (73). In establishing that labor is external to the worker, which the product of his labor is not his but someone else's, Marx asserts the laborer is in a foreign environment (74). Being in such an unnatural state the laborer "mortifies his body and ruins his mind" (74). That labor is now the means to an end, the natural state of eating, drinking, and procreating, and Marx likens the worker to an animal, having endured "the loss of his self" (74).

Notwithstanding the psychological impact a capitalist mode of production can have on the laborer, a physiological strain is apparent to Marx as well. He reasons that there is a natural maximum amount of time a laborer can be expected to work in a single day, a "physical bounds of labor power" (362). How much less this amount is than a full day is subject to the capitalist, whose single goal is to create wealth by way of "absorb[ing] the greatest possible amount of surplus=labour" (362). The master will tend to gain as much labor as possible from the worker, overworking the laborer being the likely consequence. Marx alleges a natural "value of labor power" in each person's life, which when the capitalist coerces an inordinate amount of labor from the worker depletes at a proportional rate. Thus from the point of view of the laborer according to Marx, "What you [the master] gain in labour I lose in substance" (363). Once again Marx provides an example of the exploitation of the worker, in this instance, a decrease in their possible labor time.

The issue of the discrepancy in monetary compensation for labor in a capitalist system may be the most apparent meaning one could infer from Marx's assertion of the exploitation of the laborer. Marx cites evidence from a London factory inspection pointing to a mill-owner's cutting of guaranteed rest time to gain extra production. By swindling one hour a day from his workers in the form of uncompensated labor, the owner gained the equivalent of an extra 2 and a half day's worth of production (Marx 366). Marx acknowledges the necessity of surplus-labor in many situations, saying, "the labourer...must add...an