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Marx, Karl Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts 1844 p.30 Book Marx on Alienation
Citation with Excerpt Marx, Karl 1844 Book Marx on Alienation

Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts

by Marx, Karl (1844)

Key Passage

Political economy conceals the estrangement inherent in the nature of labor by not considering the direct relationship between the worker (labor) and production. It is true that labor produces for the rich wonderful things – but for the worker it produces privation. It produces palaces – but for the worker, hovels. It produces beauty – but for the worker, deformity. It replaces labor by machines, but it throws one section of the workers back into barbarous types of labor and it turns the other section into a machine. It produces intelligence – but for the worker, stupidity, cretinism. (p.30)

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Marx on Alienation

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