Marx's Critique of Capitalism

¶ … Religion and the Critique of Political Economy

The 19th century philosopher Karl Marx was considered so revolutionary because it offered a unique view of history and reinterpretation of the Hegelian dialectic. Marx stressed that worker's growing alienation from the means of production was producing a form of wage slavery that only benefited a narrow segment of society in the form of the bourgeoisie. The laborer no longer owns what he or she produces: under capitalism, the factory owner owns the fruits of that labor by virtue of owning property. The laborer not only produces commodities but becomes in and of himself a commodity. The more labor the worker produces, the cheaper he becomes as a commodity because of the wear and tear upon the worker's physical equipment, i.e. The worker's own body. The capitalist profits more while the worker profits less.

"Theology explains the problem of evil from the fall of man" (Marx 1844: 71). The Hegelian dialectic suggests that everything can be explained by a dialectical relationship between the haves and have-nots of society: i.e., in modern capitalism between the inequities between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Religion, however, suggests that the world is fallen and innately evil and thus human beings must accept such injustices in the here and now in return for a better life in the world to come. Marx offers a solution which denies this theological interpretation, and demands an end to history and a creation of a more just society in the form of communism and common ownership of the means of production.

There is also a parallel between capitalism and religion in Marxist thought. The more the laborer invests into the material products he creates, the less he is as a person: he has less time to himself, he enriches the capitalist (versus his own interests), and the more he suffers physically. Similarly, the more someone invests in religion, the less time the believer has to change the world in the here and now. "The more man puts into God, the less he retains in himself" says Marx (Marx 1844: 72). There is also a parallel between religion and the effectively forced labor of capitalist wage slavery: "Just as religion is a spontaneous act of the human imagination, of the human brain and human heart, operates independently of the individual -- that is, operates upon him as an alien, divine, or diabolical activity -- in the same way the worker's activity is not his spontaneous activity (Marx 1844: 74). Capitalism estranges man from his central nature, much like religion provides an unnatural explanation for human origins, in Marx's view. Religion teaches humanity that people belong to a being other than themselves, just as capitalism teachers that the worker belongs to an entity other than himself as a laborer (Marx 1844: 79).