In Karl Marx's early writing on "estranged labour" there is a clear and prevailing focus on the plight of the labourer. Marx's writing on estranged labour is and attempt to draw astark distinction between property owners and workers. In the writing Marx argues thatthe worker becomes estranged from his labour because he is not the recipient of theproduct he creates. As a result labour is objectified, that is labour becomes the object ofmans existence. As labour is objectified man becomes disillusioned and enslaved. Marxargues that man becomes to be viewed as a commodity worth only the labour he createsand man is further reduced to a subsisting animal void of any capacity of freedom exceptthe will to labour. For Marx this all leads to the emergence of private property, the enemyof the proletariat. In fact Marx's writing on estranged labour is a repudiation of privateproperty- a warning of how private property enslaves the worker. This writing onestranged labour is an obvious point of basis for Marx's Communist Manifesto. The purpose of this paper is to view Marx's concept of alienation (estranged labour) andhow it limits freedom. For Marx man's freedom is relinquished or in fact wrested from histrue nature once he becomes a labourer. This process is thoroughly explained throughoutEstranged Labour. This study will reveal this process and argue it's validity. Appendant tothis study on alienation there will be a micro-study which will attempt to ascertain Marx'sview of freedom (i.e. positive or negative). The study on alienation in conjunction with themicro-study on Marx's view of freedom will help not only reveal why Marx feels labourlimits mans freedom, but it will also identify exactly what kind of freedom is being limited.Estranged LabourKarl Marx identifies estranged labour as labour alien to man. Marx explains the conditionof estranged labour as the result of man participating in an institution alien to his nature.It is my interpreta...
