Economic-philosophical manuscripts from 1844

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The economic-philosophical manuscripts from 1844 , also known as Paris Manuscripts , were written by Karl Marx in Paris at the end of May / beginning of June to August 1844 and are among the Marxian “early writings”. They were intended for self-understanding and were not published during their lifetime. Parts of the manuscripts have only survived in fragments.

Dawid Borissowitsch Rjasanow and Siegfried Landshut discovered these manuscripts under the title “Economics and Philosophy” in the SPD archive at the end of the 1920s and published them for the first time in 1932 in their own edition of Marx's early writings.

meaning

The Paris manuscripts are the first work by Marx in which he combines the critique of economics with his philosophy into a system of its own .

They are a document of the "movement of Marxist thought turning away from the Left Hegelians " in the years 1843-1845.

important terms

Important philosophical and economic terms in the manuscripts are work, alienation, 'representational species' and recognition, as well as wages , 'profit of capital' and rent .

alienation

A central point in the manuscripts is a historical-materialistic twist on Hegel's concept of alienation . Marx sees the worker alienated in four ways:

  1. alienated from the product of his labor
  2. the productive activity becomes something external
  3. the alienation from the human species
  4. Alienation from other people.

In this work , Marx sees alienated or alienated labor as the cause of private property :

“But an analysis of this concept shows that when private property appears as the ground, as the cause of the alienated labor, it is rather a consequence of it, just as the gods are originally not the cause but the effect of human intellectual aberration. [...] Wages are a direct consequence of alienated work, and alienated work is the direct cause of private property. "

- Economic-philosophical manuscripts from 1844. MEW Vol. 40, p. 520f.

Summary

The text consists of three booklets, which are not completely preserved, and a “preface”.

First manuscript

The first issue consists of four columns:

For wages (1) Marx writes: The wages will as a commodity determined from the hostile struggle between capitalists and workers. When the economy falls, workers suffer most. If it grows, the workload (alienation) and competition among the workers will also grow and many capitalists will become workers themselves. Since the worker here has sunk into a machine, machines could compete with him. Economic growth also leads to overproduction , which causes periodic crises. If the economy stagnates, wages will fall due to high competition.

Regarding the gain of capital (2) he writes: Capital was created through the right to property. His profit can be obtained through monopolies, the uniqueness of the goods or with constantly high demand. It can be increased through further processing into a higher quality product and technological progress. Progress does not increase wages, but the profit of capital. The pursuit of capital by individuals is not always the most useful for a society. Competition among capitalists leads to an increase in wages, a decrease in market prices, a deterioration in commodities, a decrease in profits and many capitalists sinking into the working class. The accumulation of capital, on the other hand, leads to a monopoly that accumulates even more capital.

In the chapter on land rent (3) he states that landowners themselves would charge a price for using the land and harvesting its fruits. Increased demand increases prices and benefits the landowners. This and the higher profitability led to the accumulation of property. The competition among landowners makes them capitalists and land ownership industrial. Thus, only two classes emerged in society (workers and capitalists). This process meant the end of feudalism and the beginning of capitalism. Dissatisfaction would lead to a revolution that would demand the dissolution of the monopolies.

On the concept of alienated labor (4) Marx writes that the more wealth he produces, the poorer the worker becomes. The more goods he creates, the cheaper he himself becomes. Being a commodity alienates the worker from his producing activity and the product, since for him it is no longer a direct means of subsistence or need. His freedom from the end becomes a mere means. Ultimately, humans become alienated from themselves.

Second manuscript

Only one chapter has survived from the second issue:

The ratio of private property (1) describes Marx as follows: The worker produce the capital and capital produce it. So he works to keep his class. If he didn't, he couldn't exist. Agriculture becomes capitalist because it does not employ unfree peasants, but free workers. He also presents his idea of “historical materialism” , but without using this term. Chronologically, the course of history up to the revolution he foresaw should be structured in three stages: 1. Unity of labor and capital (original communism), 2. Opposition of labor and capital (conversion from feudalism to capitalism), 3. Opposition of one each against himself (culminating point of capitalism).

Third manuscript

The third issue is divided into six chapters. Here Marx relates individual, previously emerged concepts to one another:

Regarding private property and work (1) he criticizes a fetishistic reverence for goods by economists. This perception of capitalism is para-religious.

In Private Property and Communism (2), Marx rejects Hegel's universalism. According to Hegel, it is only possible to abolish a concept by generalizing it. According to Marx, the abolition of capitalism would also go the same way as capitalism itself. In order to actually abolish capitalism, however, all stages of development that led there would have to be run through again backwards, up to communism. After all, under communism private property belongs to everyone. In the first step, all individual differences between people would be violently erased by turning everyone into workers. In a second step, society abolishes its previously existing democracy or despotism by abolishing the state, in which there is still general private property. Until now communism has not yet grasped the essence of people. This is done in the third step. Here people become human and natural again. In communism man could enjoy without owning. The now independent person would know that he was creating himself and was not created by a god.

On needs and production (3) he writes: The capitalist man is dependent on money, because without it he could not meet his needs. So he uses (as a capitalist) product or (as a worker) his labor as bait to get what he can use to meet his needs. Money is therefore the only need and natural needs are seen as weakness. The need to accumulate money leads to natural needs such as entertainment, exercise or a varied diet being negated.

On the division of labor (4) Marx writes: According to Smith, the division of labor emerged from human reason. It establishes the trade. Only through this does society arise. Political economics sees the right to private property as a prerequisite for trade. Marx reproduces these views without comment.

In the chapter on money (5), Marx says that money is often understood ontologically in capitalism. Because money can compensate for negative characteristics (e.g. laziness, ugliness). So it turns everything into the opposite: wanting without money is not being able to lead. Don't want to be able to run with money.

In the last chapter, Critique of Hegel's Dialectics and Philosophy (6), Marx agrees with Feuerbach's criticism of Hegel : 1. Is philosophy as a form of religion an alienation of people, 2. Should real materialism encroach on human relationships, 3. That is what Feuerbach prefers Positive versus the negation of the negative. So man is not, as Hegel claims, a spiritual being, but a practical one. Marx also criticizes Hegel's positive view of the state and religion. They do not serve self-actualization, but are alienating. However, the merits of Hegel's dialectic are 1. the thesis that man creates himself through work, 2. the thesis that a cancellation can only be completed through generalization and later through its own cancellation.

expenditure

  • Marx-Engels Complete Edition . Department 1. Vol. 3. Berlin 1932, pp. 29–172.
  • Karl Marx. Historical materialism. The early writings. Edited by S. Landshut and JP Mayer. With the assistance of F. Salomon. 2 vols. Alfred Kröner, Leipzig 1932
  • Karl Marx: Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts. 1844; Marx-Engels-Werke Vol. 40 (= MEW supplementary volume, 1st part), Dietz Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-320-00245-9 , pp. 465-588. DEA archive
  • Karl Marx: Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts. Written from April to Aug. 1844. Karl Marx. According to the handwriting . Introduction and remarks by Joachim Höppner. Reclam, Leipzig 1968. (Reclam's Universal Library 448)
  • Marx-Engels Complete Edition. Department I. Vol. 2, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1982, pp. 187–322 [first reproduction]; Pp. 323-438 [Second reproduction] and [Apparatus] pp. 685-917.
  • Karl Marx: Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts . Edited by Barbara Zehnpfennig . Meiner, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-7873-1890-9 . (Philosophical Library 559)

literature

  • NI Lapin: The young Marx . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1974.
  • Michael Quante (Ed.): Karl Marx. Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts. Commentary by Michael Quante . Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-27015-8 . (Suhrkamp Study Library)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition. Department 1. Vol. 3. Berlin 1932, pp. 29–172 and Karl Marx: The historical materialism. The early writings . Edited by S. Landshut and JP Mayer. With the assistance of F. Salomon. 2 vols. Alfred Kröner, Leipzig 1932.
  2. ↑ a b Michael Quante (ed.) / Karl Marx: Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts (Karl Marx). Commentary by Michael Quante. P. 211 and 230.
  3. ↑ Economics and Philosophy . In: Karl Marx. The early writings . Edited by Siegfried Landshut. Alfred Kröner, Stuttgart 1964, pp. 225-316. (Kröner's paperback edition 209)
  4. ↑ Historical-critical version.