In this article, Marx discusses the alienation of workers due to a capitalistic system. He argues that workers have an aversion for work since they are alienated from the processes and products of their labor, from other workers, and from themselves. He also argues how the power of money "dehumanizes" people in a capitalistic society. Marx says that the more a worker applies himself in his work, the more his object which he creates becomes powerful, and the poorer the worker feels in his "inner life." He makes a reference to God when he says, "The more of himself man attributes to God the less he has left in himself." What Marx is saying is that if the more life a worker puts into an object, than his life belongs to the object and no longer himself. .
"Money, since it has the property of purchasing every thing, of appropriating objects to itself, is, therefore, the object par excellence." What Marx is saying in this part of the article is that the money you have represents the kind of person you are. "My own power is as great as the power of money." He is saying that who you are as a person, and any abilities that you might have aren"t determined by your individuality, but by the amount of money you may have. .
I feel that Marx is way to cynical towards the working man. In writing this, he doesn"t put hope into workers, in the sense that he lets one assume that the working man cannot succeed because he is binded by a capitalistic society. He puts to much emphasis on money, and since he does this, he has a pessimistic and degrading view of a capitalistic society. "Money is the external, universal means and power." I think his views about the "alienated" worker tend to be seen from angle that he himself is blind to. He claims that the worker does not fulfill himself in his work but denies himself, and has a feeling of misery. He also makes a reference between a human and animals. He feels that in a working state, that worker feels like his functions are reduced to those of an animal, and doesn"t feel freely which he does at home.
