Estrangement In Esstranged Labor

In 1844, Karl Marx published the piece “Estranged Labor,” which touched upon four forms of estrangement and alienation of the Capitalist worker including estrangement of man from man, estrangement of man from his humanity, estrangement of man from the product of his labor, and estrangement of man from the act of labor itself. Just under a century later, the “normality and uniqueness of the Holocaust,” as described by Zygmunt Bauman, modeled Marx’s four estrangements. Found in his novel “Survival in Auschwitz,” Primo Levi’s Holocaust experiences served as an example of these four estrangements, representing the Lager as a heightened version of capitalist modernity.

Marx’s idea of the estrangement of man from the product of his labor described the suffering of countless hours or work by the laborer, contributing to the production of a product that he could not afford with the wages he made. He helped to produce a product that only those wealthier than he could afford. As the society around him became more object-oriented, he became increasingly more alienated. In the lager, one factor that distanced the laborer from his product was that he no longer worked for a wage, but for survival. In a description of his fellow worker, Levi wrote, “He seems to think that his present situation is like outside, where it is honest and logical to work, as well as being of advantage, because according to what everyone says, the more one works the more one earns and eats.” Levi pitied his fellow worker for his naivety, as the Lager was not a place of labor for prosperity, but strictly a place of labor by force. One worked in order to live, focusing more on the uncertainty of their next meal, day, or even breath than the product of their l...

... middle of paper ...

...isoners, as one never knew when the next death would be coming. It became a pointless waste of energy, which was critical to their ability to work. Since their work was essential to their survival, alienating oneself from fellow men and focusing solely on survival was in one’s best interest.

Primo Levi’s tales of his labors in “Survival in Auschwitz” connected Marx’s ideas with work under extreme and unique circumstances. In the Lager, workers suffered extreme working conditions, were deskilled in labor, became one with the masses, and were dehumanized. Through Marx’s four estrangements (estrangement of man from the product of his labor, estrangement of man from the act of labor, estrangement of man from humanity, and the estrangement of man from man), it became evident the ways in which the Holocaust is a product of a heightened version of capitalist modernity.