Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Socialism introduces a new way of thinking about human fulfillment. Private property renders people subject to the alien power of money, constantly infusing them with new desires even as the value of their money decreases. A vicious cycle ensues where a person spends all their money on luxuries, making them desperate to earn more money which they then fritter away once more. Private property cannot satisfy genuine human wants, especially for sociability, in large part because it degrades the person to the point where they are locked in an endless struggle with everyone else for financial advantage. They will readily flatter, deceive, threaten, and debase themselves as long as it retains the prospect of making money. Capitalism has alienated human beings from one another, and even from nature itself, trapping them in factories or overcrowded apartments, or else being kicked out into filthy city streets. Such people are worse off than even animals, unable to enjoy even basic sensory pleasures as they subsist on substandard food. According to the capitalist, they have simplified human life to the need for money and the consequent performance of a rote mechanical task. The more someone debases themselves, the more capitalism rewards them as the ideal worker and punishes anyone who seeks out more.