WHAT
IS ALIENATION?
Nildo
Viana
Many use
the word alienation and speak of the alienated. But few know what the word
means. Alienation can be understood as in psychiatry, the out-of-reality
person, which is the most common sense of the word, and so psychiatrists were
called "alienists," as in Machado de Assis's tale. In German
Philosophy, alienation also referred to the sphere of consciousness. This
conception began to change from the new meaning of the word provided by Marx,
alienation as something practical, real, social, alienated work.
Alienated
work is one in which the worker has no control over the work process, it is run
by another, the owner of the means of production, the owner of the land,
factories, machines, etc. Work is a way for the human being to realize himself,
develop his physical and mental potentialities, when he commands his work
process and puts a purpose in it, this is the work that humanizes and which
Marx called praxis, objectification. However, alienated labor is the denial of
this work, it is forced labor, just a means to satisfy other needs (the wage
satisfies other needs), then it is mortification and the worker flees from it
as "the devil flees from the cross."
The
alienated work is a heterogeneous work, that is, managed by another, by the
boss, by the bureaucrat, etc. Herein lies the secret of private property: the
worker performs the work under the direction of another, this other, when
directing the work process, will also direct its result, the product of the
work. Hence, alienated labor is a social relation between the worker and the
non-worker. The latter, by directing the work of the former, appropriates the
products he produces. This is the source of private property, which is merely a
summary of alienated labor. Once it exists, it seems to have a life of its own
and comes out of nowhere, but its source is work. Thus, labor produces riches
that are not with the workers but with the non-workers, and these, thanks to
these riches, control the workers.
Thus,
derived from alienated labor, there is the loss of the product of labor, the
exploitation of the worker, the estrangement of the product. Another
consequence of this is that the worker does not recognize himself in his
products, is not satisfied and does not take it as a result of his activity,
which is called "estrangement." The producer does not recognize
himself in his product, which seems to have a life of its own. Another
consequence is that the worker fails to manifest his potentialities and to perform
at work, and thus separates from human life, dehumanizes, only feels good in
his animal functions (eating, drinking, breeding, etc.).
Alienated
work is a social relation in which the worker is confronted with another who
directs it. It is heterogeneous and this results in exploitation, since the non-worker
appropriates what he produces. The alienation of labor generates estrangement
from the product. The only possibility of overcoming this state of affairs is
self-management and equality, praxis and self-satisfaction. This presupposes
the self-organization of the population and the struggle for social
transformation, not commanded by leaders (heterogerida), parties, governments,
but on its own initiative, in a collective and self-organized way. Emancipation
begins in the act of struggle for emancipation. One can not come to the end of
alienation through alienation, and one can only achieve self-management through
self-management of struggles.
