WHAT IS ALIENATION?

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.