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Rocco D’Ambrosca: 04/06/2009

Karl Marx is one of the most important and most influential philosophers in recent history. His ideas have lead to revolutions around the world and have forced many to reanalyze the modern capitalist system of the past few centuries. Of all his ideas and contributions, the one concept that was monumentally important to him and that guided most of his work was the concept of alienation.

            Marx used the word alienation almost interchangeably with estrangement, both words referring to a separation where one is made alien or a stranger to something they were once familiar with. Marx uses this basic definition as a way to illustrate and elaborate upon the capitalist economic system he hated so much. In his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and Manifesto of the Communist Party, he talks in great length of the different forms of alienation that take place in the capitalist system. He talks about the commodification of the worker, that leads to his alienation and estrangement from both the product he is creating and the process he is involved in. “The worker sinks to the level of a commodity and becomes indeed the most wretched of commodities” (EPM 70). “The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion the devaluation of the world of men.” (EPM 71).  Marx is saying that the more products or commodities the worker makes the less those products are worth due to inflation and because he the worker is the commodity creating these increasingly valueless objects, he becomes less valuable and is further alienated from being a human being with real worth. The worker’s worth is now only in what he can produce for a profit in the factory. “The product of labor is labor which has been congealed in an object, which had become material: it is the objectification of labor. Labor’s realization is its objectification.” (EPM 71). Marx sums all this up with the simple statement, “All these consequences are contained in the definition that the worker is related to the product of his labor as to an alien object” (EPM 72), this being the heart of the Marxian concept of alienation.

It is the loss of ownership in the product he creates that starts the alienation. In the natural order of things, man creates useful object out of nature for his own survival and to satisfy his natural human creativity. But in the capitalist system, the fruits of his labor are taken away by the factory owner for his profit, while the worker is left to make yet another to only receive a minimal, almost slave, wage. Marx addresses this directly saying that, “wages are the direct consequence of estranged labor” (EPM 80). “But the estrangement is manifested not only in the result but in the act of production- within the producing activity itself.” (EPM 73).

The result of the worker being alienated from both the product he creates and the process of its creation, leads to a total emotional disconnect and the worker just becoming a tool in the process or as Marx puts it, “He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him” (MCP 479). This machine that Marx refers to is the capitalist system of his time, which he believed lead to low wages, poor working conditions and the overall frugality of the business owners in trying to get the highest profit while maintaining the lowest costs. The worker is nothing but cheap labor that is easily replaceable due to the repetitive, monotonous, and incredibly simple job of say, pulling a lever on an assembly line.

An example of alienation in contemporary culture is the estrangement or alienation of an artist from his or her work. Roger Waters of the rock band Pink Floyd suffered alienation from his own work so much that it led him to write and create The Wall as an album, movie, and stage show, illustrating the concepts of alienation, isolation and the estrangement he had been suffering. It was during a tour in 1977 promoting their latest album Animals, that Waters reached the height of his alienation from his work and his fans. A fan was trying to climb onto the stage at a show in Montreal, Canada, leading Waters to angrily spit in his face. It was this incident that triggered Waters to become so upset with himself, that upon self-reflection he was able to realize how alienated he had become of the process and his art, that he decided to write The Wall.

The main theme of the album are the causes and implications of self-imposed isolation due to the alienation he had been suffering as a “Rock star”, symbolized by the metaphorical wall of the title, that was actually built across the front of the stage during shows. The songs of the album create a very loose semi-autobiographical storyline sketching events in the life of the protagonist, Pink. Pink loses his father as a child, is smothered by his overprotective mother, and is oppressed at school by tyrannical, abusive teachers; each of these traumas becoming “another brick in the wall”. As an adult Pink becomes a rock star, his relationships are marred by infidelity, drugs, and outbursts of violence. As his marriage crumbles, Pink finishes building the wall and completes his isolation from human contact.

Pink’s mindset deteriorates behind his freshly completed wall, with his personal crisis culminating during an onstage performance. Before this final performance, Pink is found incapacitated and unable to perform in his hotel room. His management summons a doctor to inject Pink with something so that he can perform rather than canceling the show, showing how truly alienated he has become from his work. He is just a commodity and must perform for the sake of profit regardless of his health and condition. At this final performance, Pink believes that he is a fascist dictator and his concerts are like Neo-Nazi rallies where he sets his men on fans he considers unworthy, only to then have his conscience rebel at this all and put himself on trial, with his inner judge ordering him to “tear down the wall” in order to open himself to the outside world, and apologizing to his closest friends who are hurt most by his self-isolation.

All of these alienating factors lead to such an emotional disconnect that he built this metaphorical wall around himself as we all do to protect or fragile egos in day to day life. He was alienated from his father because he never met him, but always wanted a connection. He was alienated from his mother because she was overbearing and overprotective. He was alienated from school because of the abusive teachers and assembly line mentality of public education. Finally, as a rock star he is alienated from his art because of his management and fans.

            Roger Waters has often stated that the early days of Pink Floyd were a magical time. He recalls fondly their smaller intimate gigs where everyone in attendance was dead silent as if it were a classical concert. Early in their career Pink Floyd was a cult band, meaning they had a small but extremely dedicated following. But, after The Darkside of the Moon was released in 1973, they became huge rock stars and were filling stadiums. From that point on in their career they were considered mainstream and people just went to their shows because they were the “it” band at the time. This resulted in raucous and boisterous crowds who came for the party and not for the music. Many fans would drink heavily, light off fireworks, and just scream incoherently, not paying any attention to the music. This extreme disconnect from the fans led to an estrangement and alienation from them.

In addition to the estrangement and alienation from their fans, they also became alienated from the entire process and their art. Once they became huge rock stars their management became very greedy and frugal. They forced deadlines on their albums and just pushed them to create the next “hit” just so that they could make more money off the band. The doctor incident that occurred to Pink in The Wall is actually based on something that had happened to Roger Waters on tour, represented in the song Comfortably Numb. Before a show, Waters was suffering extreme pain from abdominal cramps and was injected with some type of medication so that the show could go on with the promoters and management collecting their profits. The management had no interest for the health and well being of Waters, or the other members, only their profit, showing that Waters has suffered the same commodification as the factory workers Marx talked about.

The cure to this alienation that would allow a resistance to the alienation suffered by Roger Waters and many artists would be art for art’s sake. If there is no profit or pursuit of profit involved in the creation of art or anything, the artist or worker cannot become alienated from his or her art. A musical artist before they create or write anything, play their instrument for their own entertainment and edification. If the musician stays in this realm and just plays with friends then they are enjoying something for its own sake and not for any type of profit, and are therefore celebrating in our essential human nature.

The musician can then take this a step further without alienation due to advancements in technology. In the past the only way for a musician to record their music and share it with others was through a record contract. But with a record contract comes major alienation from both the creative process and the art. When signing a record contract an artist accepts studio recording time for a very minimal percentage of royalties as the record company owns whatever the artist produces in that studio. The artist becomes nothing but a dancing circus monkey for the record company and their management. Their art is taken from them and owned by the record company and they are removed from the creative process when all kinds of record company producers come in and change the music to fit what is marketable and profitable; as that is the company’s only goal. This is no longer the only case today as an artist can completely sidestep the machine of the music industry by using a home computer and the internet to record and publish their work freely, allowing them to share their art with their fans without becoming alienated from the process and getting caught up in making money. But even if they wanted to make money they could still do so independently while also retaining all rights and ownership of their art. Of all Marx’s ideas and contributions, the one concept that was monumentally important to him and that guided most of his work was the concept of alienation. Marx discussed alienation as it affected the factory worker of his day, but many still suffer this alienation today. One type of contemporary alienation in particular is that of the artist and his art. But this alienation and all alienation can be cured through the celebration of our essential human nature in any activity that is done for its own sake and not in the exclusive pursuit of profit.