Exploitation of Man by Man

We explain what the exploitation of man by man is and what its meaning is. Furthermore, exploitation in the primitive community.

Exploitation of man by man
A few become rich thanks to the efforts of many others.

What is the exploitation of man by man?

It is known as the exploitation of man by man one of the most famous postulates of the Theory of the Economics of Capitalism proposed by the German philosopher Karl Marx, father of an entire doctrine of thought: Marxism.

According to this postulate, the owners of the means of production, belonging to the oligarchies or the bourgeois elite, build their wealth based on the profit they derive (the “surplus value”, that is, the commercial value added to consumer goods) from the work of the working class, the proletariat.

Thus, the objects that a worker manufactures in a factory in exchange for a monthly salary are sold at a higher cost than the cost at which they were manufactured, in order to pay the worker who produced it and leave a profit to the owner of the factory, although he did not directly participate in the work.

In this way, Marx coined the phrase “the exploitation of man by man” to refer to the fact that under the capitalist system, a few become rich thanks to the efforts of many others.

See also: Class struggle

What does exploitation of man by man mean?

According to the postulates of Marxism, the working classes, not owning property or means of production, are forced to sell their labor force, that is, their capacity to work, to be exploited (in the sense in which a mine or a farm is exploited) by the bourgeoisie.

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In exchange, the worker receives a salary with which he can consume the goods produced by other exploited workers, and so on. It is a chain of work in which the major beneficiaries, since they do not take part in the work but rather coordinate the work of others, are the bourgeoisie.

Exploitation in the primitive community

Exploitation of man - slavery
Ancient communities exploited men under slavery.

The exploitation of human beings at the hands of their fellow human beings is not exclusive to capitalism, however, and It occurred in ancient and primitive communities in the form of slavery: human beings who were treated as merchandise, without any rights and under the legal and moral guardianship of their owners, for whom they produced and worked in exchange for shelter and food. Even his descendants belonged to the master.

Another possible example was the servants of the middle ages: the impoverished and illiterate peasantry who worked the lands of a feudal lord in exchange for permission to live there, order and military protection in case of armed invasions.

Continue in: Primitive community