ABSTRACT
The material dimension of Herbert Marcuse’s idea of freedom and of his critique of contemporary societies is generally ignored or dismissed; the passage therefore deserves to be quoted in full: “Classical political economy admits that even great social wealth means nothing but stationary poverty for the worker. The labor contract, from which Karl Marx derives the essential connection between freedom and exploitation, is the fundamental pattern for all relations in civil society. The analysis of the aspect of civil society commands all further discussions of private life, culture and progress in contemporary societies. Yet, partly due to Marcuse’s demanding and ambiguous method of presentation and partly because of the emphasis usually placed upon his more esoteric research, this aspect is often lost. Labor is the way men develop their abilities and needs in the struggle with nature and history, and the social frame impressed on labor is the historical form of life mankind has bestowed upon itself.
