ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, I argued that Marx’s critique of the capitalist system in his Paris writings centred upon his assertion of an ontological primacy for man’s labour activity. Labour activity mediates between man and nature and forms the most essential of man’s survival activities. The form of this labour, including its institutional context, is historically specific. Capitalism is one such context and it dictates a form of labour and the objectification of its results that alienates man in the several dimensions discussed in Chapter 1. This thesis of alienation is the centrepiece of Marx’s humanist critique of capitalism and it is the transcendence of alienation that is the objective of the post-capitalist communist transition.
