Every sphere of human life must be interpreted in terms of this single idea: "Religion, family, state, law, science, art, etc., are only particular modes of production, and fall under its general law."2 Given this total reliance on the concept of human labor, it is quite understandable why the division of labor played such an important role in the overall Marxian framework. The concept of production was a kind of intellectual "Archimedean point" for Marx. What they are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how they produce."¹ The very fact that man rationally organizes production is what distinguishes him from the animal kingdom, according to Marx. A man cannot be defined apart from his labor: "As individuals express their life, so they are. Mankind, Marx asserted, is a totally autonomous species-being, and as such man is the sole creator of the world in which he finds himself. The heart of his system was based on the idea of human production. He was a social scientist in the full meaning of the phrase. Anyone who intends to deal seriously with the study of society must grapple with the question of the division of labor. Paul, in his first letter to the church at Corinth, went so far as to describe the universal Church in terms of a body: there are hands, feet, eyes, and all are under the head, Christ. Plato saw as the ultimate form of society a community in which social functions would be rigidly separated and maintained society would be divided into definite functional groups: warriors, artisans, unskilled laborers, rulers. ![]() Before the advent of modern times, philosophers and theologians concerned themselves with the implications of the idea. The division of labor is a subject which has fascinated social scientists for millennia. Gary North is a member of the Economists’ National Committee on Monetary Policy and is the author of Marx’s Religion of Revolution (Nutley, New Jersey: Craig Press, 1968), from which this article has been adapted.
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