How to Achieve the Ideal Version of Man

In “The German Ideology,” Marx argues that the division of labor prevents an individual from achieving an ideal, characterized as “Man” (192). Although the two are in different contexts, the division of labor and private property are essentially “identical expressions: in one the same thing is affirmed with reference to activity as is affirmed in the other with reference to the product of the activity” (160). According to Marx, the ruling class is a primary force in justifying private property. He, in addition to other contemporary writers, claims that the State subsists only to secure the ruling class’s interests, private property. Since “this fact has penetrated into the consciousness of the normal man,” man simply accepts this condition as the norm (187). However, according to Marx, “the normal man” does not have to accept this situation, but is in fact in a position to change this circumstance through altering the “consciousness” and material conditions.  According to Marx, there is an intimate relationship between ideas and materials. The material conditions determine the ideas. The ruling class, “which has the means of material production at its disposal,” dictates the predominant thought, to uphold private property (173). Therefore, as the owners of material production, it is in the ruling class’s best interests to perpetuate the concept of private property in order to secure their predominance. Furthermore, Marx also argues that history has a principal role in reinforcing the custom of private property as history is “nothing but the succession of the separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, the capital funds, the productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations” (172). Thus, in order to release man from the limitations imposed by private property, individuals must change both their consciousness and material conditions. By doing so, history will divert from this continuous cycle of exploitation. Marx argues that only in a revolution can private property and the division of labor cease to exist. At this point, the individual is no longer limited by his circumstances and becomes what Marx deems as the ideal version of man.