Philippine E-Journals

Karl Heinrich Marx’s Das Kapital: Contextualizing its Relevance to the Contemporary Filipino Workers

Asisclo Iii M. Abonado | Alvin John J Neyra | Heide P Capampangan | Nico Jay G Lopez

 

Abstract:

This paper expounded on Karl Heinrich Marx’s notion of human work in his magnum opus, Das Kapital and its relevance to the contemporary Filipino workers. For this purpose, the qualitative research employing hermeneutics approach was used in exposing the meaning of human work supported with various credible information. This scholarly work articulated that man cooperates with nature in building new objects that led to the significant development of the human civilization and caused a dramatic change in his own nature. Man’s harmonious relationship with nature, nevertheless, had been ruined as he produced products for the capitalist who personified the capital. Accordingly, man was alienated from his working condition, nature and from the commodity that he produced. In the Philippine context, amidst the claimed of good economic performance in the previous years, our workers reaped no fruits from the economic growth. Hence, for Marx, the only way for workers to liberate themselves from suffering and to achieve an egalitarian society was to start a struggle against the capitalist. We strongly suggested that the readers must be knowledgeable of the principles of Karl Marx for them to see the relevance of his works to the labor issues in contemporary Philippine society.