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This is a quote from the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Engels; I have copied it from The World We Have Lost, by Peter Laslett, 2nd edition, page 17.

beginning of quote

The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his natural superiors, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous cash-payment. It has drowned the most heavenly ectasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom - Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage-labourers. The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money-relation.

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Note that Marx, who supposedly advocated a classless society, blames capitalism for eliminating the special priviledges of the class of people who are "natural superiors". Also note that Marx, who blamed capitalism for the establishment of religion, also blames capitalism for the destruction of religion. Also note that Marx, who attacked factory owners for having wealth and status without doing any real work, nevertheless thinks people like "the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science" should have wealth and status, even if they don't do any real work either.

But the most important thing is that Marx thinks that factory managers should not give money to the workers. If the workers are given money, then the workers can choose how to spend the money. Money is freedom. But if the factory manager gives the workers food, clothes, and housing; then the factory manager is in effect telling the workers how to spend their money, telling them what they have to buy and what they can't buy. Marx is advocating an economic system where the factory managers have total control over the lives of the workers. There is a name for such a system: slavery.

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