FROM “LABOUR” TO “PRODUCTIVE FORCES”

Abstract

This paper roughly sketches Marx’s notion of labour, following the manner inwhich it was developed in his famous work Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. Furthermore,the author underlines that the identity of labour and capital, which is fundamental forunderstanding the social-economic reality, is the key point of Marx’s analyses in question. Lateron in German Ideology, as part of his efforts to develop historical analyses of capital as the essentiallyhistorical phenomenon in itself, Marx replaced the notion of labour (as realization ofthe (trans-historic) generic essence of man) with concept of productive forces and relations, thusobtaining the historic principle of history.