Research On Marx’s Machinery Thoughts

After the Industrial Revolution in the 18 th century,more and more machines were used in factories,and machines became the main force in industrial production.After that,machines gradually expanded from factories to people’s daily life.In the historical situation in which Marx lived,the emerging "machine system" was undoubtedly the focus of the times.Marx gave a profound theoretical explanation of the machine,discussed the historical transformation of labor materials from tools to machines in terms of technical form,and analyzed the role that machines play in different stages of production.Marx made it clear that machines and capitalist applications of machines are not the same thing.Machines,as tools,should be used by workers to reduce their physical consumption and save labor time,thus providing free time for the liberation of human beings.But under the conditions of the capitalist application of the machine,the machine system develops into fixed capital,a form suitable for capital.Capital has become the driving force behind the machine,and the root of the machine’s development lies in the profit-seeking nature of the machine.At the same time,capital also constructed a new mode of controlling society.Capital used machines to cover up the essence of exploitation,and finally formed a social picture of machine fetishism.Therefore,the coexistence of machines and capital creates the absurd scene of machines ruling society,and the capitalist application of machines instead causes human alienation and suffering.The alienation of human beings under the rule of machines is manifested in the inversion of the relationship between workers and machines,in the human spirit as the loss of human independence,and in society as a whole as the replacement of labor by machines.Therefore,the critique of "machine" is a very important dimension in the critique of Marx’s political economy,and in the critique of machines,the critique of capital also runs through.At the same time,Marx pointed out that,as an important carrier of science and technology,the role of machines in promoting civilization radiates to the entire society.Machines have shaped a new form of society.If machines can get rid of the domination of capital,they will become the driving force for human liberation.Therefore,for the contemporary age where machines are more widely used,Marx’s machine ideas provide us with an ideological source for constructing a new view of machines.