[First published as an anonymous brochure in 1844, later reprinted in Rheinische Jahrbücher zur Gesellschaftlichen Reform (Rhenish Yearbooks for Social Reform), Darmstadt: Constanz, 1846.]

Of Labour and Enjoyment

1. What is the meaning of working?

Every transformation of matter for the life of mankind means working – or acting, creating, generating, manufacturing, producing, taking action and dealing, being active, in short: living. Because truly, all that lives, works; and regarding human life, not only through the head and hands, but also through all other limbs and organs of the human body which transform for human life the materials which they receive from outside, e.g. the mouth processes the received materials for the stomach, and the latter does the same for the blood and so on. This means that each organ of the human body, like each member of society, produces for the whole or works and creates even while it appears to be merely consuming and enjoying; at the same time it only enjoys its own life when it appears to work or produce for the whole. This harmony of work and pleasure takes place only in organic or organized life, not in the un-organized one, as we shall presently show.

2. What kinds of work exist?

Organized and unorganized. In other words: free and coerced or forced labour.