How Marx Came to Discover the Alienation of Labor: Mary Gabriel

Joblessness was liberating for Karl Marx in 1844 -- it meant he could go back to school. His classrooms were Paris’ gaslit cafes and wine cellars, and small offices filled with cigar smoke.

There were no lectures, there were discussions --boisterous gatherings that drew curious passers-by who watched men from many nations shout at one another about the relative merits of socialism, communism, nationalism, liberalism and democracy, and whether governments should be taken by force and rebuilt from the ruins, or whether appeals should be made to the ruling class that fundamental social change was coming.