Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a revolutionary German economist and philosopher. He stood against industrial change and was the leading thinker of Communist movement. One of his most crucial contributions to socialism is the four theories of labor, one of which is the theory of exploitation. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx presents his theory of classes, which is the foundation for his theory of exploitation. At his time, industrialization was taking place in many large cities and the working class was forced into poverty. The worsening situation of the working class made him believe in the labor exploitation by capitalist class. Exploitation is not unique to capitalism. Throughout the history, it has always been a feature of all class societies, which are divided into two main classes, the class of the exploited which produces most wealth, and the class of the exploiters which expropriates the wealth. However, there is an important difference between exploitation under slavery and feudalism and that under capitalism. Under slavery and feudalism, exploitation is obvious to both the exploited and exploiters. Under capitalism, however, it is well hidden by the labor-wage system and private property right. It seems to be an equal exchange that workers are hired, labor for a given amount of time, and receive their wages. But this is not a case of justice for Marx. To Marx, labor is a commodity, whose price – wages – is also determined by supply and demand just like any other commodities, so workers can be exploited through wage – an amount of payment far from enough to compensate for what they produce for the capitalists. However, as the bourgeoisie society is built by the proletariat, once they organize themselves and triumph, which is an unavoidable consequence of class conflict, capitalism will collapse and there will be a society without class.
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