Home / Political objections / Marxism, socialism and communism
"Exploitation is a relation between human classes. Animals aren't workers, and the struggle is a different one."
Marxism, socialism and communism: the principle
End exploitation and the turning of beings and lives into commodities.
Why excluding animals contradicts the principle
- Billions of animals are bred, used and sold as commodities, on a scale no other exploitation reaches. The critique of commodification applies to them directly.
- Whether "labor" applies to animals is a real debate: Marx himself distinguished human labor from animal activity. But authors such as Ted Benton and Kendra Coulter show that cows, horses and working dogs perform productive functions without choice or compensation.
- Even those who reject calling it labor must explain why the exploitation of a sentient being would be acceptable just because it is not human.
The strongest counter-reply
The most serious version says the priority must be the human working class, and that the animal cause diverts energy from the revolution.
See also
K4 There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.B4 The problem is the industry, not consumers.J3 Farmers and slaughterhouse workers would lose their jobs.J6 There are more important human problems.