Tobacco

This is my original critique of tobacco that was done for a college course. It is almost a year old now and in the interim I have learned a lot but, I need to start somewhere.

During his life Marx was well aquatinted with tobacco, he was an avid pipe smoker (at that time it was the worker’s choice for tobacco consumption). At Marx’s death however tobacco had not reached mass consumption and production under the power of the cigarette. By applying a Marxist critique we can see how Marx and Marxists might view the cigarette and tobacco more generally.

It should be understood that as the cigarette is produced it alienates the worker from his labor especially with the advent of rolling machines which greatly increased the productive capabilities of each individual worker. The creation of the modern cigarette is deeply entrenched in the capitalist world. On its own the cigarette lends to the worker the characteristics of nicotine that is common to all tobacco products but is more efficient in doing so than other means of tobacco consumption. The characteristics of nicotine that are of prime use to the worker are; increased stamina, focus and lose of appetite. These characteristics allow a worker to produce more labor-time for the capitalist with less cost. The health detriments also benefit the capitalist; it allows him to get more labor out of worker with less chance of that worker surviving for a long period of time. In the end this increases the capital that the capitalist is gaining.

There is a second side of cigarette consumption and of tobacco in general which would be the culture of smoking. The ability of tobacco to bring people together and to facilitate open discussion has the added benefit for the worker of giving him time to plan the Revolution with other workers. In addition the worker will be more productive during this time because of the stimulating effect of nicotine than he would be if he was plotting the Revolution in his spare time on not a smoke break.

Cigarettes and tobacco can be seen from the Marxist view point to facilitate the Revolution by both increasing capital and by making efficient use of time for planning the Revolution.

I disagree that Marx would not approve of cigarettes; rather he would endorse their use. The use of tobacco creates a culture that transcends the bonds of class. It is true that there are still markers within this culture that denote class such as the way a person holds a cigarette; between the forefinger and thumb for the worker and forefinger and middle finger for the bourgeois. These markers though are the product of the capitalist economy which dictates society and culture.

Starting from this point I will update, expand and improve the critique into a full history of tobacco, or perhaps narrow the focus to just cigarettes.