The Alienation of Modern Man: An Interpretation Based on Marx and Tonnies

THERE SEEMS TO BE some evidence to support the view that alienation is a rather recent phenomenon, largely due to political developments of the last decades. It was not until grave changes occurred in the regimes of various European countries during the thirties of this century that many of our contemporaries became aware for the first time of the depersonalization of human lives and of forces that turned individuals into mere objects. The fate of hundreds of thousands of fleeing refugees in those dark years has been powerfully expressed in Menotti opera The Consul. Stefan Zweig describes these experiences in his memoirs The World of Yesterday in these words: "I ceased to feel as if I quite belonged to myself. A part of the natural identity with my original and essential ego was destroyed forever. . . . If I reckon up the many forms I have filled out during these years, declarations on every trip, tax declarations,' foreign exchange certificates, border passes, entrance permits,' departure permits,' registrations on coming and going; the many hours I have spent in ante-rooms of consulates and officials, the many inspectors,

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