Man is considered only as a worker. Marx says that the proletarian is the same as any horse, not as a human being. Therefore, human labour is produced the same as animal labour. He is compensated for the work he has done because he has to eat. The horse or animal has to eat too, and his compensation is the food or grass that it eats. The value of man’s humanity is nothing, and compared to an animal, he is equal.
Labour is a source of livelihood for man, but it is the same as a commodity. And since it is a commodity, man is also reduced to a commodity. Labour is compared to an animal’s work because it does not have the dignity that it deserves. It’s just its source of food. Man, like an animal, has to eat in order to live, but the main purpose of eating is to work and work, produce more commodities and objects.
The dignity of labour was not a virtue in the early years of the industrial revolution. It was in those times that communism was at its ripeness because of the undignified living and working conditions. A man worked like an animal. What do we do with an animal? An animal can be slaughtered for food. This was the comparison of man and animal labour in Marx’s time. For as long as the worker can work, he has to work like a horse. He is only fed because he can work, but when he is not able to do work anymore, he must be left to die. He is not useful anymore.