Community and the Individual

Although it may seem that a government brings people into a community, Marx argues that political rights are actually isolate individuals in "On the Jewish Question." He comments that "political rights" can indeed "only be exercised if one is a member of a community," but that does not mean that they bring people together (41). The rights of a citizen are right such as voting, while the rights of man are freedom of religion, property, etc. People use their citizenship rights to secure the rights of mankind, such as the protection of private property. Marx comments that "the right of property is, therefore, the right to enjoy one's fortune and to dispose of it as one will," essentially "the right of self interest" (42). As citizenship rights are used to protect property rights, government is actually used to drive people further apart rather than bring them together. Marx acknowledges the somewhat Lockean idea that "security is the supreme social concept of civil society," as society exists to enforce security, but that security itself is the "assurance of [civil society's] egoism" (43). Society is composed of egoistic individuals, thus society is founded on principles of egoism. In this way, Marx argues that, "political liberators reduce citizenship, the political community, to a mere means for preserving these so-called rights of man [meaning right to property, religion, etc]" (43). Thus, even when a state believes that in its creation it is breaking down barriers between individuals and bringing people into a common society, it is actually just reinforcing the isolation of mankind.