Alienation
Following the wave of the youth protest movement of '68 and then the 1970s, the concept of alienation became established in Western culture. Until then, Marxist communism's main objective, and thus its greatest appeal, was the economic improvement of the working classes. But by the 1960s, it had become clear and undeniable that the economic conditions of workers in what was called a capitalist society were much better than those in real communism, which had attempted to implement Marxist principles. At that point, it was said, on the one hand, that real communism had not truly realized Marxism, and on the other, that Marxism was not only about economic improvement but primarily about the fulfillment of humanity. It was said that the capitalist society might also lead to economic improvement but did not fulfill the true essence of humanity; instead, it led to its negation, which was defined as alienation. The concept of alienation, therefore, indicated the non-fulfillment of the individual, and material well-being was negatively rebranded as consumerism.
In Marxist thought, alienation was related to work. In artisanal production, the worker found fulfillment in the work they had created (artists were also artisans), and thus the product belonged to them. In industrial production, however, the worker performed only repetitive tasks (like the famous assembly line) and was then deprived of their own work, which belonged to the capitalist: they did not find fulfillment in their work but rather alienation in it. In reality, even in pre-industrial production, there were undoubtedly jobs that did not allow for self-fulfillment and were therefore alienating, just as there are many jobs in industrial society that are not alienating at all.
However, the point is that it is unclear why, in a communist society, industrial work (assembly line) should become self-fulfilling and not alienating. Why should the work done in a state enterprise be less alienating than work done in a private company or on one's own?
Certainly, there are jobs where we more easily feel fulfilled, like teaching, and others where we feel like mere cogs in a machine (alienating), such as the assembly line. But whether I teach in a private school, a public school, or privately, the level of satisfaction is the same. Similarly, if I am on an assembly line (which no longer really exists), I do not see any difference whether the factory is privately owned, state-owned, or even mine. What may change is the pay and the resulting well-being.
Another concept of alienation found in Marxist thought is that of religious alienation, borrowed from the Hegelian Left, from Feuerbach: man projects his essence, himself, into God and thus alienates himself, considering himself outside of himself in God, who becomes everything while man sees himself as nothing. But for Marx, this was not a logical or epistemological error; religion exists because it is functional to the economic system based on the exploitation of man by man. Religion was defined as "the opium of the people": it is, therefore, objectively functional to the system. The worker accepts poverty, hardships, and the infinite injustices of this world because he believes that the only happiness awaits him in heaven.
This idea should not be confused with the deception imposed by the church or with the imposture of priests, as the positivists claimed.
We cannot, therefore, distinguish between a true religion and one used as a tool of power, as often happens. For example, the fascists were not Catholics, yet they exalted Catholicism.
No, for Marxism, the essential nature of religion is always and only alienation. But who decides whether religion is alienation or the realization of humanity? A minority that self-proclaims itself the people's consciousness or the individual citizen in a free and pluralistic society?
In the first case, we would have oppressive alienation; in the second, free self-fulfillment.
In reality, alienation depends on what the individual feels they are, on what truly gives them satisfaction, which is a subjective matter that depends on what the individual feels about themselves. Thus, a scientist feels fulfilled in scientific discovery, an artist in their artistic expression, a Franciscan in embracing sister poverty, the early Christian in being martyred.
But aside from exceptional cases, some people feel fulfilled when a woman reciprocates their love, when a child is born, when that child succeeds. Others find fulfillment in their career, professional success, wealth accumulation, sports, and the list goes on.
Self-fulfillment is a subjective and infinitely variable personal matter. It is absurd to think that the state can guarantee it, as the totalitarian fascist and communist regimes of the last century or today's theocratic ones claimed to do. The state can only provide well-being (prosperity, assistance, security, etc.), which is not self-fulfillment (happiness) but still important.
Alienation is not the concern of the state.