Where Does the Power of Money Come From According to Marxism?

We can all see that money has power in society, but where exactly does it come from? More specifically, how do we Marxists see where the power of money comes from? There are many differing opinions on this, the most famous one being the religious idea that money is the root of all evil. But of course this doesn’t tell us very much.

Money has power in society, but where does this power come from? The desire to obtain money is an end in itself. It takes on all things in society, class status, symbol of prestige and social power. It appears as though money has a power onto itself. Money seems to have a will and consciousness of its own. This phenomenon where objects have social power or will of their own is called “the fetishism of commodities” by Marx.

In this context Marx uses the term “fetishism” in…