Full Idea
The man who possesses no other property than his labour power must, in all conditions of society and culture, be the slave of other men who have made themselves the owners of the material conditions of labour. He can only work with their permission.
Gist of Idea
People who only have their labour power are the slaves of those permitting them to work
Source
Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875], I)
Book Reference
Marx,Karl: 'Selected Writings', ed/tr. Simon,Lawrence H. [Hackett 1994], p.316
A Reaction
In a world of vast multinationals, the person giving the permission to work is nearly always dependent on some higher level permission. In any sort of society people can only work with the consensus of other people.