Marxism is a social, political and economic ideology revolving around the theories developed by Karl Marx with the help of Friedrich Engels. The ideology of Marxism looks into the impacts that capitalism has on productivity, labour, and economic growth and sustainability. The theory of Marxism claims that the struggle exhibited between the social classes that include the capitalists and the workers determine the development capabilities of the country. The nation encounters difficulties in the achieving of sustainable economic development because the capitalists are in constant struggle to gain ultimate control of the factors of production from the public. The theory suggests that for the nations to save their economies from collapsing they need to take over the control of the economy from the hands of the capitalists. The ideology of Marxism, therefore, is the theory that analyses the developing and complex relations that exist between the capitalists and the proletariat (the poor labourers).
The theory of Marxism is a concept that analyses how the social classes relate and the social conflicts that emerge from these interactions while employing a materialistic explanation of historical development and views social transformation dialectically. Marxism developed because of the rising conflicts between social classes in the capitalist societies as a result of the conflicting interests between the ruling class that owned the production means and the labourer class charged with the duty of producing goods and services in exchange of minimum wages.
Marxism views capitalism “as an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterised by a free competitive market and motivation by profit” (Ollman, 2012). The Marxism ideology is anti-capitalism, and it is a socialism system whose main feature is an economy controlled by the public who are also the owners of the production means, exchange, and distribution. The theory states that in a capitalistic society, the proletariat or the class of labourers owns nothing but their ability to work and this is the only thing they can offer in the market for sale. Marx views the class as the relationship between the members and the production means. Marx further argued that history is the source of the struggles experienced by the social classes as well as war and uprisings. The capitalist system keeps the workers in a state that will see them only able to support and maintain their families but not able to own anything by offering a wage that is barely enough for their survival (D'Amato, 2006). As a result, these labourers become alienated due to lack of control over the products or labour produced by them. The capitalist sells the goods and services at a price higher than the workforce involved, and upon payment of the wages, an immense surplus value remains in the hands of the wealthy ruling class.
Marxism is a movement that was formed by Engel and Karl Marx which criticizes all institutions, ideology, and dominations of the bourgeoisie and at the same time propagating self-emancipation of the oppressed proletariat class. Marxism is against all forms of evolutionary socialism, gradualism, and reformism and instead its vision is to bring about revolutionary. Marxism though its objectives are similar with other progressive movements it differs from them because it is determined to end all types of exploitation and domination through and in self-emancipation of the labourer class and hence this ideology should be looked at as revolutionary socialism.
Marxism stands for the complete elimination of capitalist states and any form of institutionalized oppression and violence, and through the fight for the rights of the working class, the Marxists believe that the capitalist rule and classes will disappear. The ideology of Marxism proclaims that dictatorship of the working class is the only way to destroy anarchism. This dictatorship of the proletariat can only be achieved if there exists a strong workers movement because “concentrated force is required to overthrow concentrated force” (Singer, 2001)
According to Marxism ideology, human history is categorised into four phases: feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and communism. The theory further proclaims that when automation and mechanisation increase, the labour needed in the production firm decreases and this force the wages also to reduce due to high unemployment. This scenario creates a wide gap between the capitalist class who are the ruling class and the owners of the production firms as well as the machines and the poor proletarians who own nothing (Merelman, 1969). As the workers continue to struggle for their survival, the capitalists, on the other hand, are continuously exploiting them for their monetary gains. In the long run, the economic recession sets in because the proletarians are unable to purchase the manufactured products and the rich are unable to use the surplus value that remains after the sale of the products. The instability created by the economic polarity encourages the poor labourers with nothing to lose to revolt against the ruling class causing the entire capitalistic system to collapse (Bell " Cleaver, 2002). A new socialistic system emerges as a result of the breakdown of capitalism and in this new system the state owns all the capital. The socialistic system is “a socioeconomic system based on social ownership of the means of production, a distribution based on one’s contribution and output organised directly for use” (Burris, 1987). Carl Marx developed a hypothesis where he theorised that as the advancement of the productive forces continued to increase, socialism system will turn gradually into a communist system. With time the state will turn out to be superfluous giving rise to a society that is human, stateless, classless and only guided by common ownership as well as the fundamental socialist principle that states “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Burris, 1987). In this communism society, people own the capital collectively, and everybody is happy.
Development of Marxism
Marxism emerged in the 19th century as a political struggle in opposition to Doctrinaire socialism, Utopia, Anarchism, and bourgeois tendencies in the workers' movement. Marxism ideology was founded from three sources: German idealistic philosophy, French socialism, and British political economy. During this time those advocating for socialism were charismatic individuals who had a vision of a socialist future and fought for it. However, these people lacked a conception of socialism as the self-emancipation of the proletariat class as well as the scientific explanation of the conditions that existed then. By basing on this lack of theoretical basis Engel and Marx embarked on criticizing the existing socialism ideology to build a revolutionary proletariat movement based on the concept of self-emancipation. The approach used by Marx led to the emergence of philosophy, socialism, and political economy from the capitalistic society (Singer, 2001).
In his critical analysis of the capitalistic society, Marx discovered the ideology and ethics in the political economist’s theories that determine how individuals live under a capitalist society by giving consent to be exploited. This discovery made Marx continue pursuing political economy, and this gave rise to his two works Comments on James Mill and Volume III of Capital published in 1844 and 1894 respectively. Marx's critique of the political economy led to the emergence of contradictions from how political economist perceived value. This contradiction was found to be originating from the relationship between production and the working class. Marx found out that capitalism was based on the concept of working to earn a living and buying to make a profit a situation that led to the oppression of the working class and accumulation of the capital by the ruling class.
Marx engagement in the fight for the rights of the proletariat saw him jailed and deported to London. The formation of the first and second internationals was a significant move in the proletariat democracy that saw workers of numerous nations uniting to form one workers' movement. The workers' revolt that took place across Europe in 1848 led to the collapse of the old order (Singer, 2001). These movements were incited by the “Neue Rheinische Zeitung” a daily newspaper published by Marx and Engel during this period that played a role of organizing, advocating and agitating for this workers' movement.
In the critical examination of the commune, the idea of revolution, the state, and democracy developed in Marxism and in 1848 the communist manifesto was amended to include these ideas that indicated that the working class could destroy the capitalist organs and establish its own based on proletarian democracy (Singer, 2001). This Marxism ideology led to Paris Commune, a second struggle of the working class where they managed to seize state power. Later the works of Marx and Engel were translated into many languages, and due to the Second International, the ideology of Marxism became widespread in the whole world uniting all organized working classes into a universal organization.
The Relevance of the Marxism Philosophy to the Modern World
Marxism was believed to have ended with the collapse of the USSR, and the doctrine rendered obsolete, however, this is not true because the philosophy has proved to be still relevant in the modern society although not as an exact application of communism ideology but as an application of equality and justice to improve the community. It is clear that capitalism is the world’s dominant system; however, it has not solved the fundamental tensions and problems of our societies but instead displaced these issues. Due to technological advancement, people living in industrial zones have an enormous amount of wealth. However, those living outside these zones are suffering from an unfair distribution of wealth, and they are in worse conditions than at the beginning of capitalism. In the theory of Marxism, one of the results of the communist system was the realisation of full employment. In the current society, we witness high unemployment and the gap between the rich and the poor has steadily continued to widen beyond the levels seen in the communist regime. The Marxism theory is still relevant because considering the level of inequality in resource and wealth distribution it is apparent that there exist, two separate social classes, the poor working class and the ruling capitalists, who are continuously subjecting the former group to oppression for their monetary gain.
The ideology of Marxism can be used in the current 21st century to outline how the separate classes that have emerged due to capitalism can relate to form a society that can function as a single unit. Through Marx historical perspective we can understand the society’s inherent dynamics as a single unit rather than only dwelling on the functionality of separate groups of the community by considering the long-term outcomes. According to Singer, Marxism can serve as a mode of analysis examining the relationship between ownership, power, and social change and thus illuminate a wider variety of social transformation than whatever is currently dominant (Singer, 2001). Considering the ever-widening gap between the social classes and the increase in cases of social injustices as well as disparity, Marxism ideology that proclaimed that socialistic society could only arise when a revolution occurs is still relevant.
The ideology of Marxism in the current world is not only restricted to the economic class but applies to any group in a society that becomes alienated due to systematic oppression. This oppression can be based on disability, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation. In many states nowadays there is free education, public libraries, universal health programs, emergency services, and support services for women, young, elderly and those with disabilities (Claeys, 2018). All these public services can be identified as socialist and a good example of an application of Marxism ideology where support is provided to the less fortunate for equality.
Annotated Bibliography
Ollman, B. (2012). Dialectical Marxism: What is Marxism? A bird's-eye view. Retrieved from https://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/what_is_marxism.php
In the article, the author seeks to establish the meaning of Marxism ideology and establish an in-depth understanding of the capitalistic system and make the readers understand who benefits from it and who are the oppressed. In this article, Ollman explains that the ideology of socialism emerged as a result of Marx analysing capitalism. The work of Bertell Ollman is valid and useful for this paper because he gives an in-depth analysis of how capitalism came into existence and what will happen in the long run as a result of persistence struggle between the two social classes. The strength of this work is that it recognises that Marxism is not obsolete, but it is still applicable even in the modern world where the greatest nations experience a crisis arising due to the impact of capitalism. For this reason, these nations are unable to curb the high rate of unemployment, affordable housing, health care and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.
Burris, V. (1987).Class structure and political ideology.The Insurgent Sociologist, 14(2), 5–46.
The article is about the relationship between the ruling class and the proletariat and shows how the social classes divide the current society. The author argues that Marxism is still applicable in the contemporary capitalistic society where the intermediate class and the working class exist. The struggle between the managers and the supervisors who make the intermediate class and the working class has created tension and instability in the economy due to lack of balance between labour and capital. The article is a vital reference because it tries to show the relevance of Marxism in the current capitalist world where those in managerial positions occupy a contradictory position between the working class and the capitalists. Like capitalists, the intermediate class is in charge of the control of the production means, but like the proletariat, they are exempted from resource allocation and investment. However, the article has one weakness in that is it fails to give a clear definition of the boundaries separating the working class from the intermediate class.
Bell, P., "Cleaver, H. (2002).Marx's theory of crisis as a theory of class struggle.The Commoner, 5, 1-61.
The source defines the ideology of Marxism and gives an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the capitalistic system on the workforce, production and economic development. The reference is valid and the best for this paper because it is based on the analysis of how inequalities in the capitalistic economy because of the oppression from the ruling class lead a revolt from the working class. The weakness of this source is that the author assumes that because of the inequality in the social classes the workers will be alienated from the production process and also be resentful towards their families and employers. However, this is not always the case. The source has been very significant in the development of this paper because it gives an analysis of what leads to the emergence of Marxism political ideology.
References
Bell, P., " Cleaver, H. (2002).Marx's theory of crisis as a theory of class struggle.The Commoner, 5, 1-61.
Burris, V. (1987).Class structure and political ideology.The Insurgent Sociologist, 14(2), 5–46.
Claeys, G. (2018). Marx and Marxism.Nation Books.
D'Amato, P. (2006). The meaning of Marxism.Haymarket Books.
Merelman, R.M. (1969). American political science association: Child rearing, political ideologies, moral development, parents, child development, moral judgment, frustration. The American Political Science Review,63(3), 750-767.
Ollman, B. (2012). Dialectical Marxism: What is Marxism? A bird's-eye view. Retrieved from https://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/what_is_marxism.php
Singer, P. (2001). Marx: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
