Marxian theory – main
postulates
• Middle of the 19th century the theory emerged
• Marxism as scientific socialism
• Born in 1818 in Germany
• 1894 onwards lived in England
• German philosopher, political economist and revolutionary
• While in college, president of the Trier Tavern Drinking Club
• Member of (influenced by) Young Hegelians –dialectic
• Marxism can be defined as a set of political and economic
principles founded by Marx and Engels in order to lay
scientific foundation of socialism
• Marx was heavily influenced by Hegel, David Ricardo,
Adam Smith, William Thompson etc.
• His interest in economics was fueled by Friedrich Engels –
friend, collaborator and benefactor
• Major works includes;
• Economic and Philosophical Manuscript
• Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
• The Communist Manifesto (Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx)
• A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
• Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (German: Das
Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie) Three Volumes
1) Dialectical Materialism- The philosophical Basis of
Marxism
• Marx rejected the idea of Hegel that idea is the essence of universe
and postulate that matter was the essence of universe, which is the
force behind all the social changes
• Matter operate law of dialectics
• Each stages of social development is represented by the
corresponding stage of material condition of society
• He believed that social institutions are shaped by material
conditions, which are in turn determined by the mode of
economic production thus Marx replaced dialectical idealism
by his own dialectical materialism
• Thus thesis x anti-thesis = synthesis ( material as the moving
force)
• Engels identified three laws of dialectics they are:
1) The transformation of quantity to quality and vice versa-water
changing its quality under certain quantity of temperature
2) The interpenetration of opposite- Hard and soft are opposite, but
in the material world they interpenetrate each other
3) The negation of negation- every stage of social development
contain seeds of its own decay- the sprout being the negation of
the seed
2) Historical Materialism: Scientific or Empirical Basis of
Marxism
• In any given epoch of society the economic relations exert
influence in shaping the progress of society and moulding
social, political, intellectual, and ethical relationships
• Social relations prevailing in any stage of historical
development are determined by the economic condition
• Economic interpretation of history/ materialistic
interpretation of history
• Since survival of humans depends upon their efficiency in
production of material things, production is the most
important activity of humans
• Society came in to existence primarily for the purpose of
economic production since man in group produce more than
man in isolation
• Society since its inception has been subjected to internal stress
and strain due to the disparity between needs and the amount of
goods produced
• Unsatisfied needs are the result of defective mode of
production
• Man has always imagined another world where all his needs
would meet. Thus religion came in to existence as the sobe of
opressed
• Religion is the product of defective economic system
• As the process of material production hold the key to social
changes it is responsible for historical development
• In social production of their life man enter in to definite relations
of production which are indispensable and independent of their
will
• The relations of production correspond to a definite stage of
development of the material productive forces.
• Forces of Production- it includes two elements
a) Means of production- tools, machines, factories etc
b) Labour power of workers
• Relations of Production- are constituted by pattern of economic
ownership of means of production. At every stage of history
owners of means of production constitute the dominant class and
those left with labour power only constitute the depended class
• Together the forces of production and relations of production
constitute the mode of production.
• The sum total of the relations of production constitute the
economic structure/ the base or substructure of every society
• Legal, political, moral, religious and all other institutions
constitute the super structure of a society which change
according to the changing character of the base
How change happens?
• Mans constant search for production improvement to face
scarcity leads to development of forces of production
• Means of production will develop due to the scientific
discoveries, inventions and new technologies
• Labour power will acquire new skills, education, and new
knwoledge
• The development of forces of production will lead to
contradiction with relations of production which will
ultimately result in the collapse of the existing mode of
production along with it superstructure
• Every stage of social development falls short of perfection
contains the seeds of its own decay
• Four main stages of past historical development has been
identified by Marx and Engels they are
• Primitive communism
• Slave-owner society
• Medieval feudal society- lords and serfs
• Modern capitalist society
• The abolition of feudalism lead to the emergence of industria
and commercial middle class
3)Theory of Revolution
• the theory of revolution is an integral part of dialectical
materialism
• Revolution is the indispensable mid wife of social changes
• Each stage of social development have certain sets of ideas
attitudes, moral values, to sustain the existing pattern
• It will comes to conflict when production forces changes
• But the new production forces will somehow manage to
smash the existing base and superstructure
• The dominant class will only part with it power when there
will be a use of force
• Revolution is thus an integral part of class struggle and social
changes
• Each epoch in a history is there for is a product of revolution
• The capitalist system emerged by overthrowing feudalism- e.g.:
French Revolution
• The proletarian revolution would be different from all other
revolutions
• It would be against a minority by a majority of masses against
class exploitation
• It is not designed to win power for a particular class but to end
class
4) Dictatorship of the proletariat
• The revolution would establish a temporary dictatorship of
proletariat in order to counter the possible counter revolution
• It will abolish the system of private property
• Under the dictatorship of proletariat socialism will give way
to communism.
• Under the dictatorship class would still exist , with the
oppressive mechanisms of state
• But the current state is different from all previous states
existed
• The current state belong to the have-nots contrary to the all
historical state
• The proletariat dictatorship will liquidate private property
• The state would undertake fullest development of new
productive forces, maximum technological development, and
increasing production to meet all the needs of society.
• The productive forces being able to meet all the needs of
society will pave way to the emergence of class less society
• “Each according to his ability to each according to his needs”
5) Doctrine of class conflict- the sociological base of
Marxism
• Integral part of historical materialism
• “The history of all hitherto society is the history of class struggle”
• Antagonistic class emerged with the rise of private property
• Marx says that the epoch of capitalist poses the distinctive feature; that it
have simplified class antagonism in to two class facing directly each other
and the proletariat alone is the revolutionary class
6) Surplus Value- Economic basis of Marxism
• Capitalist mode of production involve exploitation of working
class
• David Ricardo`s subsistence theory of wages and population
theory of Thomas Malthus
• Labour is the sole creator of value out of the four elements of
production
• The three elements organization, capital, and land are sterile
because they are capable of reproducing only what is put in to
them.
• Labour is the only variable element which produce values in
society
• Surplus value is define by Marx as the difference between the
value that living labour create in production and value paid by
the capitalist to the worker in form of wages.
• The capitalist pays the worker less than the value their labour
has added to the goods, usually only enough to maintain the
worker at a subsistence level
• The reminder is surplus labour and the value it producing is
surplus value
• To make profit the capitalist appropriates this surplus value
and there by exploit the labour
7)Theory of alienation- sociological perspective of Marxism
• Alienation is a natural consequences of capitalism
• Capitalist strives to ensure that the activities of the workers
are oriented towards specific goods and objectives
• The labourers are bound to sell their power, strength,
expertise and skills to the capitalist
• Consequently the workers have no control over their product of
labour and on the labour itself , which is their life activity
• This alienation is multi dimensional and encompasses all areas
of life
• There are four types of alienations
1. Alienation from product (form/things)- the product doesn`t
belong to the person who create it. The profit from the product goes
to capitalist
2. Alienation from Labour ( self alienation from one`s own
activity)- the worker work to live he doesn`t see his work as fulfilling
one but something to be go through in order to live
3. Alienation from other man (species alienation)- very less human
interactions and human relations. The market doesn`t give importance
to human nature and value
4. Alienation from himself – the three other forms of alienation will
lead man to be mere animal. They will be alienated from music, art
and literature.
8) State: an instrument of exploitation
• In Marxian political theory state is considered as the device
of the exploiter and it nature undergoes changes after the
revolution
1. State as class institution- state is nothing more than a
machine for the exploitation and oppression of one class by
another. For Marx state is the executive committee of
bourgeoise
2. State as an institution of violence-state stand not on the will of
people but on violence. The military, police, court, law,
bureaucracy are used by the capitalist to oppress the workers
3. State as temporary institution- after revolution state will have
a quasi character. It will become an instrument in the hands of
workers
• Communist manifesto outline a series of steps taken by the state
during the transition period
1. Property in land should abolish and rent should be used for
public purpose
2. A progressive income tax should be levied
3. Right of inheritance should be abolished
4. The property of emigrants and rebels should be confiscated
5. There should be state control centralisation and monopoly
of credit
6. Centralise transport and communication
7. State improvement of agriculture
8. Obligation of all person to work
9. Agriculture and manufacturing industries ought to be combined
together with population to avoid rural-urban divide
10. Child labour should be abolished and free public education should
provide to all
After the establishment of class less society the state will wither away
CRITICISM
• Too much emphasis is given to the economic factor in
explaining social order and change.
• Marx’s theory of history is contradicted by the fact that
industrialised countries have not moved closer to revolution.
• Anarchists say Marxists fail to grasp the unacceptable dangers
in their readiness to take an authoritarian-centralist approach.
