Karl Marx
Karl Marx was a German Socialist who was born in Treves on May 5, 1818, and died in London on March 14, 1883. He was educated at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin. In 1842, he took up journalism and eventually became the editor of the Cologne Rheinische Zeitung. He focused on socialist articles to the extent that the paper was suppressed in 1843. Marx then moved to Paris to become one the editors of the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher to which he contributed articles on the "Hegelian Philosophy of Right".
In 1845, he was expelled from France and retired to Brussels where he assisted in organizing the German Workingmen's Association. He was also active in the organization of the Communist League, and with Engels issued the famous Communist Manifesto in 1848, which was the first public declaration of international socialism.
Between 1848 and 1869, Marx became active in revolutionary movements in Germany, and in political writing for newspapers and periodicals. In 1873, he devoted his time to completing a work on capitalism, Das Kapital.
Marx is considered the founder of the modern socialist school. Das Kapital is a tribute to his acute reasoning and extensive reading, although it is long, obscure, and filled with tortuous meanings. In it, Marx analyzes his theory of value, which is the measure of the amount of labor required to produce a commodity. He explains how the laborer, under capitalism, is exploited.
His theories were not new and Marx succeeded in confusing rather then elucidating
them. He also traces the development of capitalistic production, the growth
of the working class (proletariat), and how this revolutionizes society.
He lays down the principle that the fundamental factor in the
development of society is the method of production and exchange.
Marxism
Marxism is the name given to the theory developed by Kark Marx. In essence,
he states that the measure of of the value of a commodity is the amount of labor
"socially necessary" to produce it. Under the capitalistic system the laborers
are exploited of what they produce over and above their wages (known as surplus value).
The working class is known as the proletariat, and will ultimately
transform society. The fundamental factor in the development of society is
the method of production and exchange. The socialist movement merely assists
in the inevitable.
The Tenets of Marxism
1. The prevailing techniques and systems employed in the production and distribution of wealth determine the accompanying social and political institutions.
2. Labor produces all value.
3. The surplus value is the difference between total social income and the value received by labor. This is exploited by capitalists.
4. There is an inevitable and irreconcilable struggle between the proletariat and the capitalists.
5. This struggle can only terminate in the overthrow of the capitalists by the proletariat - because the proletariat will form unions and become more powerful and thus take over the government.
6. The proletariat will institute a regime of social and economic democracy.
Marx believed that the legislative process would allow peaceful revolution.
However, this is not possible in some countries like czarist Russia - so violence
will be necessary. Marx did not speculate upon the details of the coming reforms.
An Evaluation of Marxism
The first tenet does take into account other factors such as prejudices, religious dogma, tradition, tastes in the arts, the educational level of the people, and other variables.
Labor is not the only value involved in total social income and this means that other people than the laborers must be compensated for their efforts.
There may be a struggle between labor and management that is likely to go on forever. When labor gets the upper hand to too great a degree, the company will go out of business - and labor often attempts to get out of hand in this regard - but in several cases, labor has chosen to back down so that the company can remain competitive and the laborers can keep their jobs. On the other hand, when management becomes to oppressive, the laborer is stifled and either leaves, goes on strike, or reduces production. There must always be a reasonable balance between the wages and conditions of labor and the ability of the company to survive. Furthermore, unions create another level of management which hamstrings the ability of the company to compete in the market, and generally is often taken over by organized crime. When the additional cost of supporting union management is added, the laborer pays union dues and the consumer pays more for the product - and eventually, the laborer is the consumer - so he loses. Unions have been necessary in the past because of the stupidity of management, and perhaps they are still needed in certain cases and may be needed in some future cases, but they can be worse for the laborer in the long run. In the case of communism where the there is one party which is the owner of all the businesses, the same holds true except that the party dictatorship creates extreme problems and things become worse for the laborer.
There have been companies which give stock options to the laborers so that they own the company along with management. Other companies have been formed with the laborers being the owners. This is an acceptable form of proletariat take-over that seems to work.
Violent revolution has not worked satisfactorily, as it always seems to result in some other dictator taking over and conditions either not improving for the worker or becoming worse. Click on Communism below for more details.