Analysis of Karl Marx and Marxism - Prajwal Bhattarai

Analysis of Karl Marx and Marxism Slide Written, Prepared, Edited & Compiled by - [ Bhattarai Prajwal ]( Academic Activist / Social Entrepreneur )

MD at DGN, CR at TLL, Deputy Country Leader at GLTS, LC at SFL, Founder at SFN & Program Coordinator at CROL, Nepal & Hamro Law On Behalf of leading positions he has been involved National and International wide to talk about the role of youth in nation building and youth leadership, inspiration, start-ups along with social entrepreneurship. Mr. Bhattarai has written various books, articles and been spoken to on various platforms and media. He has been actively functioning to introduce and spread the essence and need of public speaking, digitalization, parliamentary debates, awareness, social work, innovative academic programmes and so on. Prajwal Bhattarai

Introduction / Overview • Karl Marx (1818–1883) was the most important of all theorists of socialism. • He was not a professional philosopher, although he completed a doctorate in philosophy. • His life was devoted to :- • radical political activity, • journalism and • theoretical studies in history and political economy.

Life of Karl Marx • Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. • Born in Trier, Germany, Marx studied law and philosophy at university. • Died 14 March 1883 (aged 64) London, England.

Books/ Publications • Karl Marx’s publications sold extremely well. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, with around 500 million copies sold, is one of the four best-selling books of all time. Both the Manifesto and Das Kapital are UNESCO World Heritage documents. • Capital (Das Capital): Includes Vol.1,2,3 • The Communist Manifesto • Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte • Wage - Labour and Capital • Revolution and Counter-Revolution or, Germany in 1848

Idea of Mao • Mao Zedong, also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who became the founding father of the People's Republic of China, • He ruled as the chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. • Mao believed that peasants ( agricultural labourer of low social status ), factory workers, should lead the communist revolution (change in government). • Maoism is comunist ideology which states, replacing private ownership with co-operative ownership.

Idea of Lenin • He was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. • He served as head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. • Leninism is a political theory about how the revolutionary communist party should be organized. • He promised them lots of things that they wanted - his slogan was peace, bread and land.

Key Ideas of Karl Marx 1. Marx believe that humanity core conflict rages between Ruling class also called Bourgeoisie ( that controls means of productions such as mines, factories/industries and farms ). & Working Class called Proletariat ( which is forced to sell labour )

Dictatorship of Proletariat 2. This idea was formulated by Joseph Weydemeyer and adopted by Karl Marx and Engles. ( i.e. goal of working class, gaining control of political power ) This is stage of transition :

The BOURGEOISIE increase their wealth by exploiting th PROLETARIAT 3. The relationship between these two classes is exploitative • because the amount of money the Capitalist pays his workers (their wages) is • always below the current selling, or market price of whatever they have produced. • To Marx, Profit is basically the accumulated exploitation of workers in capitalist society.

Who control the Economic Base also control the Superstructure 4. Marx argued that those : • who have economic power control all INSTITUTIONS in society. • All other institutions: The legal system, the mass media, family, education etc. • Economic Base(The Mode of Production) : tools, machinery, raw material, goods and services • Those who have wealth or economic power also have political power and control over the rest of society. ( Essence of this Idea ).

IDEOLOGICAL CONTROL 5. Marx argued that the ruling classes used their control of social institutions to gain ideological dominance, • These ways they control over the way people think in society. • Marx argued that, the ideas of the ruling classes were presented as common sense and natural and thus unequal, • exploitative relationships were accepted by the proletariat as the norm.

The end result of ideological control is false consciousness 6. The state where the masses, or proletariat are deluded into thinking • that everything is fine and that the experience in which they live and work are inevitable. • In Marxist terms, the masses suffer from false class consciousness ( delusion ) • and fail to realize their common interest against their exploiters.

REVOLUTION AND COMMUNISM 7. Capitalism was unjust but people just hadn’t realised it. • He believed that political action was necessary to ‘wake up’ the proletariat & • bring them to revolutionary class consciousness. • Following a revolution, private property would be abolished and with it the profit motive and the desire to exploit. • In the communist society, people would be more equal, have greater freedom and be happier.

Synapsis of Karl Marx • Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl Marx, • which examines the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development • and argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism.

Scholars View on Marx • French political thinker Raymond Aron said, '' Karl Marx can be explained in 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 years and Half century '' • Philosopher and historian of ideas Leszek Kołakowski pointed out that "Marx's theory is incomplete or ambiguous in many places, and could be 'applied' in many contradictory ways without manifestly infringing its principles".

Marx theory on Justice • The basic logic of Marx's theory of justice is that the relations of distribution are • to be interpreted not through political and legal concepts of fairness and justice, • but through the relations of production, and • the relations of production are to be interpreted through productive labor.

Marx theory on Politics • Marxism is a political and social theory that argues that social change comes about through economic class struggle. • Marxism formed the philosophical basis for the rise of communism in the early 20th century.

Marx theory on Religion • The founder and primary theorist of Marxism viewed religion as • "the soul of soulless conditions" or the "opium of the people" • At the same time, Marx saw religion as • a form of protest by the working classes against their poor economic conditions and their alienation.

Marx theory on History • Marx developed a theory of history that has been called historical materialism. • This is basically a contradictory process in which history unfolds in a series of stages according to a predetermined end. • Marx conceived of the final stage or era of history as communism.

Karl Marx on Various Topics ➼Karl Marx on Politics. ➼Karl Marx on Human Nature. ➼Karl Marx on Women. ➼Karl Marx on Capitalism. ➼Karl Marx on Money. ➼Karl Marx on Social Problem. ➼Karl Marx on Law.

Defining Karl Marx work • While celebrating 202nd birth anniversary in May 5 ( this year 2020 ). We should look at 5 of his defining work : i. Class Struggle. ii. Dictatorship of Working class. iii. Communism iv. Internationalismv. Religion as the opium of people.

Stages of Communism 1. Primitive communism Stone Ages- humans live primitively w/ no social classes, private property. 2. Feudalism Society controlled by land-owning aristocracy, who exercise power over peasants. 3. Capitalism Bourgeoisie rule over proletariat because they own the means of production, distribution and exchange while proletariat sell themselves as labour. Marx saw this as exploitation.

4. Socialism workers' organisations form dictatorship of the proletariat to rule on their behalf. Food, goods, services distributed according to need 5. Communism Govt withers away- no need. Classless and stateless society w/ co-operation replacing competition. 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs'.

Communism in Nepal and Worldwide Last five communist countries in the world are: • People's Republic of China • Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) • Socialist Republic of Vietnam • Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos) • Republic of Cuba

Evidence that Marxism is still Relevant Today Contemporary Marxist sociologists argue that Marxism is still relevant in many ways. For example: 1) Family = Parents want the perfect family and they compete with one another for the best house, car, holiday and the best dressed/most successful children etc. Parents spend more of their salary on providing this lifestyle – this benefits the bourgeoisie as they can make more profits by selling goods and services to the parents. Lastly, children grow up watching their parents behave in this manner and then replicate it as adults with their own families.

Evidence that Marxism is still Relevant Today 2) Media = the mainstream media is controlled by few wealthy individuals who promote the ideas and beliefs that maintain the bourgeoisie’s wealthy position in society. • This encourages people to accept beliefs which benefit capitalism and legitimise (justify) the exploitation of the proletariat (workers) as normal. The media justify exploitation and even make it into games shows.

Evidence that Marxism is still Relevant Today 3) Education = encourages people to accept hierarchy and to be obedient. This is good for capitalism as it creates students who will later become good workers. • Schools also encourage the idea people get what they deserve in education, when in reality educational achievement is primarily a result of the chance circumstances of your birth i.e. who your parents are. • Also, schools emphasise high achievement and high flying jobs – implicitly this means highly paid jobs, better profits for company owners and more exploitation for the workers.

Is Marxism and socialism is same or different ? • Socialism denotes a broad system of ideas. Marxism is a materialistic conception of history which seeks to explain the development of all societies and furthermore, make predictions about future social change. • Marxists consider the material world, nature and society as constantly moving. • An early distinction between communism and socialism was that the latter aimed to only socialise production while the former aimed to socialise both production and consumption (in the form of free access to final goods).

Criticism of Communism theory of Karl Marx • Marxian economics have been criticized for a number of reasons. • Some critics point to the Marxian analysis of capitalism while others argue that the economic system proposed by Marxism is unworkable. • There are also doubts that the rate of profit in capitalism would tend to fall as Marx predicted. • According to Marxists, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author.

Criticisms of Traditional Marxism • Marx’s concept of social class has been criticised as being too simplistic – today, there are clearly not just two social classes, but several; moreover, most people don’t identify with other members of their social class, so it is questionable how relevant the concept of social class is today. • Clearly Marx’s predictions about capitalism ending and the ‘inevitable success of communism’ have been proved wrong with the collapse of communism. • Capitalism has changed a lot since Marx’s day, and it appears to work for more people – it is less exploitative, so maybe this explains why it still continues to this day?

Summary on Marxism • Marxism is a political and economic way of organizing society, where the workers own the means of production. • Socialism is a way of organizing a society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the proletariat. Marx proposed that this was the next necessary step in the progress of history. • Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl Marx, which examines the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development and argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism.

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Analysis of Karl Marx and Marxism - Prajwal Bhattarai