Five Minutes to Marxism

Marxism is an area of study that crops up throughout many different A-levels, and most probably throughout some degrees as well. It can be found in Politics, Law, English and Economics, as well as many others. I myself can vouch for Marxism being important in the latter two. Therefore it is probably worthwhile spending a few minutes reading up on the very foundations of Marxism, because that is all you’ll ever need to know about it.

Marxism is part of a group of social stands which outline the way their followers believe the country should be run. It is a variation of socialism, found on the left side of the political spectrum. It’s founder, Karl Marx, was a German philosopher amongst other things, and moved to England in 1849 with his family after being exiled for radical articles published in the newspaper he wrote for. Having been a middle-class man for his entire life, it opened his eyes to injustice within a capitalist system he found when he and his family were reduced to poverty in London. It was then that he and a friend, Friedrich Engels, set upon destroying the current system and predicting the long-run outcome of the inequalities he found within society.

Marx and Engel had at this point already laid out their ideas about their idealistic world in their book ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848). This still remains to be the second-highest selling book of all time, following the Bible. Although there are so many different avenues of interpretation within this book, the general thesis from both men is clear: A capitalist or right-wing government works to preserve the affluence within those already lucky enough to bear it, and shall do so by trampling on the majority of the population who have no chance to influence their own position within the economy. This results in a constant conflict between the lower and upper classes, with both parties doing nothing about it because they either cannot or will not. Relating this to economic theory, the workers produce the goods that the rich will then proceed to sell at a much higher price, and so the income gap between these classes is going to continue to expand, and leave the circular flow of income impaired. In other words, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is, unless Marx’s prediction of eventual uprising does not come to pass.

Marx predicts in his book that once the lower classes reach breaking point, anarchy will ensue: and with the number of working classes severely outnumbering their counterparts, the revolution within society is inevitable. He believed that capitalism would lead to socialism, and socialism onto communism. Whether or not they would survive under either of these new set-ups was something Marx wasn't completely aware of, however he was pretty confident in the fall of capitalism. 

Has he been proved right?

Some may say no, as in our society it is yet to be completely eradicated. Others however are beginning to see weaknesses within our systems and new references are being made to Marx’s 150 year old predictions. As of yet he is still waiting, but will he be waiting for long?