Marxism

Marxism is a political praxis and social theory based on the works of Karl
Marx, a nineteenth century philosopher, economist, journalist, and
revolutionary. Marx drew on Hegel's philosophy, the political economy of
Adam Smith, Ricardian economics, and 19th century French socialism to
develop a critique of society which he claimed was both scientific and
revolutionary. This critique achieved its most systematic (if unfinished)
expression in his chef d'oeuvre, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy
(Das Kapital).

It is important to note that there have been many conflicting
interpretations and definitions of Marxism. A year before his death, Marx
remarked to his son-in-law, Paul Lafargue, "What is certain is that I am no
Marxist!"

It is by no means certain that Marx's work does form an organic whole.
Although his basic analytic method was consistent, he developed new
conclusions as he applied it to new material. Moreover, he died before
finishing Capital.

Since Marx's death in 1883, various revolutionaries around the world have
appealed to Marxism as the intellectual basis for their politics and
policies, which can be dramatically different and conflicting. Although
there are still many Marxist revolutionary movements and political parties
around the world, relatively few countries have Marxist governments in
power. Cuba, North Korea, and China have governments in power which describe
themselves as Marxist.

The Hegelian Roots of Marxism

Hegel proposed a form of idealism in which ideas gradually developed in
history. Marx retained Hegel's emphasis on history, but stood Hegel on his
head in proposing that material circumstances shape ideas, instead of the
other way around. Marx summarizes his material theory of history, otherwise
known as historical materialism, in A Contribution to the Critique of
Political Economy:

     In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into
     definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely
     relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development
     of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations
     of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real
     foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to
     which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of
     production of material life conditions the general process of social,
     political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men
     that determines their existence, but their social existence that
     determines their consciousness.

Marx emphasized that the development of material life will come into
conflict with the superstructure. These contradictions, he thought, were the
driving force of history. Marx illustrated his ideas most prominently by the
development of capitalism from feudalism and by the prediction of the
development of socialism from capitalism.

The Political-Economy Roots of Marxism

Political economy is essential to this vision, and Marx built on and
critiqued the most well-known economists of his day, the British classical
economists. Marx followed Adam Smith and David Ricardo in claiming that the
source of profits under capitalism is value added by workers not paid out in
wages. He developed this theory of exploitation of the proletariat with an
exposition of the labor theory of value in the first volume of Capital,
while remaining aware that the labor theory of value was not a valid theory
of relative prices. He critiqued Smith and Ricardo, on the other hand, for
not realizing their economic concepts reflected capitalist institutions, not
innate natural properties of mankind, and could not be applied unchanged to
all societies. Marx's theories of business cycles; of economic growth and
development, especially in two sector models; and of the declining rate of
profit are other important elements of Marxist economics.

The Liberal Challenge

The Austrian School were the first liberal economists to systematically
challenge the Marxist school. This was partly a reaction to the
Methodenstreit when they attacked the Hegelian doctrines of the Historical
School. Though many Marxist authors have attempted to portray the Austrian
school as a bourgeois reaction to Marx, such an interpretation is untenable:
Carl Menger wrote his Principles of Economics at almost the same time as
Marx was completing Das Kapital. The Austrian economists were, however, the
first to clash directly with Marxism, since both dealt with such subjects as
money, capital, business cycles, and economic processes. Eugen von
Boehm-Bawerk wrote extensive critiques of Marx in the 1880s and 1890s, and
several prominent Marxists--including Rudolf Hilferding--attended his
seminar in 1905-06.

In contrast, the classical economists had shown little interest in such
topics, and many of them did not even gain familiarity with Marx's ideas
until well into the twentieth century.

Class Analysis

Marxists believe that capitalist society is divided into two social classes:

   * the working class or proletariat: Marx defined this class as "those
     individuals who sell their labor and do not own the means of
     production" whom he believed were responsible for creating the wealth
     of a society (buildings, bridges and furniture, for example, are
     physically built by members of this class). The proletariat may be
     further subdivided into the ordinary proletariat and the
     lumpenproletariat, those who are extremely poor and cannot find legal
     work on a regular basis. These may be prostitutes, beggars, or homeless
     people.
   * the bourgeoisie : those who "own the means of production" and employ
     the proletariat. The bourgeoisie may be further subdivided into the
     very wealthy bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie: those who employ
     labor, but also work themselves. These may be small proprietors,
     land-holding peasants, or trade workers.

Marx developed these ideas to support his advocacy of socialism and
communism: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world differently;
the point is, to change it." Communism would be a social form wherein this
system would have been ended and the working classes would be the sole
beneficiary of the "fruits of their labour".

Socialists often (or, in varying degrees) do not recognize an individual
right to private property. At any rate, socialist philosophers have argued
that there is not a specific right to private property, though it might be
in the best interest of society in general for certain individuals to have
exclusive control over certain goods, so long as this control does not lead
to the class divisions and exploitation of the working class they seek to
eliminate. Critics have said that "socialism is a system in which everyone
is equally poor", arguing that because individuals are not rewarded more on
the basis of supply and demand, there is less incentive for individual
achievement, improving technology, and other factors that result in a higher
standard of living.

Some of these ideas were shared by anarchists, though they differed in their
beliefs on how to bring about an end to the class society. Socialist
thinkers suggested that the working class should take over the existing
capitalist state, turning it into a workers revolutionary state, which would
put in place the democratic structures necessary, and then "wither away". On
the anarchist side people such as Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin argued
that the state per se was the problem, and that destroying it should be the
aim of any revolutionary activity.

Many governments, political parties, social movements, and academic
theorists have claimed to be founded on Marxist principles. Social
democratic movements in 20th century Europe, the Soviet Union and other
Eastern bloc countries, Mao and other revolutionaries in agrarian developing
countries are particularly important examples. These struggles have added
new ideas to Marx and otherwise transmuted Marxism so much that it is
difficult to specify its core.

It is usual to speak of Marxian theory when referring to political study
that draws of the work of Marx for the analysis and understanding of
existing (usually capitalist) economies, but rejects the the more
speculative predictions that Marx and many of his followers made about
post-capitalist societies.

Marxism and the Revolution

The 1917 October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky was the
first large scale attempt to put Marxist ideas about a workers' state into
practice. However, counterrevolution, civil war, foreign interventions and
the failure of a socialist revolution in Germany and in the other western
countries gave Joseph Stalin the opportunity to take over power when Lenin
died. As predicted by Lenin, Trotsky and others already in the 1920's,
Stalin's "socialism in one country" was unable to maintain itself, and the
USSR ceased to show the characteristics of a socialist state long before its
formal dissolution.