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A Marxian Critique Of Capitalism: A Contemporary Approach
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
It has become increasingly common to hear that capitalism with its exploitative nature is dehumanizing and alienating – that is, alienating man from the product of his own labor, from his own self, from the society, as well as from nature. This kind of economic system, because of its exploitative nature of many people by few rich individuals, has led to the situation of man’s inhumanity to man. In this case, profits are made at all cost even at the expense of human life. In this type of economic system of government, few rich individuals amassed wealth at the expense of the majority and as such income is distributed inequitably to the detriment of the common man. Hence, Marx was dissatisfied with the system and called for its replacement with a better and humane one (communism).
Throughout Karl Marx’s life, the central theme of his writings and activities was centered on man and how to liberate him from the slavery that comes from man’s inhumanity to man. The subject of Karl Marx’s worry has been the isolated individual; an individual estranged from other people, from the fruit of his own labor, from nature, and even from his own deepest self and emotion. This doctrine of alienation in Marxism described the condition of the working class in the capitalist system in Karl Marx’s days whereby the workers (proletariats) were exploited and dehumanized by their employers (the capitalists/bourgeoisie). The product of their labor was taken from them. Hence, Marx called it “alienated laborâ€1 Thus the worker in the capitalist system is dehumanized and instrumentalized; he is no longer treated as a human being, but as an instrument of production in the hands of the bourgeois employers who use him to their own advantage. Hence, Marx proposed a remedy for this deplorable condition of the workers. His solution was the total destruction of the capitalist system with its concomitant evils and the establishment of communism through socialism. This solution, Marx says, can only be achieved through mass revolt/bloody revolution.
Influenced by the philosophy of Heraclitus and the dialectic of Hegel, Marx believed that “conflict is the universal law of progressâ€2. Both Heraclitus and Hegel considered war as good and necessary for progress. Heraclitus in particular, felt that perpetual peace would be undesirable since it would mean social stagnation and the end of progress. The universe, according to Heraclitus, is a universe of conflicts and clash of opposites, “we must know that war is common to all the strife is justice, and that all things come into being and pass away through strifeâ€3. As for Hegel, harmony and progress are the results of conflicts. In his dialectic, progress or development is the result (the synthesis) of conflict or contradiction between two things (thesis and anti-thesis). The whole universe, according to Hegel, “is a self-projection of the absolute Spirit who develops itself through conflicts and contradictions, through thesis, antithesis and synthesisâ€4.
Marx therefore gave the philosophies of both Heraclitus and Hegel social interpretation and maintained that social progress can only come about through class conflicts. Hence he advocates for the total destruction of the capitalist system through mass revolt/bloody revolution.
However, the question that seems disturbing is the validity and tenability of Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism. The statement of problem is thus presented below.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 1 of 4
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This project is intended to expose the nature as capitalism as well as its merits and demerits. An exposure of the Marxian critique of the capitalist system and how marx pressed for the replacement of the system with the inauguration of communism through socialism shall then be explicated. It should be noted that according to marx, the only was to attain this goal is through a mass revolt bloody revolution. Hence a critical evaluation of the Marxian critique of the capitalist system as well as h ... Continue reading---
