Marxist Critique of Democracy

Marx’s theoretical work is the understanding of the nature of human beings and how they have constructed their historical world. Marx is considered a modernist because his views and theories fit the meaning of Modernity, which are human freedom and the right to free choice. To Marx, Capitalism is a barrier to the notion of human freedom and choice. Five aspects of his political theory are: how he views human nature, effects of Capitalism on human natures with emphasis on significance of labor, class struggles within Capitalism, the demise of Capitalism and the need for the transition to Communism.

While Karl Marx developed the communistic doctrine that is still alive today, he took great inspiration from certain significant concepts during the time. Consequently, Marx’s doctrine was made up of ideas from influential people, such as Charles Darwin and G.W.F. Hegel (“Constitutional Government and Free Enterprise: A Biblical Christian Worldview Approach and Emphasis,” 2014, p. 117-21). When Marx passed, his legacy was continued by Fabian Socialism. Eventually, this type of socialism found itself in American politics, especially in the Democratic Party, where the numerous organizations influenced the party’s platform. Marx's communistic ideas infiltrated America mainly through the political platform of the Democratic party, thus resulting

In the Communist Manifesto it is very clear that Marx is concerned with the organization of society. He sees that the majority individuals in society, the proletariat, live in sub-standard living conditions while the minority of society, the bourgeoisie, have all that life has to offer. However, his most acute observation was that the bourgeoisie control the means of production that separate the two classes (Marx #11 p. 250). Marx notes that this is not just a recent development rather a historical process between the two classes and the individuals that compose it. “It [the bourgeois] has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, and new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie ...

To accurately comprehend Marx’s concepts, it is important to understand the idea of capitalism, an economic system that emerged in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Hence, in a short summary, Capitalism is the political economy system that is controlled by private individuals and institutions instead of the government. It primarily focuses on private ownership on the means of production. The problem Marx has with Capitalism, is its exploitation of the labor force. Most important to Marx is the issue surrounding human nature and alienation of the worker. Capitalism is talked and criticized quite a bit by philosopher Karl Marx. Very critical of the system, Marx seeks to overthrow the system,and believes, that the vast and powerful

Karl Marx believed that the ultimate end of society is an imminent and significant, consisting of happiness, which can only be achieved via organized collectivism. Reality is controlled by financial necessity (historical materialism). In practical application, this theory means that the capitalist order must be dismantled, even by violent revolution as a last resort, because only through such annihilation can a healthier political, economic and social organization be realized. To establish this new format of society, the proletariat (the working class) must be organized groups (e.g. labour unions) and rise up against the bourgeoisie (the upper class capitalists) who take advantage of them. Marx’s analysis is the schism between the social classes -- the proletariat versus the bourgeoisie. In the end, the working class will triumph, which is the incarnation of universal socialism.

Karl Marx believed that because modern work was specialized, no worker felt gratification or felt that they were contributing to society because they were performing a job that countless other people could perform as well. He also stated that modern work is “insecure” because capitalism makes an individual expendable and easily replaceable at any moment. Another huge issue, and possibly the biggest issue, with capitalism was primitive accumulation, which is defined by capitalists making their factory workers’ wages as low as possible in order to skim off a wide profit margin. He defined exploitation as: factory owners paying their worker’s an extremely low price to make a product, but then selling it to someone else for a much greater price. The more the industries produce and sell, the richer the industry owners become, while the working class are still paid very little, which would only increase tension and widen the gap between the upper and lower class. His beliefs and views on capitalism were incredibly important, because they were the sole influence of his thoughts on the social conflict theory. To Marx, the system of capitalism essentially bridged society into two distinct groups: the upper class and lower class, and the effect of the tension between the two characterized and created

Marxism view human nature as a myth like it didn’t exist. Marxism believed that the we are dependent and that the only thing close to “human nature” is desire for self-fulfillment. This means that humans are able to manipulate the environment in order to satisfy our needs and we can only achieve this with active production (work) by interacting with other humans. “Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains” Marx believes that as time goes on the proletarians who have been stripped of their rights will sooner or later revolt against the upper class meaning they revolt against

...period between philosophical theory and practical politics was inevitable. Humans have never been predictable, and as soon as the possibility arises for one man to better his life through the subjugation of another, theories can be redesigned to meet the circumstance. The pursuit of happiness does not equal the possession of happiness. The right to overthrow a tyrannical form of government does not necessarily mean that one has the ability to achieve those means. Karl Marx stated in 1859 that “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but, on the contrary, their social existence determines their consciousness.” (Konz) Through the emergence of industrialization and the division of labor, the working class was systematically stripped of their means of self-production and therefore they became marginalized and labor becomes a commodity.

Most importantly for those who Marx feels capitalism has an adverse effect on, the proletariat. Marx in The Communist Manifesto explains what capitalism is and what it is to be a capitalist: "To be a capitalist is to have not only a purely personal but a social status in production. Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion." (Marx, K., Engels, F. and Berman, M. (2011)). Through such a definition of capitalism, he adamantly stresses that capitalist state is selfish, one that has been manufactured by the desire of individuals to have a greater material wealth than his societal

...superiority amongst workers by having only one class in society. As Charles Darwin would argue, this idea goes against the rules of nature. Nature is a survival of the fittest. By ignoring this fact, Marx intends to retard the process of evolution. The stronger and smarter members of society will be better off and will have offspring who will carry these traits. Gradually, but naturally, society will increase in aptitude and ability. In response to Marx’s great disappointment with the capitalist society of his time, he constructed a society that was too extreme in its position. A complete uprooting of capitalist society does not seem feasible because of the advantages it offers many individuals. If Marx had proposed improvements of this society, he may have had more of a positive impact.