Marxism: Poised to Make a Comeback?

Karl Marx published his highly controversial book, The Communist Manifesto, in 1848. It remains to this day easily one of the most influential political manuscripts ever written. The book is taught and further analyzed in university classrooms all around the world from both a historical and philosophical perspective. During the time period from 1922-1991 the USSR was the closest that one country has ever come to implementing and achieving Marxist ideals. Despite its limited execution in the past Marxism is likely to return as a major ideology in the 21st century. The current predominant economic model of capitalism is leading towards a revolution through political reform, globalization is being seriously considered as a way of the future and a great force of strong social democrats exist in today’s political realm and are pushing forward agendas that will make Marxism, or a similar model to it, a reality.

Capitalism is broken and people all around the world are starting to realize it. Its central idea of private property is creating a massive gap between the rich and poor and the gap will only continue to increase until a change is made. Lawrence Peter King remarks that the unequal distribution of assets makes markets irrational and destructive and further that inequality produces inefficiency because it creates disjunctures among incentive structures. If businesses promoted employee ownership then firms would be more efficient because monitoring costs are reduced (King 223)1. By redistributing assets there would be a greater incentive for employees to work more efficiently because now the workers involved reap the rewards of a properly functioning business in the same way that owners and shareholders do. Right now ...

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