|
|
Karl Marx Throughout the writings of Karl Marx he spoke of society moving towards communism. Communism to Marx is an economic and social system where we have a life of freedom and everybody in society is equal. Communism would allow the government to determine the value of the product being produced. Then in turn make the economic structure safer for the workers. To do this society would have to abandon capitalism, which we are currently living under. In capitalism there is no government control. The markets are controlled by the humans, which determine the value of the products. Since there is no government control the workers (proletariat) have no stability. Marx said the social movement would have to start with a theory, then once the people accepted that theory there could be a social movement. Marx spoke of the ways society should be that of communism, but he never really says how we are suppose to get there. To Marx society was more than just people; it is the whole society that matters. Then it is the forces within society that shape who we are. In the writing of Karl Marx he talk about “all [of] history has been the history of class struggle” (handout). Marx uses a theory called the dialectic process to define how history has always been a struggle. Marx said there is a thesis (Nomadic Hunter-Gathers) that then creates the antithesis (Secondary Hunter – Gathers); these two then come together to make the synthesis (Horticultural Chiefdoms). Once society has the synthesis we struggle through history from the Agrarian Kings, Feudalism, to the Mercantilistic capitalism where there is a free market and everybody can make money. From there history moves to Modern Capitalism. Which is divided into the bourgeoisie (the rich) and the proletariat (the poor), where the bourgeoisie controls all of society. When the proletariat brings about the revolution we will move to communism where we are all equal, and have government control. When society gets to the life of communism the end of history will occur. Or in Marx’s words “If all of history is the history of class struggle, when there is no more struggle, there is no more history” (handout). When society reaches communism there is no more struggle because everybody will be equal, so the struggle within history no longer exists. Marx said that there four forms of capital, money, monetary wealth, and merchants capital.
|
