By Narayan Giri
A General Introduction to Karl Marx
Karl Marx, the revolutionary and pioneer of scientific socialism, was born on May 5, 1818 in a Jewish family in a city called Trier in the Rhine province of Prussia. His mother was a Jewish woman from Holland. He was raised according to Jewish rites until the age of six. His father Heinrich Marx was a lawyer and his mother Henrietta Marx was a domestic worker. In 1824 Marx’s family converted from Judaism to Christianity. Marx’s views on Judaism remained controversial throughout his life. Marx was the eldest of his father’s nine children. Since childhood, he loved his neighbor’s house more than his own. His education was completed in a school in Trier from 1830 to 1835. His father was a lawyer by profession. He wanted his son to be a lawyer as well. After this, he was sent to the University of Bonn in 1835 for higher education, but instead of studying law, he began to study history and philosophy. A year later, Marx turned his full attention to history and philosophy at the University of Berlin. Here he studied Hegel’s dialectical philosophy.
In 1841 he received his doctorate (PhD) from the University of Jena with an essay on ‘Differences between the natural philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus’. Then he decided to become a teacher. But he was expelled from Germany because his views were against the government. His dream of becoming a teacher was shattered. After this, he worked as an editor in October 1842 for a newspaper called ‘Rheinisch Zeitung’ to earn his living. Here too, the government banned this magazine because of its revolutionary views, criticism of religion, etc. During this period, he deeply studied the history of France, England, Germany, and America, the works of fictional socialists such as Machiavelli, Rousseau, Saint Simon, Montesquieu, Robert Owen, and Fourier, and developed his faith in socialist literature.
At the age of 25, Karl Marx married Jenny Westphalen, daughter of his early teacher Westphalen, in 1843. After the marriage, the Marx couple moved to Paris, where Marx became the editor of the ‘Franco-German Dictionary’. Due to his antigovernmental and anti-order views, he had to stop the publication of this journal. In 1843-44, Marx’s philosophical journey began with a contribution to the review of Hegel’s philosophy of right in the German-French Annual Journal. Marx said – “Religion is the heart of heartless conditions; the soul of a soulless world.” And the relief of the afflicted, religion is the opium of the people.” Marx called for a proletarian revolt to embrace the concept of philosophy. This Essay and Economic and Philosophical Manuscript (Paris Manuscript) was written in 1844 and published almost 100 years later. It is considered the foundation of Marxist philosophy. He also studied history and economics deeply. In 1845 Marx noted in ‘German Ideology’ that the ideas of the ruling class are also the ruling ideas, which he called epoch-consciousness, and emphasized the need for class-consciousness against it. Marx’s ideas became the object of ire of contemporary ruling classes and liberal and anarchist intellectuals. Questions began to arise on various types of bad propaganda and ideas. Marx used to answer what he thought was appropriate and ignore the rest. Anarchist philosopher Joseph-Pierre Source wrote a book ridiculing Marx’s concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat—The Philosophy of Poverty, which failed to make much of an impact due to lack of innovation. Marx responded by writing The Poverty of Philosophy, which became a timeless work. It contains the first clear glimpse of a historical materialist element. Marx was not an intellectual-revolutionary, he was a revolutionary-intellectual. Marx-Engels composed a book called ‘The Holy Family’, which was published in 1845. In it was established almost the entire system of ideas related to the world-historical aims of the proletariat.
In France he came into contact with anarchists such as Proudhon and Bakunin. Their ideas greatly influenced Marx. In 1845 he had to leave the country by order of the French government. Then he went straight to England and then he stayed there for the rest of his life. Here he met the famous industrialist Friedrich Engels. Marx developed his own socialist thought with Engels and founded the Communist League in 1847. Here, Marx and Engels together published a booklet of communist ideology in keeping with the revolutionary atmosphere of 1848, which became famous in the world as the ‘Communist Manifesto’. This is where scientific socialism was born. Marx and Engels came to Germany (Cologne) to participate in the revolution of 1848. After the revolution and counter-revolution, Marx moved to London to avoid arrest.
With financial support from Engels, Karl Marx presented his revolutionary ideas independently through his writings. Accepting the debt of Engels himself, he has called his socialist thinking ‘our principle’. Engels played a very important role in the creation of great books like Das Capital by Karl Marx. Engels continued to support Marx in economic, ideological, etc. fields. To give practical form to his theory, he represented the working class of Germany in the First International in London in 1864. After this, Karl Marx took up his pen to complete the remaining parts of his famous book ‘Capital’ and he composed many other important books. Due to ill health, the second and third volumes of Capital could not be completed during his tenure and later Engels completed them and published them in 1885 and 1894 respectively. Such a great communist saint died on March 14, 1883 due to cancer.
A visionary who dreams of human liberation in a society without exploitation, without oppression, without class, without the state, with the slogan of the unity of the all workers of the world; Karl Marx was a revolutionary thinker and contemporary. He is a revolutionary thinker; teacher; The organizers of egalitarian, collectivist societies are the greatest thinkers in human history. His teachings will remain relevant until human salvation. unique world view and insight; Marx had an unshakable commitment to human liberation and the determination and dedication to establish a society free of suffering and pain (exploitation). He wanted not only to understand the world, but also to change it. During his PhD studies at the University of Berlin, he discovered the proletariat as the new hero of history.
Sources of inspiration for Marx’s ideas (Marxism).
Marx’s philosophy is not as original as it seems. In fact he recognized the pulse of his time. He did not hesitate at all to accept contemporary ideologies. Therefore, his philosophy is not considered original. He was influenced by many thinkers. So the importance of his ideas lies not in the originality of his ideas, but in their dynamic totality. Marx knew very well that if he wanted to succeed he had to speak the language the people wanted. So he gave many ideologies a temporal mobility and made them useful to the masses. According to a scholar Gray – “It is an indisputable truth that Karl Marx drew inspiration from different sources to build different parts of his edifice of thought. He took bricks from many kilns to build it, but their It was used in a different way.” Similarly, according to Sorokin, “Marxism is a collection of many ideologies.” Whatever is said about him, like a clever gardener he collected flowers (ideologies) of different colors and forms and tied them into a garland (ideology) of scientific socialism, which hung around the necks of the proletariat. In this way, Marx’s thoughts were greatly influenced by many ideologies. Which can be shown in a nutshell –
French Socialism
Even before Marx, thinkers like Saint Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen, Proudhon, etc. propagated the socialist ideology in France. Although the form of this socialism was imaginary, it was revolutionary, its revolutionary character made Marx think, Saint Simon said that economic change is the result of political change based on the historical method. Fourier also emphasized the economic interpretation of history. Karl Marx was greatly influenced by the ideas of the French socialist Cabet. According to him, the establishment of communism is possible only when all necessary activities are controlled by the state. It is clear from this that when establishing the Communist League in 1847, Marx and Engels used the word ‘communism’ instead of ‘socialism’. From this he coined the term imaginary socialism. Then he distinguished his communism from imaginary socialism. Karl Marx adopted the theory of class struggle from French socialism, the theory of ownership of the means of production, the theory of the rise of workers and the destruction of the capitalist class, etc. He envisioned a “classless society” from Saint Simon. Karl Marx and Engels themselves acknowledged the influence of French socialist thinkers and said – “The invaluable material they provided for the knowledge of the workers cannot be forgotten.” It is believed that Marx’s idea of mutual struggle (class struggle) between the bourgeoisie and the working class rests on the concept of the ‘theory of the struggle between the rich and the poor’ of the French socialists. Thus, Marx’s scientific socialism can be said to be based on French socialism.
Hegel and Feuerbach
German-philosophers Hegel and Feuerbach deeply influenced Marx. From Hegel’s theory of dynamics, it became clear to him that history is not just a series of events, but a gradual process of development. In this regard, Marx borrowed a lot from Hegel’s works ‘Philosophy of Right’ and ‘Phenomenology of Mind’. He also took a lot from Feuerbach’s work ‘Essence of Christianity’. Karl Marx accepted Hegel’s dialectical method. According to Hegel, the development of every thing in this world is dialectically developed through the process of thesis, anti-Thesis and synthesis. According to Hegel, the existence of everything is ‘theism’. The ‘opposition’ is hidden because of the contradiction in the ‘Thesis’ itself. In course of time ‘thesis’ becomes ‘antithesis’ and later ‘Synthesis’ is born from the combination of both thesis and antithesis. This process continues continuously. But Hegel’s dialectical interpretation was idealistic. Karl Marx changed this method to materialism. Marx considers matter or economic power as the basis of dialectical development.
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770- 14 November 1831) was a pioneer of classical German philosophy. He put forward the belief that thought (self) proceeds through the process of self-development. In his work ‘Logic’, Hegel concluded that eternal truth is nothing but a logical or historical process. But he explained that thought is independent and pre-existing in the existence of the world. He applied the dialectical approach of proceeding through the process of self-development only to the question of ideas, not to the question of substance. Therefore, his philosophy, despite being dialectical, stood in the idealist stream.
Marx embodied the new dialectical method by combining Feuerbach’s materialism with Hegel’s abstract idealism. Ludwig Feuerbach (28 July 1804- 13 September 1872) was a supporter of Hegel. But he rejected Hegel’s spiritualist stream and took it to materialism. Therefore, his philosophies are considered as a development in materialism. Feuerbach expressed the idea that human beings are the beginning, middle and end of religion. What he concluded in his book titled ‘Essence of Christianity’ is that the highest authority (God) believed by man is none other than man himself. He made it clear that there is no existence of anything other than nature and man, that the flight of man’s imagination has created higher beings (gods) as a reflection of his own level of imagination. Whatever Feuerbach says, the only reality is the perceptible physical world, of which we ourselves are a part. But even though Feuerbach was a materialist, he could not completely reject religion, he disguised it as humanism. Even before the belief that animals do not have religion, he made religion the basis for drawing a distinction between animals and humans. He was also influenced by mechanistic materialism, which considered animals as instruments.
In this way, Marx was influenced by Hegel’s dialectic and Feuerbach’s materialism and made them the starting point of his philosophical journey. But he was also aware of the weakness of both of them and abandoned the unhelpful assumptions of both of them and adopted their logical essence. He coordinated Hegel’s dialectic and Feuerbach’s materialism and proposed ‘dialectical materialism’. During the lifetime of Marx-Engels, there were many scientific discoveries and inventions to confirm the dialectical philosophy. But what Engels called ‘the three greatest discoveries’ – the discovery of the cell, the transformation of energy and the theory of evolution – rapidly advanced their knowledge of the interplay of natural processes.
Although Marx adopted the dialectic concept from Hegel, he used it in a different sense and changed its nature. According to Hegel, the social development of human beings is going on at a free pace and this process is based on ideas. According to Hegel, all ideas in the world are developed through dialectical methods. Through the development of ideas, the material world changes. Hegel considers this material world as a model. According to him, the flow of the world is progressing towards a certain end point. According to this, the process of development is not straight but by a winding path. It attains its perfection in the universal soul.
Marx adopted Hegel’s dialectic method, but he replaced thought with matter. He proposed the theory of dialectical materialism in place of Hegel’s spiritual dialectic. He made it clear that matter is the basic element of the material world. According to him, matter is always in a dynamic state. Thought is created only from physical conditions. In this way, matter is first and thought is secondary. In this way, Marx accepted Hegel’s dialectical method as the law of development, but changed its basis.
Karl Marx wrote in the preface to his Das Kapital, “My dialectic is not only different from Hegel’s, but the exact opposite.” According to Severin, Hegel’s dialectical thought, which stood on its head, was raised by Marx to a natural position on the balls of its feet. Hegel’s dialectical method is the basis of Marx’s philosophy. Whatever form Marx took, Hegel’s influence on Marx’s philosophy was great. Although Marx did not adopt Hegel and Feuerbach blindly, he adopted only useful elements. Thus indirectly Marx borrowed much from Hegel and Feuerbach. Marx has accepted the indirect influence of Hegel in his work ‘Das Kapital’.
British Political Economy
The English economists who had the greatest influence on Karl Marx were Adam Smith, Ricardo and Haskin. These economists promoted the interests of the capitalists by introducing the Labor Theory of Value’ and the ‘Surplus Value Theory’. Based on these principles, Karl Marx propounded the “Theory of Surplus-Value” and used it for the welfare of the workers. Marx pointed out that the capitalist class uses surplus capital to exploit the working class. However, laborers have rights in this capital. But due to its social, economic and political influence, the bourgeoisie is able to disenfranchise the workers. Thus Marx used the theory of British political economists only to explain the interests of the working class instead of the capitalist class. So Gray says- “For the common man Marx’s ‘theory of surplus value’ is nothing but Ricardo’s theory of value.” In this sense, it can be said that British economists also have a great influence on Marx. British political economy is the source of inspiration for Marx’s ‘Theory of Surplus Value’.
Socio-Economic Conditions of Europe
During Marx’s time, the capitalist class (bourgeoisie) was exploiting the proletariat in European society. The capitalist class had complete control over the factories. This class was constantly neglecting the interests of the working class (proletariat). Socialist thinkers born in that era wrote many thoughts about the plight of the proletariat. Marx first thought in detail about the proletariat born during the industrial revolution. Marx considered the then socio-economic inequality as fatal for the society and tried to organize the proletariat against the capitalist class by breaking the cycle of imaginary socialists and raised his voice for the welfare of the proletariat. He gave revolutionary philosophy to the proletariat. In his book ‘Communist Manifesto’, he called upon the working class to organize to end the exploitation of the capitalist class. In this way, Marx learned a lot from the socio-economic conditions of the time and provided a scientific basis for his philosophy.
In this way, it can be said that the ideas of Hegel, Feuerbach, Adam Smith, Ricardo, Saint Simon, Robert Owen, etc. had a great influence on Marx. But Marx accepted only valuable thought material and discarded unnecessary and useless material. He examined each idea on a logical basis and used it. He gave logical unity to scattered ideas. Therefore, Sorokin’s view that Marxism is a bundle of many ideologies proves true. Karl Marx’s Scientific Socialism is a collection of many ideological bricks. The basis of his Marxism is the synthesis of valuable ideas of many thinkers, which is a very important endeavor of Marx. So Marx’s importance lies not in his originality, but in his synthesis. Contemporary socio-economic conditions have given this synthesis a broad base. These conditions are the starting point and the end point of Marxism.
Introduction to Marxism (Scientific Socialism)
Marx was not the exponent of socialist ideology or the first thinker to talk about changes in the social and national order. Before Marx, British and French thinkers expressed socialist ideas. Saint Simon, Charles Fourier and Louis Blanche in France and John de Salmonid in England, Dr. Hal Thompson and Robert Owen, etc. expounded socialist thought. These thinkers were bitter critics of wealth inequality, free competition and state policies in the economic sphere existing in the capitalist system. But they did not explain what causes inequality, nor did they present a cycle of events leading to inequality. Marx first proposed scientific socialism and presented a practical plan based on analysis for the establishment of socialism.
When paying attention to the word Marx, it is generally seen that Marxism is the ideology, which is based on Marx’s ideas. This is not reality in this context. There were two great thinkers named Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Germany in the 19th century. Both of them together studied, discussed, analyzed and synthesize various problems in a serious and detailed manner. Synthesized and presented a certain ideology and a new approach to the world in relation to all problems. This ideology is known as Marxism in the world. Engels’s contribution to this ideology was also important. In this, the scientific-philosophical side was thought mainly by Engels and the political-economic side was mainly thought by Marx. Thus Marxism is a form of society. Its main exponent is the German philosopher Karl Marx. Marx proposed socialism based on historical studies. That is why he is called a scientific socialist. After Marx-Engels, Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Stalin, Gramsci, Mao, George Lucas, etc. have made important contributions to the development of Marxism.
The ideas of French socialist thinker Saint Simon, Charles Fourier, Louis Blackie and British socialist thinker Robert Owen influenced Karl Marx’s ideology. The Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century brought radical changes to the entire world and especially the Western society and economy. The industrial revolution gave rise to the capitalist and working class in the society. As the economic inequality increased, the working class was continuously exploited by the capitalist class. This changed social and economic system also had a profound effect on Marx’s ideology. Marx was greatly influenced by the dialectical idealism of his predecessor, the German philosopher Hegel, who believed that society develops through struggle.
Changing the system required a scientific understanding of its kinetic laws. For this, Marx sought historical materialism on the philosophical basis of dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is the philosophy of Marxism and historical materialism is its science. Marxism is a dynamic ideology that understands and changes the world based on scientific principles. Marx wanted not only to explain the political economy of capitalism based on private ownership and wage slavery, but also to change it through a proletarian revolution based on class solidarity. Early in his intellectual career he declared the revolutionary nature of his ideas as follows – “Philosophers have interpreted the world in different ways, but the main thing is to change it.” In other words, explaining the world is not the main thing, but changing it is the main thing.
In this way, even before Marx-Engels, there were many such scholars who raised their voices against the injustice prevalent in the society and tried to eliminate those distortions with tireless work, but those ideas had no practical program of their own, so they could not give any practical form to their theories and ideas. Hence, in the field of politics, these ideas are called ‘utopian’ ideas. On the contrary, Marx presented his socialist ideas to the people in a systematic manner. He said that his socialism is called scientific socialism because of the methodical nature of his ideas. In fact, no thinker before Marx had presented his ideas in such a systematic way. The basis of his program was based on the scientific method. That is why scholars call Karl Marx the father of scientific socialism.
Fundamentals of Marxism or Scientific Socialism
• The basic element of origin and development of the world is matter and the various scenes of the world are different forms of dynamic matter.
• The social development of the world is according to dialectical materialism and the physical and economic conditions are important in determining the form of social development.
• The various forms of social development so far, which are different eras (primitive communist era, slave era, feudal era and capitalist era), they have developed in accordance with the economic conditions and the form of the social institutions of that era, including the state, are also in accordance with the economic conditions of that era.
• The class struggle is ongoing throughout the entire era of social development. And, until the communist system is established, the class struggle will not end. In the capitalist era, this struggle is going on between the capitalists and the workers. The destruction of capitalism is inevitable.
• Communism is born in the grave of capitalism. In it the entire system of distribution of the means of production and the form of the state organization are under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
• Socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat will overthrow the capitalist system and establish communism.
• In the communist era society will be classless as well as stateless.
Marxism is a dynamic science of understanding and changing the ideological world of proletarian revolution. Marx taught us to leave imagination and think based on real facts and events from a philosophical point of view. He made it clear that the principles of value, recognition and ethics are not eternal, they change according to the country and period with the changes in the world. He refuted all superstitions. He shed light on economic, social and political development in a scientific and factual manner. Marxism covers not only the ideas of Marx and Engels, but also the ideas of later major Marxists, Lenin, Mao, Gramsci, Che, etc. Why, just as everything is dynamic and changing, Marxism is constantly evolving. Lenin not only gave the Marxist interpretation of the state but also the principle of populist centrality in the nationwide practice of the dictatorship of the proletariat; Mao introduced the theory of peasant revolution and the creation of industrial and agricultural communes in underdeveloped capitalist countries. Gramsci added several new dimensions, including cultural supremacy. Engels wrote in 1891 – A Marxist is not one who goes around quoting Marx and his writings but one who reacts to specific situations as Marx did. Therefore, Marxism is a science and Marx considered science to be dynamic, so it is not a static belief, but a dynamic thought, whose intellectual source is not limited to the repertoire of writings of Marx and Engels. It is an ongoing process. After Marx-Engels, it has been and will continue to be enriched by the writings and activities of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Rosa, Gramsci, Che Guevara, etc.
Marxist Philosophy – Dialectical Materialism
The theory of dialectical materialism is central to Marx’s entire thought. Marx based his theory on Hegel’s dialectic and Feuerbach’s materialism. Karl Marx’s philosophical ideas are based on ‘dialectical materialism’. Marx based all his theories on the dialectical materialist approach and from this approach he also discovered the elements and laws that determine the world, its development and the pace of development. There are some exceptions to his approach. The most important feature is that the world is not only physical, but developed through dialectical system. That is why it is called dialectical materialism. Dialecticism is an active principle in its development. What is this dialectical materialism? According to Emil Bernsock, “Dialectical materialism, as it is commonly understood, is not some strange mystery, since it is a reflection of the real world and describes the commonplaces of everyday life that are known to everyone.” Dialectical method is not the basic principle of Marx. It started with Hegel’s philosophy. Hegel was an idealistic German philosopher. He established the theory of dialectical development and placed ‘faith’ in the center.
Dialectic is a translation of the word ‘Dialectics’. It means – to debate (argument), but here it means contradiction, everything is the result of contradiction. In the material world, every object struggles with many other elements for life, this is dialectic. Hegel has explained how development takes place through the dialectical method. We have already mentioned something about this above. For this he has said a sequence. It is governed by internal opposition in the form of Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis. Every thought (argument, logic) contains contradictions and is also incomplete, so naturally an opposing thought (antithesis) arises and finally the truth (synthesis) emerges from these two. But this process does not stop here, the dialogue that comes out of argument and counter-argument again becomes an argument for further development and the same process starts again. It continues continuously.
Marx fully agreed with Hegel that the progress of history is through the dialectical method, but he was not prepared to accept that ‘thought’ (consciousness) acts as a regulating element as the main element of development or progress. According to Marx, in fact, the main element of development is not thought, but matter. Marx said – we cannot directly see the spirit (consciousness) or thought. On the contrary, we can see material things, so they are eternal truth for us. Thus, Marx based his philosophy on dialectical materialism instead of Hegel’s ‘dialectical spiritualism’. Disproving Hegel’s theory and distinguishing his process from it, Marx wrote in an appendix to the second German edition of Capital – “My dialectical method is not only different from Hegel’s method, but its exact opposite.” For Hegel, the life-process of the human mind, i.e. the process of thinking, which he made an independent agent by the name of ‘idea’, is the creator of the real world, and the real world is only the external, perceptible form of ‘idea’. On the contrary, thought for me is nothing more than the material world reflected in the human brain and transformed into thought.” Marx further wrote, “Hegel’s dialectic stands on its head. If you want to discover the rational essence hidden within its mysterious cover, you must turn it upside down and stand upright on its feet.” Lenin considered dialectical materialism to be the principle of development. It can also be called the principle of motion.
Assumptions and Essentials of Dialectical Materialism
Some of the assumptions and essential elements of dialectical materialist process can be understood as follows –
Mobility in substances – Mobility is found in inert nature. Internal elements are hidden in bricks, stones, etc., which are always in motion.
Change in Inert Matter – Substances in nature are changeable. According to Engels, everything in nature, from the smallest to the largest, from the grain of sand to the sun, is in constant flux and in a state of constant motion and change. Except for the law of change, everything is changeable.
The combined totality of nature – all objects and phenomena of the physical world are not separate, independent and unrelated, but interrelated and interdependent. Thus, nature is a coherent and united whole.
Combination of opposite elements in solid matter – Just as wood contains both moisture and hardness, so every solid material always has a combination of opposite elements.
Creation of the world from raw materials – There is no other supernatural power like God who created the world. Rather, the creator is nature itself. The root objects of nature are sense-perceptible, that is, visible and these root objects create the universe. In this way, the root cause of the world is the root nature itself.
Internal conflict in objects and events – There is an internal conflict in every object and event. The struggle of these internal oppositions results in the birth of a new object. Capitalism was born from the struggle of anti-feudal elements. The internal contradictions of capitalism give birth to socialism. Thus, due to the struggle of opposing elements, the process of new changes continues. It is an eternal law of nature.
Conflict is the cause of development – Conflict or conflict in nature is the only reason for development.
Quantitative to Qualitative Change – Change is initially quantitative and then qualitative. As water is initially heated and then becomes steam.
Conflict in the Status of Matter – Every substance has two sides. There is a constant conflict between positive and negative aspects. Due to struggle, old elements are destroyed and new elements emerge from it.
Thus, through his dialectical materialist theory, Marx proved that communism is born from capitalism itself. Marx thinks that there are two classes in the society in the conflict of capital in every age. Man has to struggle to get productive power and social relations are born as a result of struggle. As a result of these relations, human society is divided into different classes and different economic and social ideologies are also the result of this struggle. Marx’s view is clear, “Men’s consciousness does not determine their existence, but on the contrary their social existence determines their mental consciousness.” This kind of struggle first turns into argument, then counter-argument and finally dialogue. In fact, in dialectical theory, Marx has tried to show how communism is established through struggle. He was of the opinion that capitalism is in the course of an argument and labor is in the form of its counterargument and socialism is in the course of its dialogue. Capitalism is therefore the underlying cause of its destruction.
The characteristics of dialectical materialism can be briefly mentioned as follows –
• All things and events in this physical world are interrelated. The reason for this is that this world is material. Here matter exists before thought. All substances and phenomena in the world are interdependent, i.e. the quality of interdependence is inherent in them.
• Economic forces are the basis of all activities in the world. It also has a profound impact on the process of social and political development. These economic forces themselves change and also change the process of social development. All these are based on the dialectical process. So nothing in the world is eternal and permanent. Nature is constantly changing its form. Change is the law of creation.
• Every substance found in nature is dynamic. What is today was not yesterday, what was yesterday is not today and what is today will not be tomorrow. This principle of dynamism works continuously on this root nature and creates new objects or substances. So this materialistic world is always dynamic and progressive. It requires no external force to set it in motion. It automatically remains dynamic because dynamism is the nature of the root nature.
• Change and development in nature is usually not only quantitative, but also qualitative. It is also called transformation from quantity to quality. These changes happen in revolutionary ways. Old things are destroyed and transformed into new forms and quantitative change in old things comes to a particular point and takes the form of qualitative change. For example when water is heated it will turn into steam at a certain point and there will be a qualitative change. The process of this qualitative change is called a revolutionary process. These changes are not gradual but abrupt or rapid. By this the old form of matter is destroyed and new form comes into being. It can also be called prohibition of prohibition.
• The quality of struggle or resistance is definitely present in every object. This opposition is both positive and negative. This struggle is the basis of the development of the world. It is through struggle that new substances are born when opposite substances collide. It is in this struggle that the existence of the new object is hidden.
The Laws of Dialectical Materialism
• This is a major part of Marx’s Dialectical Materialism. It can also be called the essence of dialectics. This rule is essential for understanding the dialectical process of development of nature, society and thought. According to this law, contradictions are inherent in all the objects of the world. The process of development of the world proceeds as a result of the struggle of opposite elements. According to this rule, there are opposites in each object, which have an inseparable unity, which not only in different contexts, but also in the same context prohibit each other, i.e. mutually interpenetrate.
• When there is a great difference in quantity, there is also a great difference in quality. This law is the basis of the explanation of accidental events in nature. This law of development states that the accumulation of invisible, gradual quantitative changes for each process necessarily leads to radical qualitative changes at a certain moment, a sudden transition from an old quality to a new one. This law applies to all processes of development of nature, society and thought.
• This law is the ultimate law of evolution of nature, which sheds light on the general state of evolution of nature. The word ‘prohibition’ was first used by Hegel for the development of the idea element. Karl Marx applied it to the physical world. The word negation means that something new arises out of something old and supersedes something old. Hence prohibition is a major part of development. No area can develop unless the old existence is rejected. Prohibition only resolves contradictions. Old things are replaced by new things. In this process of evolution the old becomes the new and then the new takes its place. In this way, this process of development continues. This process of negation goes on unceasingly like the continuous flow of time. When every old thing gives birth to a new one, it gives birth to its inhibitions and makes this process of development dynamic. Development is therefore a true story of innumerable sequential inhibitions. That is, progress is the normal state of dialectical development. It continues to flow from top to top in a spiral shape.
Historical Materialism
The theory of historical materialism is one of the major theories propounded by Karl Marx. This started a revolution in the history of the whole world. It controls the activities of human history. Through this theory, Marx established his materialistic interpretation in place of the idealistic interpretation of history presented by Hegel. The fundamentals of historical materialism are presented by Marx in his work ‘German Ideology’. This fundamental historical law of Marx was derived from the material life conditions of society in the production of material values. Marx said in his theory that the changes in the socio-economic structure come under certain objective rules. This results in a type of socio-economic structure. Historical materialism seeks the direction of history as the vital force driving all decisive historical events.
Engels writes about Marx’s historical materialism – Marx was the first thinker to introduce the concept of historical materialism in the social sciences. Apart from historical materialism, another major contribution of Marx is the theory of surplus value. Marx formulated his theory of historical materialism on the basis of philosophical analysis. Marx observed the work of capitalism closely.
Historical materialism is a practical science. It represents the epochs of human history based on changes in the system of production. It based on the primitive system of production in the era of primitive communism; The slave age of the slave production system and the feudal age of feudal evidence and the final class society based on the capitalist production system, the capitalist age, then the classless, stateless communist age, which will come from the continuous proletarian revolution but with no fixed time limit, explain materialistically.
According to Marx, physical conditions, i.e., geographical conditions, population, land, etc., are decisive in social development. The economic element is dominant in the process of social development. This interpretation of Marx’s history is called the economic interpretation of history. From the point of view of social development, the methods of production, the means of production, the productive forces of society and the relations of production are considered in the material conditions that are really important. This can be further clarified in this way –
Method of Production – Man cannot survive without food, clothing and shelter. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange these items or produce them. The pace of development of the society is determined by the method by which they are being produced.
Means of Production – Humans need some means of production to produce the things they need. As agricultural work requires land, seeds and some tools, etc. Different tools are also needed to make clothes. Similarly, soil, brick, stone, iron, cement, etc. are needed for housing construction. In the modern mode of production, these means of production are called capital, labor, etc. According to Marx, the form of these means of production has a decisive influence on the speed of development of society.
Productive forces of society – Human power is needed to build the means of production and to use those means. Production does not come from the means of production alone. It also requires productive power. It has a lot of importance in the production process. The working masses are therefore the creators of all material values on earth and the real makers of history.
Relations of production – According to Marx, the various means of production (land, labor, capital, etc.) are interrelated. Society organizes itself in a particular way in order to use the means of production effectively. Marx called this organization the relations of production. These relationships have a decisive influence on the status of the society and its future status. According to the economic production relationship of the society, the political, social, cultural, religious institutions and laws, philosophy, art and literature, etc. of that society develop accordingly.
The essence of Historical Materialism
• Historical development depends on the production and reproduction of material goods or values necessary for life or survival.
• For a human being to exist, first of all he needs to be alive. For this, food, clothing and shelter are the first requirements.
• First of all man food, clothing and shelter. Then he can only think about religion, art, ideals and politics. In this regard, Marx and Engels wrote in ‘The German Ideology’, ‘The first historical work is the production of the means by which the needs of food, clothing and housing, etc. can be met, that is, the production of material life itself is the first historical work. yes Life itself is the first historical act. In fact, it is such a historical act, which is absolutely necessary to maintain human life today as it was thousands of years ago, i.e. it is the basic condition of all history.
• The production system itself determines the organization of society and its various institutions ie historical events.
• All major changes in history have been caused by changes in production systems.
• The development of history is not based on ideas, spirits or ideals, rather its real basis is the economic life of society, productive forces and productive relations.
• It is the most basic, the most essential and the most common historical phenomenon in the process of production of material values. History is made by countless ordinary people.
Historical materialist interpretation of different eras
According to Marx, with every change in the production method, there is also a change in the economic relations and social order of people, etc. From this point of view, he divided human history into five eras. These five eras are primitive communist era, slave era, feudal era, capitalist era and socialist era. According to Marx, three of these eras have ended, the fourth is underway and the fifth is yet to come. A summary of these five era is mentioned here as follows –
Primitive Communist Era – This era is the earliest era of history. In this era, the means of production did not belong to an individual, but to the entire community. Production and distribution was done in a communist way. First with stone tools and later with bows and arrows, people gathered fruits and tubers and hunted animals. All people were forced to work together in collecting fruits from the forest, hunting animals and birds, fishing, building some kind of ‘house’ for living. Because the situation was such that all these things could not be done alone. Due to joint labor, everyone had rights over the means of production and the goods obtained from them. At that time, there was a lack of concept of individual rights over the means of production. So there was no class system and no form of exploitation.
Slave Era – Then the Slave Era began as the second era. Under the slave system, the slave owners had rights over the means of production, and the slave owners also had rights over the laborers (workers) who did the work of production, i.e. slaves. These slaves could be sold, bought, or killed by their masters like animals. During this era, agriculture and animal husbandry were invented and metal tools were used. During this era, the concept of private property developed, wealth became increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, and this wealthy minority enslaved the majority. As before, people no longer worked together voluntarily, but were forced to work as slaves. Thus the society was divided into two classes – slaves and slave owners. This struggle between exploiters and exploited classes was also natural.
Feudal Era – The third era was the feudal era. In this era, the feudal lords had the right over the means of production. These feudal lords owned the means of production, especially land. Poor semi-slave peasants were subject to these feudal lords. Production work was done only by these landless farmers. Peasants were not slaves, but they had many types of bonds. They had to plow and plant the lands of the feudal lords as forced wages and in times of war they had to serve as soldiers in the army. In return for all this they would receive land from the feudal lords to support themselves. During this era the concept of private property became stronger and the exploitation of peasants by feudal lords often resembled the era of slavery. The struggle between these two classes was more obvious.
Capitalist Era – The fourth era is the modern capitalist era. The invention of machines and the birth of large industries led to the emergence of this era, in which the capitalists have control over the means of production. A second class of productive workers—wage laborers—are individually free; Therefore the capitalists cannot sell or kill them like slaves, but the laborers have no rights over the means of production, so they have to sell their labor to the capitalists to save themselves and other members of their families from starving. They should be sold in the hands of nominal wage earners. As a result of such increasing exploitation by the capitalists, the condition of the laborers becomes miserable day by day and eventually the working class will be forced to overthrow the capitalists through revolution. Thus the dictatorship of the proletariat will be established and the way will be paved for the advent of the socialist or communist era.
Socialist or Communist Era – The fifth and most modern era would be the Socialist or Communist Era. This age will be classless, stateless and without all forms of exploitation. This will only be possible when the working class overthrows the capitalist system and seizes power through a revolution. But the establishment of socialism or a socialist system is not possible only after the power comes into the hands of the working class, because the complete destruction of the capitalist class will not happen even at that level and its remnants will remain. The capitalist remnants will try to overturn the new socialist system. The destruction of these people will be gradual and will require necessary preparation. The whole society should be built in a new way. This will be the transitional age. The main tasks of the state in this era will be – individual ownership of land, regulation of trade and business, abolition of inheritance of property, prohibition of child labor in factories and abolition of all forms of monopolies or privileges.
Thus, according to Marx, dialectical development occurs in society, but its basis is not ideological but materialistic. According to him, a production system comes and when it does not work according to the previous expectations of the society, then another production system is born instead and a new society is created. In this way, the development of the society continues and until the communist system is established in the society, this process of development and change of the society will continue.
According to Hegelian philosophy, society itself is in a state of balance. But Marx said that society is not always balanced. It also has imbalance, inequality and discrimination, which causes class struggle. Historical materialism is a special science of the study of inequality in society, by which, along with economic inequality, we can see the superstructure. We can also study inequality.
Theory of Class Struggle and Revolution
Marx’s concept of class struggle is an important concept in his thought. According to Karl Marx, the driving force of history is the material element. The human relations of the production process constitute history. The production process creates two classes, the rich and the poor. Every class has a struggle with each other. This is the basis of the progress of the society. This is how Marx’s theory of class struggle was born.
Through the materialistic interpretation of history, Marx has tried to prove that there are always two classes in human society, the exploiter and the exploited. After the primitive age, when the slave era began, then the class became prevalent and exploitation began in the society. Since then, these two classes have been in the society in one form or another. The development of history has progressed through the mutual disputes and struggles of these classes. Marx’s theory of class struggle is his dialectic. It comes under the concept of materialism. Based on the theory of class struggle, he presents the existence of opposing classes in the society, the communist program and the picture of the future era. Thus, based on the study of history, Marx tried to prove that there will always be two classes in society and their interests are mutually exclusive. The products of one class there is a monopoly on the means. The other class is exploited by the first class. The first class is called by Marx the exploiting class. This class has all the wealth. According to Marx, the development of personal property has increased the economic inequality among people. First of all, the people who were the chiefs of Tribes, they owned property and production. They monopolized the means and prevented other people from working. In this way, first the disintegration of society began and the formation of classes. This process has been going on continuously since then and it has given the opportunity to exploit the classes with wealth and resources.
According to Marx, the beginning of the class system occurred when the primitive social system was breaking down and the slave system was emerging in its place. As a result of this antagonistic position of the classes in the society, a struggle began between them. During this era, the society was divided into two classes, the exploiters and the exploited classes. The struggle between these opposing classes became more intense. After the feudal system, the modern capitalist system was born. Even in the capitalist system, there were two opposing classes, in which one class had power and authority and the other had no means. The powerless class is exploited by the class with power and authority. In this way, there is a struggle between the classes due to opposing interests. According to Marx, this struggle will continue until the destruction of the capitalist class and the establishment of socialism.
According to Marx, the history of mankind is the history of class struggle. In every era, different means of livelihood play a role in making people a class, the economic interest of these people is the society and their communal consciousness gives rise to class struggle. Struggle does not only mean fighting, it also has a broader meaning of dissatisfaction, anger and non-cooperation. According to Marx, the entire human society is divided into two classes. One class owns the means of production and the other is the laboring class, which produces the actual product. The interests of these two classes are opposed to each other and there is a mutual struggle between the two classes. Explaining the class struggle in the communist manifesto, it is written: ‘The history of the entire society so far is the history of class struggle. The master and the slave, the noble family and the common people, the owner of the mill and the laborer working in it and the craftsman i.e. the exploiter and the exploited are standing in opposition to each other, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly.
According to Marx, society itself is divided into classes – this division is into rich and poor, exploiters and exploited and ruling and ruled classes. In modern society, three big classes can be mentioned based on the means of income. Among these, the first are those in possession of labor power, the second are those in possession of capital and the third are landlords. These three categories of income sources are wages, profit and rent (tax) respectively. Wage workers, capitalists and landlords are the three major classes of modern society based on the capitalist production system. In the modern era, these three classes were born largely as a result of the flourishing of capitalist industry. This is a direct effect and the most important result of the capitalist revolution. As a result of industrialization and the division of labor in the nation, industrial and professional labor is first separated from agricultural labor and the village from the city. As a result of this, various interest groups are also born. When division of labor is widely applied, professional labor is also separated from industrial labor. Along with this, there are different types of divisions based on the division of labor among the people who assist in certain types of labor of the various categories mentioned above. The relative status of these different groups, the current level of agriculture, industry and commerce also determines the mutual relations of individuals. Thus, it is clear that people active in production work establish certain social and political relations. Thus class is born on the basis of economic means of livelihood. Therefore, we can say that people engaged in different types of productive activities are divided into groups. But the only capital of all of them is labor and they support themselves only by selling their labor. For this reason they are called workers or working class. On the contrary, there is another class in society, who owns capital and buys the labor of other people. This is the capitalist class.
According to Karl Marx, basically two classes of society dominate each level of economic production. For example, in the age of slavery there were two classes of slaves and slave owners, in the age of feudalism the most important feature of the two large classes was that all the means of economic production were concentrated in the hands of one of these classes, on the basis of which this class continued to exploit the other class, while in reality it was the second class. It produces economic goods or values. From this, dissatisfaction is born in the exploited class and it manifests as class struggle. This is called the principle of class struggle.
In the beginning, there was no class distinction between owners and workers as it is today, but there were definitely classes and there was definitely a struggle between them. Gradually human intelligence developed and inventions began to occur. As a result, the development of production power, the expansion of factories and the development of means of transportation increased. The market expanded, as a result capitalism was born. With the expansion of capitalism, it clashed with feudalism, in which capitalism won. Due to capitalism, productive forces began to expand and develop. With the development of capitalism, the means of production began to be less and less concentrated in the hands of the people, and on the other hand, the number of the proletariat continued to increase.
Marx believes that with the development of capitalism, the entire exploited class will unite and fight against capitalism. As soon as the industry and factories are developed, the actions of labor unions and strikes, etc. will come forward. The proletariat will always be ready for a future struggle with the capitalists to protect their interests. The capitalist class and the proletariat struggle with each other, which reaches the extreme and takes the form of a revolution. On the one hand, capitalists continue to exploit more and more, on the other hand, the proletariat is dissatisfied with such exploitation and is trying to get rid of this exploitation. As long as the above type of class system is maintained in the society and a classless society is not established based on it, this process of exploitation and liberation will continue. As long as the class system remains, the struggle will continue in the society. The pages of history refer to the mutual struggle of classes. This struggle will take the form of a revolution in its climax, in which the entire capitalist class will end and the proletariat will dominate all the means of production, then the whole world will be free from exploitation. Through this process, a classless society will be established in human history, in which the society will be freed from class-struggle. In this, oppression and exploitation will end completely. This is Karl Marx’s theory of class struggle.
The process of class struggle
Class and Class Struggle – According to Marxist thought man is generally a social animal but more precisely and economically he is a ‘class animal’. According to Marx in any age there is division into different classes due to different means of livelihood and each class develops a special class consciousness. Next In other words, classes are born based on new methods of production. With the change in the method of physical production, new classes also emerge. Thus the system of production at a time determines the nature of classes at that time.
Basis of construction of class – In primitive society there was no class and man used things provided by nature to fulfill his needs. The distribution of the necessities of life was very equal as each man met his needs from what nature provided. In other words, due to nature’s equal distribution of means of living, classes were not born at that time, but soon discrimination or differences in distribution began to appear and with that society was divided into classes. According to Karl Marx, society itself is divided into classes – this division is into rich and poor, exploiters and exploited and ruling and ruled classes.
Development of the Proletariat – The development of the proletariat is the initial stage in the process of struggle, in which the oppressed masses gradually come to relate to each other. In the beginning, workers are separated from each other due to personal interests. But their interests are generally formed on the general problems of wages. During the development of the proletariat, the laborers forget their personal competition and start thinking about their problems. This is how the proletariat develops.
Increasing importance of property – What is the attitude of people in any society regarding property or money, the social behavior of people is determined only on the basis of this. According to Marx, the class that aspires to own property becomes the capitalist and other people join the proletariat.
Emergence of political power from economic power – Due to the ownership of the means of production, the political power of the capitalist class starts increasing and they start using it to exploit the common people.
Polarization of class – The capitalist class soon becomes economically and politically empowered and engages in the exploitation of laborers and other members of the society. After that, the laborers who are unable to meet their needs due to their low economic condition gradually become aware and organize themselves.
Increase in poverty – According to Marx, due to the economic exploitation of the laborers by the capitalist class, their economic condition continues to deteriorate. On the other hand, the capitalist class increases its price by taking extra labor from the workers. Thus, gradually over time, the capitalist class takes control over all the resources of the society and the laborer gets trapped in the cycle of acute poverty.
Isolation – The condition of the machines at the work place and the healthy environment of the workers and the supportive conditions of the productive administration are not good. Workers become separated from the production system due to poverty and lack of ability to consume what they produce.
Class Unity and Revolution – In the next phase of industrial development, the proletariat does not merely increase in membership, but begins to transform into a much larger mass. When the number of members of this class increases, then it starts to feel very powerful. Then, due to common problems and common interests, unity starts to be established in the proletariat. After some time, the workers organize themselves and start a sacrificial struggle against the capitalists. Then they destroy the entire economic structure of the society, they will change.
Class struggle in modern capitalist society
According to Marx, modern capitalist society also has two classes – the capitalist and the proletariat or working class. The capitalist class monopolizes the means of production. State power and the means of production are in the hands of the capitalist class, through which he exploits the working class. According to Marx, the capitalist class exploits the working class for the purpose of profit, and as capitalism increases, the exploitation also increases. With capitalism, the labor of the worker increases and that class remains a slave to the machine. Thus, the worker becomes a victim of the evils of capitalism. Capitalism causes unemployment and war, as a result of which workers must suffer.
According to Marx, the working class cannot tolerate this situation. In capitalism, the worker cannot get the benefits of his labor, so his position in society prompts him to oppose capitalism. In the capitalist era, the class struggle becomes more intense, as a result of which the working class organizes and unites against the capitalist system.
Forms of class struggle
Economic Struggle – According to Marx, the working class struggles to improve its material condition. It demands a necessary wage from the capitalist and struggles to reduce the working hours. On the other hand, the capitalist class wants to do more work with the working class and pay less wages. As a result, there is a struggle between the two. The working class starts a strike to fulfill its economic interests. According to Marx, the economic struggle is historically the first form of the struggle of the working class and it has an important role in the development of the revolutionary movement. Due to this economic struggle, the working class becomes more powerful and organized. But This economic struggle is not a struggle of the entire working class against the capitalist class, but different classes of workers struggle individually against injustice in the industries and factories. What is remarkable about this is that this struggle does not strike at the main foundations of capitalism, nor does it aim to end the political power of the capitalist class. to do Its aim is not to eliminate exploitation, but to reduce and limit it. As the number of working class increases and they become organized, this struggle becomes more intense and gradually the struggle takes the form of political struggle.
Political Struggle – The purpose of political struggle is to destroy the main foundations of the capitalist system and seize the state power for the dictatorship of the working class. Through economic struggle, the working class improves their material needs a little and gets some financial benefits from the capitalists. But the working class achieves its basic economic and political interests when it establishes the dictatorship of the proletariat with its authority over the state. To achieve this goal, the working class starts a political struggle.
Ideological struggle – The most struggle in the revolutionary movement of the proletariat is the struggle of ideology. Through this struggle, the working class struggles against the ideology of the capitalist class, which is the cornerstone of the entire capitalist system. Due to the development of capitalism, unity is established in the working class and their organization becomes more powerful than before. But to abolish capitalism it is not enough for workers to organize, they must be conscious of class interests. They need to be aware of their historical role in the establishment of socialism. This requires a revolutionary ideology. But the working class cannot adopt a revolutionary ideology due to lack of time and sufficient education. This work is done by the intellectual class. On the one hand, in the struggle of ideologies, it is necessary to give birth to a revolutionary ideology, on the other hand, it is also necessary to popularize that ideology among the workers and give them political education. After this, the revolutionary ideology of capitalist thinkers Can be protected from criticism.
The destruction of capitalism is inevitable
According to Marx, the destruction of capitalism is inevitable because the contradictions inherent in it will help in its destruction. Marx proved that the end of capitalism is inevitable through his dialectical materialist theory, materialist interpretation of history, monopoly over the means of production and the theory of class struggle. According to him, capitalist Society creates its own grave diggers. The end of capitalism and the victory of the proletariat is assured.
According to Marx, the reasons for the inevitable destruction of capitalism –
Monopoly over the means of production – According to Marx, in a capitalist economy, capitalists establish their ownership over all the means of production. They monopolize factories for personal gain. They will establish large industrial cities. Their only purpose in this is to make a profit. Therefore, they will make the workers do more work by paying the minimum wage. In a capitalist economy, the workers have no rights to the means of production. The working class is without means. As a result, the working class is more organized.
Mass production – Another characteristic of capitalist economy is mass production. The only aim of capitalists is to make more profit. Due to their profit attitude, industries develop rapidly and also competition among themselves increases. Due to this competition, the exploitation of working class increases. Capitalists produce more and more, so that they can sell goods cheaper than others. As a consequence of this competition, firstly, the exploitation of the working class increases more and more, and on the other hand, the monopoly of the capitalists over the means of production is established. Therefore, the worker has no other way to earn his living than to sell his labor to the capitalist. The capitalist takes full advantage of this wage and exploits the worker more and more. One bad result of mass production and competition is open competition in the prices of commodities in the market, which The big capitalist wins and the small capitalist gradually falls into the ranks of the working class. In this way, the capitalist class shrinks and the working class grows.
Emergence of Class Consciousness of Workers – Production in capitalist society leads to the establishment of large industrial cities. With the establishment of industrial cities, thousands of millions of workers are gathered in one place. Their settlements are established there. This creates a sense of unity and organization among the workers. A sense of anger and hatred against the capitalists arises. Gradually they begin to understand the interests of the class. Thus class consciousness arises in them , which ultimately proves fatal for the capitalist class. Due to class consciousness, the workers brace themselves for the struggle against the capitalist class.
Basis of Unity in Means of Transport and Communication – According to Marx, capitalist class uses modern means of transport and communication to spread their business. But these tools are used by the working class to establish their unity. This helps the working class to form their international organization.
Development of Scientific Instruments – According to Marx, the capitalist is constantly striving for the increase of his personal profit. That is why he keeps on inventing new machines, through which he can produce more with fewer workers. The more modern machines are used in factories, the more skilled and trained they are to operate the machines. The need for workers increases and the usefulness of untrained workers decreases. As a result, most of the laborers are fired and they become useless. This increases their dissatisfaction. Therefore, they become more conscious and aware and start opposing the capitalist class.
Economic Crisis – Another feature of capitalist society is that due to exploitation, starvation and unemployment, the purchasing power of the working class decreases. There are no buyers for the produced goods. According to Marx, the problem of overproduction occurs every 10-15 years in the capitalist era. The market is filled with cheap goods but with people. There is no money to buy it. Due to this overproduction, hunger, unemployment and unemployment spread among the workers. This awakens more class consciousness in the working class.
Capitalism therefore contains the seeds of its own destruction and it gives rise to socialism. According to Marx, class struggle in society leads to society. The proletariat becomes the precursor of the revolution by organizing. According to him, violence is inevitable in this struggle. A socialist system will be established through this long process of revolution.
End of class struggle
According to Marx, the class struggle will continue until the end of the capitalist class or its supporters in the society. During the dictatorship of the working class, the working class will use political power to overthrow the capitalist class. According to Marx, the era after the establishment of the dictatorship of the working class is a transition period. According to him, the class struggle will last until full communism, i.e. a classless and stateless society, is established. After the end of such classes in the society, the state It will end itself. Thus the class struggle will end in the state of communism.
Social structure
Marx has divided the entire social structure into two parts – he called the entire upper structure of the society as the super-structure and the lower part as the sub-structure. The combination of these two forms the entire structure of the society.
According to Marx, the social structure is the expression of human social life or existence. And, the basic thing of human existence is that he has to fulfill his material needs in order to maintain his life. These things are not fulfilled by the soul or God. For this, man himself has to work. The means of production necessary for the production of these material goods must be available. In other words, for the production of material values necessary for human existence, he needs the means of production. However, people cannot create material value from production tools unless they have knowledge of production experience and labor skills. In this way, people produce material goods by using production tools based on their current experience and labor skills. Only when these elements come together, the productive power of a particular society is built.
Thus productive power = man + means of production + production experience or labor skill
Man does the work of production. Man does not work in isolation from one another. Man is not only a social animal but also a class animal. Therefore, people do the production work together as a group. For the production process, people cooperate with each other and develop and establish some specific production relations from each other. These economic relations do not depend on the will of the individual, but rather on the productive forces available at a particular time.
According to Marx, the total sum of productive forces and production relations is the construction of the economic structure of society. This is called the basis of society. Because this is the real foundation of society, where the superstructure of society is built. Under the superstructure, other aspects of social life such as political, social, intellectual, legal, religious, cultural, etc. come. According to Marx, the nature of the superstructure is determined according to the economic base or substructure. The history of the development of society is actually the history of the development of the system. Thus, the history of social change is actually the history of changes in the economic basis of society.
Basic structure = economic structure = production system – means of production + productive power – production relations.
Theory of Social Change
According to Marx, society is not a temporary structure, but a dynamic fullness. The economic factor is what accelerates this fullness. Basing his theory of overall social change on economic factors, Marx wrote that political, legal, philosophical, literary and artistic development depended on economic development. But they are interdependent and they react on an economic basis. This does not mean that economic conditions are the only active factor and all others have an indirect effect. There is mutual contact in the field of economic needs and this is how it has its final effect. Therefore, Karl Marx has a strong opinion that the basis of the cultural infrastructure of society is the relationship of production. From this point of view, the meaning of these relationships related to production is the same as social relationships. Thus, the change in these relationships related to production will bring about changes in society, which is the fundamental basis of this theory.
The Marxist concept of social change is evident from the above materialist interpretation of history. According to Marx, all changes in history are the result of changes in the production system. Geographical conditions, population growth, etc. factors influence human life, but all these are not the decisive causes of social change. The production system of the material values necessary for the existence of life (food, clothing, houses, tools of production, etc.) is the decisive force of social change. Material values (things) are needed for survival. To satisfy this need he produces and to produce he needs productive power. Also in the course of production he establishes relations of production with other people. In other words, the means of production gives rise to certain relations of production, such as those found between landlord and peasant, master and slave, capitalist and laborer. These relations of production do not depend on the will of the individual, but are made necessary by the productive forces. These relations of production mainly determine the cultural system of any age, its moral, religious, social and political ideas and institutions. When there is a change in the productive forces of society, the relations of production also change, and a change in the relations of production leads to social change. In short, this is the Marxist concept of social change.
According to Marx, all social changes result from changes in the production system. There are two sides to this production system – first, production-power (which is made up of production-tools, labor and production-experience labor-skills) and second, production relations. An important feature of a production system is that it does not remain static for long at any stage, but is always oriented toward change and development. In addition to this, changes in the production system inevitably lead to changes in the overall social system, ideas, political ideas and political institutions, because the change in the production system also requires the reconstruction of the overall social and political system. The second important feature of the production system is that only when the productive forces change and develop, the production system also changes and develops, and before that, the means of production, tools, etc. change and develop. Thus the productive forces also change and develop. As a result of changes in the productive forces of society, the human relations of production related to and based on these productive forces also change. But this does not mean that the relation of production has no effect on the power of production, nor does it mean that the power of production does not depend on the relation of production. Although the development of production-relations depends on the development of the productive-power, the production-relations also have their influence on the productive-power, and in this sense the production-relations slow down or accelerate the pace of development of production. These two are related to each other in a certain way and with them the whole social and political life and relations of man are connected.
Marx clearly wrote – social relations are closely related to the productive forces. Man changes his system of production as new productive forces are acquired. By changing their system of production and livelihood they change their entire social relations. When there was a hand mill, it was a feudal society. The steam mill creates a society dominated by the industrial capitalist. Thus, the secret of social change is hidden in the production system itself.
A third characteristic of production systems is that the emergence of new productive forces and their productive relations does not occur after separation from the old system or after the old system has disappeared, but rather within the old system. In other words, the seed of the new order is inherent or hidden in the old order. So social change is not unique, but a natural phenomenon, it is a law of nature that everything will evolve and change by its intrinsic nature. Not only this, new productive forces are born not as a result of human thought and conscious action, but spontaneously or automatically, unconsciously and independently of human will. This is due to two reasons: First, when a new generation is born, it is present with a particular type of productive forces and relations of production, and it must adopt and adapt them for its livelihood or the production of material values and they should be adapted. The second reason is that when people improve the productive power of production tools or make new inventions, then they cannot predict the ‘social results’ that will come from it. One can only think that because of this improvement one has to work less hard to earn one’s livelihood. Social change is a ‘social consequence’ of such a changed system of production. But it doesn’t means that a change in the relations of production or the conversion of old relations of production into new relations of production takes place easily without any struggle or upheaval. Conversely, this type of allegiance change usually occurs through revolution. By revolution the old system or relations of production are overthrown and a new system or relations of production is established in its place. For a time the development of the productive forces and the change in the relations of production proceed naturally and freely, but only until the new and evolving productive forces are fully matured. As they mature, they become an ‘impenetrable’ barrier to the existing relations of production and their enforcement, i.e. the ruling class, which can only be removed by force through revolution.
As the system of production changes, a new class is born. This new class is oppressed by the old class, because all the means of production are in the possession of the same old class. Thus the old class blocks the progress of the new class and exploits them in various ways. This miserable condition of the new class or its social existence gives rise to a special kind of consciousness in it. According to Marx, man’s consciousness does not determine his existence, rather his social existence determines his consciousness. Gradually the consciousness of the new class becomes stronger, due to which it is being exploited and its progress is stopped, it is an integral part of the old economic system. Unless the old system or the old class, which is progressively exploited, is abolished, there can be no liberation from oppression. Thus a tension arises between the old class (whose means of production are becoming more centralized) and the new class (who are being exploited by the old class). Gradually the nature of this struggle becomes clear and the new class uproots the old class by forceful revolution and gives birth to a new social order.
Ideas, theories, opinions and institutions also have a place in social change or progress. They certainly depend on the material life of society, but they have an important place in encompassing and organizing social forces. New ideas and theories arise in new physical situations. Through them the common man gets knowledge of the faults and internal conflicts of material life. When these ideas are publicly funded, they are invaluable for social change. It is against this background that the people can destroy the power that hinders the progress of the society.
Theory of State
According to Marx, the origin of the state is due to the emergence of two classes, the rich and the poor. The number of rich class was less and the number of exploited property less working class was more. It was the need of the exploiting class to protect their property from the oppressed class and the outside community and thereby retain the property. The state was born to fulfill this need and for law and order in the society. According to him, the state is nothing more than a machine for the exploiting class to suppress the exploited class by force. A classless society will end the state. After the revolution, the state remains in the first stage of transition, in which the party of the working class or the communists. The party is in power. The working class uses the power of government centrally to end the competition of capital.
The state exists only as long as there is class struggle in the society. After the communist revolution, the need for the state ends. A state is an organization of capitalists. After the end of the state, all people will become allies and friends of each other on the basis of equality, and in such a situation, the state itself will disappear and a classless, stateless society will be established. This is Karl Marx’s theory of communism. The ultimate goal of communists is to establish a stateless society. At first the state may not cease to exist, but gradually the state must be abolished. When the dictatorship of the proletariat completely destroys the capitalist class, there is no need for the state. In this stateless ideal society there will be no discrimination on any basis and everyone will get maximum justice.
Marx himself did not write distinctly and clearly on the theory of the state. “Marxist state theory appears to have come to light only after Lenin’s ‘State and Revolution’ (1917) was published. Marx’s thoughts and works about the state are also mentioned. Instead of taking the state as a public welfare institution like Plato and Aristotle, Marx takes it as a class institution. It originates from class struggle. It is an oppressive society that maintains class distinctions. The state exists as long as there are classes in society. Marx’s ideal is a classless society in which the ‘state’ disappears and a communist society is established. It also disappears with the end. “Class discrimination is the reason for the origin of the state. Regarding the origin of the state, Marx’s ideology is completely opposite to the common opinion. Marx considers the state as a class organization. In the primitive communist system, there was no conflict of interest among the members of the society, the whole society managed its affairs together and the state did not exist, but the situation changed during the slave era. In this era, the masters owned the ‘land’ property and all the means of production and they exploited the slaves.
The members of the landlord class were very few in number and they used force to maintain their position against the majority society. Army, police, courts and prisons, etc. were arranged by them. These institutions were controlled by supporters of the ruling class. This is where the state was born. Engels writes, “The state, as a form of government, is the state of the most powerful economic elite, which through the state also becomes the political elite and is thus the new weapon of exploitation of the exploited class. The old state was the state of the slave masters ruling over the slaves, the feudal state was the state of the aristocracy ruling the peasants and the landless, and the modern representative state is the rule of the capitalists ruling the laborers.” Engels considers the origin of the state along with the origin of class and describes the state as a weapon in the hands of one economic class to exploit another economic class. Marx wrote, “The state is the organization of the wealthy class, which protects it from the property less class. The state did not exist from the beginning of time.
Such societies have also been formed, which were without a state, there was no concept of state and state power. The state was born out of the necessity of this conflict in a certain situation of economic development which arose due to the conflict arising from the class division of the society. The state is an instrument of class exploitation – Marx’s view of the purpose and nature of the state is very different from that of other philosophers. In his early writings, he strongly criticized Hegel’s ideas about the state. Hegel believed that the state is the highest morality and that it ends all conflicts in society. Marx strongly criticized this idea and said that the state does not represent the common good by being above individual interests but is the servant of private property. According to Marx, political liberation is not the liberation of the people, the state can be free without the people being free. Thus, in his early writings, he made it clear that the state is an aspect of the whole society, below the society, and the state is connected to the interests of private property. Marx said another important thing about the state, “It is a political superstition that the state does not organize the scattered civil society, but that the state organizes social life.” While the reality is that the social life keeps the state in order. According to this view, the state is not outside the society but a product of the society. According to Marx, the state is only a tool to protect the interests of the ruling class and exploit other classes. In the current capitalist system, the state is an organization of capitalists. Its purpose is to exploit the working class, to fulfill this purpose, it creates laws with the purpose of protecting its property and interests. Provides for police and courts to catch and punish law breakers.
The state is essentially a capitalist machine; It is the state of capitalists, the ideal embodiment of all national capital. The more it appropriates the productive forces, the more it becomes a true national capitalist and the more it exploits the citizenry. In the ‘Communist Manifesto’, the state is called the ‘Executive Committee of Capitalists’. “The executive of the modern state is but a committee to manage the common affairs of all capitalists.” Thus, according to Marx and Engels, the state was born in the process of history. When the society is divided; Two opposing groups, whose interests are mutually exclusive and whose interests cannot be reconciled. In other words, the state is the ‘origin of class struggle’, ‘the superstructure erected by the owners of the material means of production to protect the basic economic structure, i.e. the relations of production. According to Marx, the state is the best means of development of human life or maintaining harmony and balance among all classes of society, their rights It is not an institution that protects and looks after their welfare, but its purpose is to ensure the dominance of a particular class and to give freedom to other classes to exploit them. This class establishes ownership of the means of economic production and strengthens its class hegemony through the military, police and law. “The state is an institution that helps the capitalists to raise the surplus value of the workers.” In order to protect the interests of capitalism, the state not only maintains police and military power, but the judicial system of the state is also used for that purpose.
The doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat
The dictatorship of the proletariat is an integral part of the Marxist theory of the rise of classes with the development of production and the eventual abolition of all classes through class struggle. So this is the essence of Marxism. Marx was a staunch opponent of the capitalist system. According to him, workers are being exploited in the capitalist society. Therefore, it is the duty of humans to destroy this system, but how to destroy this system? According to him, it cannot be destroyed by the legal method. Government established by law, army, police, justice, law and order, etc. all protect the capitalists. The government of the state is also formed by the capitalists. Therefore, the government of the state is for the protection of the capitalists. The law is only for the bourgeoisie. The proletariat cannot be protected from it. The only way to destroy it is revolution. For this, the workers must organize and make a revolution. This will make the destruction of the capitalist system possible. Revolution is the way to peace. Therefore, the workers should organize and make a revolution for their interests. Through class struggle, a classless society will be established. This is the dictatorship of the proletariat. From this revolution of the proletariat, collective ownership will be established from individual ownership. Therefore, the revolution of the proletariat is social peace.
According to Marx, the end of capitalism is inevitable. The revolution will destroy the capitalist class and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. It will take some time to establish a classless society and in the transition period the proletariat will rule. Even after the end of capitalism, the state will continue for some time and during this period the dictatorship of the proletariat will be established. In the ‘Critique of the Gotha Programme’, Marx presented a very important proposal – “Between capitalist and communist societies there is a period of revolutionary transition from one to the other. Parallel to this is a period of political transition, in which there can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the state proletariat. During this transition, the resistance of the capitalists is the proletariat will use the power of the state to crush and eliminate the remnants of capitalism. After taking power from the capitalists through revolution, all power will be in the hands of the workers, then production will be increased and the opponents of the revolution will be suppressed. Therefore, the dictatorship of the proletariat is necessary. After the proletariat destroys the capitalist system through revolution, it will gain the full power of society. And the dictatorship of the proletariat is established.
In a capitalist society, the minority bourgeoisie will rule over the majority of workers, while under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the majority of the working class will rule over the minority capitalists. Therefore, it will be more democratic than the capitalist regime. Under the dictatorship of the proletariat, private property will be abolished and the means of production and distribution will be monopolized by the state. Under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the bourgeoisie will be suppressed by force so that it cannot rise again in the future. Those who believe in capitalism will be oppressed. The state is a transitional system under the dictatorship of the proletariat. During the transitional period the state survives but when the bourgeoisie is completely destroyed, i.e. the class system ends, then the state automatically ends.
Labor-value theory
Marx gave central importance to the theory of value in his famous work Capital. Marx’s theory of value is considered as the logical conclusion of Ricardo’s theory of value. While giving the theory of value, Marx kept in mind that capitalists live on the exploitation of workers.
Value is the return of human labor – Commodities have two values – use value and exchange value. According to Marx, in order to regulate any two commodities, it is necessary to find out their mutual relation comparatively. This mutual relation can be known on the basis of use value or on the basis of exchange value. It would be a mistake to exchange on the basis of use-value, considering this thematic branch. Because utility is related to the heart, the two objects cannot form a common basis. Therefore, exchange value should be the basis of exchange, but what is exchange value based on? According to Marx, exchange value is based on use value, so he said – commodity is the return of human labor equal to value.
Method of price determination – According to Marx, labor is found in all goods. It is the common element of all goods. The price of the goods should be determined with the help of this general element. Explaining this idea, he said – What is the same thing, due to which the price of a bed is said to be equal to a house? According to Aristotle, there is no such thing in reality. But why not? A house, when compared to a bed, necessarily refers to something, which both the house and the bed have. It is the same thing – human labor. In other words, labor is not only the measure or cause of value, but its essence. Marx’s method of pricing can be illustrated by a simple example – the amount of labor required to produce a commodity equals the price of that commodity. For example, a house takes 1,200 labor hours to build, while the same laborer takes 6 hours to make a bed. House = 200 beds. If for some reason the exchange price of house and bed becomes 1 bed = house, then the house will be made less. Because in return, there will be fewer beds. As a result, the supply of houses will decrease and the price will increase again, 1 house = 200 beds. In other words labor flows from one industry to another due to the difference between market price and exchange rate. From this, if the production of one commodity increases, the production of the other commodity will decrease and finally the price of both will be balanced. Thus, according to Marx, the exchange-ratio of commodities, production volume and the distribution of labor in different industries are determined together by the price theory. According to him, individual capitalists are only related to each other as owners of commodities and each of them wants to sell their commodities for as much as they can, so internal rules It shows its effect through their mutual competition and pressure, through which many differences are eliminated. Only as an internal law and as a blind law from the point of view of individual aspirations does the law of value establish its influence and maintain the social equality of production in spite of sudden fluctuations. It is clear that this value principle binds individuals together in the capitalist system and transforms the individual labor of numerous isolated producers into a dominant social labor force.
The doctrine of fetishism of commodities – Based on the theory of value, Marx proposed the doctrine of fetishism of commodities. From the above point of view, the quantitative relationship between two physical objects is expressed as currency. There are mutual relations, under capitalism, the goods appear to be mutually related. When comparing the value of one commodity with another commodity, we forget that the value ratio of commodities is based on the workers who make them. That is, we remember the mutual relationship of commodities, but we forget the mutual relationship of workers. This is the superstition of commodities. Marx called it fetishism of commodities. Marx claims to have eliminated this superstition with his theory of value. According to him, exchange value is based on the mutual relations of different members of society, not on the mutual relations of commodities.
The material value of implicit labor – Marx considers labor to be the measure of value, cause and basis. The value of a commodity is equal to the amount of labor involved in making it, but how will the value of the amount of labor, i.e. the material value of the amount of labor, be determined ? The amount of time it takes to make a commodity, the amount of money expended to meet the needs of the worker for the purpose of maintaining his productive power, will be the worker’s wages (material value of labor) for that time.
Economic considerations
Marx’s economic thinking is presented in detail in his book called ‘Capital’. Only the first volume of this huge book, written in three volumes, was published during Marx’s lifetime. The remaining two volumes were published by his colleague Engels in 1885 and 1894 respectively. In this book, he has presented the details of the capitalist system’s production method, factors and the conditions of labor exploitation caused by it. He has clarified the fact that human nature is ever changing. He called the eternal process of social change as ‘labor’ and the ability to convert it into production as ‘labor-power’.
According to Marx, the transformation of labor into production is basically a physical and mental reaction. He made a deep study of the history related to the labor organization. After a deep analysis of human history, he came to the conclusion that the development of the European capitalist economy was the result of the feudal economy. Based on capital and resources, they have captured the production system. In a capitalist economy, production techniques and related technologies change more rapidly than production relations.
According to Marx, labor produces value, and one of its characteristics is that it is capable of producing more than its own value. Commodity power, which Marx called labor power, must be exchanged for labor-value. The labor value of labor power is labor time, the need for which is the cause of the production of goods. It provides subsistence to the workers. Marx explained the difference between the increase in the value produced by labor and the value of labor power by surplus value. It is called surplus value, which is obtained by the capitalist, who owns the means of production. This surplus value is rise of profit.
Marx’s interpretation of the laws of motion in capitalist society explains the changes in the social relations of production in a growing economy. Whatever the form of society, the first condition of motion is reproduction. Capitalist production in a capitalist society involves capitalist reproduction. The main tendency of capitalist production is to obtain surplus value in the course of production. Capitalist reproduction means that capital, which is employed for the purpose of obtaining surplus value, is reinvested in production in exactly the same way. Increase of surplus value , which at every other time is obtained as an increase of the capitalist, is such an important characteristic of labor, under which it tends to produce more than its own value. If the increase of surplus value is fully consumed by the capitalist, according to Marx – this is simple reproduction.
For extensive reproduction, it is necessary to reallocate a part of the surplus value to the production of more capital goods and to provide employment to additional workers and to spend the rest of it on the purchase of equipment and raw resources. The subordinate capitalist increases his capital. He invests a large proportion of his surplus value in the direction of obtaining more capital. The process in which capital is employed with the aim of providing more surplus value, in which surplus capital is created, is the process of capital accumulation. This is explained by Marx in his scheme of detailed reproduction. This scheme implies a disproportion between supply and demand, while appropriation or capital accumulation is positive. In the case of extensive production, the surplus value is not fully consumed by the producer, rather it is divided into three parts. The first part, which is consumed by the capitalist. The second part, which is consumed by fixed capital increases. The third is that which increases variable capital. Accumulation can thus be explained by the transfer of surplus value as capital. Surplus value increases with accumulation. Therefore, the intensity of accumulation is greater. More efficient techniques are used in production. And he gave an important place to the development of technology. He considers this as the basis of the theory of development. According to Marx, crisis is caused by the rules of the capitalist game, which is the reason for the contradiction between production power and production relations. Marx considered the real obstacle of capitalist production to be capital itself. In the third part of the second volume of his book Capital, Marx explained the conditions under which capital accumulation or extensive reproduction continues at a constant rate without interruption. Many of these influences operate, which disturb the equilibrium between the two sectors of the economy, according to Marx. The reason for this is non-proportional growth in any branch of production. In such a situation, industries shrink, because there is no market for the extra produce. In such a situation, workers are thrown out of work. In addition, the demand for goods will decrease, which will cause contraction in other industries.
Marx considered a situation where extensive reproduction is achieved not at a constant rate, but at an increasing rate. In this case, the possibility of crisis arises because of quasi-consumption. When the rate of accumulation increases as a proportion of net income in a given year, then, other things being equal, the capitalist increases his consumption, reduces and saves a greater proportion of its surplus value compared to last year. In this way, the rate of savings increases and consumption decreases. When this happens, the capitalist is not able to fully spend on luxury goods. Therefore, surplus value cannot be obtained from production. The process of its appropriation (investment) is not regular. Workers are unable to purchase such goods, because their income is limited. In short, aggregate effective demand is less than aggregate production, which has an adverse effect on the demand for the means of production. The reason for this is that, in the consumer goods sector, the capitalist makes a profit or surplus value on his capital. The crisis of under-consumption arises because there is widespread poverty in the system and limited consumption by the masses. Thus under-consumption is a special case of disproportionality between the increase in demand for consumer goods on the one hand and the increase in the capacity to produce consumer goods. Proportionality does not arise from the uncoordinated character of capitalism, rather it arises from the capitalist rules of the game. Behind capital and the spread of wealth is the goal and purpose of production. Production is done only through the acquisition of capital.
What Marx assumed in his explanation of extensive reproduction is that when new investments are made, the ratio between fixed and variable capital remains constant. In this condition, the demand for goods as well as the supply of labor can expand regularly and proportionally. Later, Marx removes this assumption in section 3 of Capital and took into account such a situation, in which the technology used in the industry changes with the accumulation of capital and the organic structure of capital increases. According to Marx – now a new problem arises that with the increase in the organic structure of capital, the rate of profit will decrease and the investment made in the future will be affected. If this trend continues for a long time, This will hinder the expansion process of capital.
Theory of Surplus Value
Marx introduced the theory of surplus value in the fourth part of his work “Das Capital”. The influence of Ricardo’s theory on the theory of surplus value is evident. A key feature of Marx’s explanation of the development and social consequences of capitalism is his theory of surplus value, which he developed on the basis of the labor theory of value.
Marx used it in two senses to explain value. One is use value and the other is exchange value. The relation of use value lies in the utility of the commodity, through which human needs are satisfied. The more a commodity fulfills human needs, the more its use value increases. But it is not necessary that every useful thing has some value, just as air and water are useful but have no value. Utility is relative in nature, something useful for one may not be useful for another. That is, utility cannot be the basis of the value of a commodity. According to Karl Marx, the value of any commodity can be determined only on the basis of exchange value.
Exchange value is the ratio by which one commodity can be exchanged for another commodity, for example, if eight kilograms of sugar can be obtained for four kilograms of pulses, then the exchange value of one kilogram of pulses will be two kilograms of sugar. According to Marx, a commodity has an exchange value because that commodity Production costs human labor. For example, no human labor is expended on air and water, so they have use-value, but commodities have exchange value because human labor is involved. What is clear from this is that price is the exchange value of a commodity, in which human labor is expended in the production of that commodity.
According to Marx, surplus value is the difference between the exchange value of a commodity and the wages (wages) received by the worker. Marx said – the value of every commodity is according to the labor expended on it. But that commodity is sold at a high price in the market. This surplus wealth is kept by the capitalist. This is the surplus value. Thus the surplus value is the value which the capitalist receives from the labor of the worker but for which he does not pay the worker any reasonable price. For example, a worker in a factory makes a chair. For this he gets a salary of Rs. 120 materials are required to make one chair. Thus the price of the chair became Rs.220. But that chair is sold in the market for 300. Thus, the chair is sold for 80 rupees more than the cost price. This surplus value goes directly into the capitalist’s pocket. While workers also have rights in this. Therefore, it is a fair demand that workers should get their rights. But in the capitalist system, the laborer has no rights in the production system, so this money is usurped by the capitalists, i.e. the owners of the production. Since the workers do not have the power to buy the means of production, they are forced to sell their labor nominally to the capitalist and the surplus value obtained from their labor goes into the pocket of the capitalist. Thus, according to Marx, capitalists exploit the laborers by increasing the surplus value and capital. This increases the suffering of the laborers.
Karl Marx believed that capitalist society was born after feudal society. With the advancement of industry due to scientific inventions, capital reached the hands of people who controlled the means of production. People who had the ability to run large factories had the right to capital. This is how the capitalist society was born. Regarding the development of the capitalist society, what is Marx’s opinion that some rich people buy the laborers and make the laborers slaves at a low price and take more work and produce valuable goods from their labor. By selling those goods in the market, they make a lot of profit and produce valuable goods from labor. By selling those things in the market they earn more profit and keep money in their pocket. In this way capitalism is born in the society from the exploitation of workers. The capitalist earns two money by investing one money and the laborer does not get even one money of his earnings easily. This is how capitalism flourishes and moves towards development.
How are workers’ wages determined in terms of surplus value and exploitation? In this regard, Marx said, “Workers are only paid so much that they can feed themselves, work, support themselves and their children, and beget children while they are alive.” Remuneration is determined according to this principle.
Karl Marx’s theory of surplus value is based on the ‘labor theory of value’. The theory of surplus value was clearly an extension of the labor theory of value, which had been created by archivists and established economists. If there is no theory of labor value, there will be no theory of surplus value. Hence the theory of surplus value is a descendant of the labor theory. According to Karl Marx, capitalist wealth is the accumulation of countless commodities. All these things have their own value. Labor is one such thing. Labor determines the value of all other goods. The value of a commodity is determined only after estimating its utility. The estimation of quantity of utility is based on its exchange value with another commodity. Thus to know about the theory of value it is necessary to know about the concept of use value and exchange value of a commodity. Marx elaborated on these two values to formulate the ‘Theory of Surplus Value’.
Karl Marx made a broad distinction between use value and exchange value. The use value of any commodity lies in the fulfillment of human needs. Utility is the fulfillment of man’s desire, the things that fulfill man’s desire, those things are useful and valuable to him. For example, deserts have less water and more sand. There water is more useful than sand, because water quenches a person’s thirst. Because of its utility, water there is more valuable than sand. “Exchange value” is the ratio according to which one thing can be exchanged for another thing. For example, one person has ghee and another person has oil. If one wants oil instead of ghee and another wants ghee instead of oil, both can exchange. If you give one kg of ghee and get 3 kg of oil, the exchange value of one kg of ghee is 3 kg of oil. Karl Marx gave more importance to the exchange value than the use value of a commodity. This is the measure of value. Considering labor more important than both these values, Karl Marx said that it is labor that determines the exchange value of goods. That is, the exchange value of a commodity depends on the amount of labor employed in that commodity. This is called labor theory. Karl Marx explained by example that coal buried in the ground has a use value because it is useful, but it has no value until it is extracted from the ground and until it can be used to drive a machine. Therefore, the labor required to extract the coal from the ground for this purpose is its ‘exchange value’ Determines. It is clear from this that human labor is devoid of exchange value unless it is spent on natural substances. It is only when human labor is employed that its exchange value is created. On this basis, according to Marx, the real value of every commodity is the labor expended in making it useful to man, because it produces ‘exchange value’.
In this way, Marx considers labor to be the determining factor of value and explains his theory of surplus value based on it. According to Marx, in a capitalist system, workers do not get wages equal to the exchange value, but much less than that. Thus the capitalist appropriates the bulk of the total exchange. This value or profit appropriated by the capitalist is called surplus value. According to Marx – “If we subtract the wage of the laborer from the exchange value, then the remaining amount (value) is called the surplus value.” “This money is the difference between the two prices, which the laborer produces and what he actually receives.” That is, it is the price, which the capitalist does not pay to the laborer after receiving it. Thus, by determining the wage of the laborer, the capitalist maintains his right over the surplus value. The desire of the capitalist is to increase the surplus value. His desire turns into the exploitation of workers. Karl Marx said that the only way to stop the exploitation of workers is to put the ‘surplus value’ into the workers’ pockets. Because labor is everything in the production of goods.
Hence the Surplus value can be further explained as –
• Labor is the determinant of the price of any commodity. Exchange value is based on labor itself.
• Only the laborer has a right to the entire exchange value, but in practice he receives only a small portion as wages.
• Practically only the capitalist has the right to exchange value.
• Surplus value is that part of exchange value, which is not given to the worker and which is retained by the capitalist himself. This is the theft of the laborer’s property by the capitalist, and because of this theft, the capitalist gets a huge profit and accumulates his capital.
• Capitalism stands on gross exploitation of laborers, which is an unjust situation, so there must be a revolution against it.
Conclusion
Marxism is also known as scientific socialism. Marx gave a scientific basis to socialist principles. Therefore, the credit of starting this work goes to Marx. Marx is one such great person in history, who shook the foundations of the entire society. Even before him, there are many such scholars who raised their voices against the evils prevalent in the society and tried to eliminate those evils with tireless work, but those ideas had no practical program, so no one could follow their theories and ideas. Marx presented his socialist ideas to the public in a systematic manner. were In fact, no thinker before Marx had presented his ideas in such a systematic way. The basis of his program was based on the scientific method. That is why scholars call Karl Marx the father of scientific socialism.
Marxism is also called proletarian socialism and scientific socialism. Marxist theory is based on the scientific study of history. The method adopted by Marx was based on scientific principles. His work style is systematic. He has put the revolutionary program in such a scientific way that one event is completely related to another event. Thus, all the theories of Marxism are based on each other. Marx developed his theories in the same way as a scientist develops and discovers his theories in the natural world. Before Marx, there were many social reformers who studied social disorders and problems, but Marx was the first thinker, who studied social evils and problems as well as analyzed them in a scientific manner. The success of a scientist depends on his methodology. Acquiring knowledge of theory is not everything for a scientist. Scientific success is not possible until you make a program to put your ideas into practice. Marx presented his ideas in a systematic manner and at the same time, like a skilled scientist, explained to people the method by which his ideas could be converted into practice. Marx based each of his ideas on some principle. Marx was as much a lover of theory as a true scientist. He could answer complex questions based on his principles, which had occupied the great minds of the world before him. Marx was in favor of changing the world with his ideas and he also described the methods and conditions for bringing about that change, which he was in favor of. He was aware of situations in which he could change the world in favor of his ideas. Engels wrote, “Marx was the first revolutionary. The real purpose of his life was somehow to abolish capitalist society and its political institutions and liberate the proletariat.” Marx’s heart melted for the oppressed class. There was sympathy for the workers. Marx tried to demolish the gigantic edifice of the capitalist system and build the magnificent palace of communism on its ruins. In his efforts, he got a lot of success. Marx is considered the initiator of the new era. Marx’s philosophy is based on truth. It is complete and balanced and powerful. The study of this philosophy can give one the opportunity to have a better view of the world.
The main reason for the popularity of Marxism is its pragmatism. Many of its beliefs were used in Russia and China, with complete success. The greatest contribution of Marxism is to give rise to class consciousness and unity among the working class. To improve their situation. Marx’s ideas have achieved a unique success in raising awareness among the working class. Marx worked to shed light on the weaknesses of the capitalist system. According to Marxism, there is always a struggle between the exploiters and the exploited in the society. The exploiters or capitalists are always concerned with making their profits. For this he continues to exploit the laborers and consumers in various ways. As a result, the capitalists become richer and the poor become poorer. Hunger and unemployment increase in the society and an ideal society cannot be established without ending such a capitalist system. In this way, the Marxist ideology has presented itself in a very popular and attractive way by taking the side of the exploited, oppressed, discriminated and neglected humanity and also stands as a powerful challenge in world politics.
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अध्ययन-अनुसन्धान (Essential Knowledge of the Overall Subject) 
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