Marx. It's that nasty little four-letter word that nearly every parent in America loathes to hear. Eager, inquisitive students are forced to hide in the shadows of libraries reading excerpts from the Communist Manifesto for fear of being discovered.
I contend that the works of Karl Marx are grossly misunderstood. He is attributed as the creator of failed social experiments, which he had nothing to do with. I believe if everyone understood Marx, he or she would at least be sympathetic to his worldviews.
The primary component of Marx' social theory is usually how students first become acquainted. He believed that all of history derives from class struggles, almost like a historical wrestling match between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat is the worker while the bourgeoisie are those who own the means of production and draw profit from the workers but do not actually work.
Marx believed that the worker should be entitled to the goods that he produces. He drew the basis for this theory from John Locke's entitlement theory. Ironically, capitalism is also based on Locke's entitlement theory.
In capitalism, the worker does not get the goods he produces. Instead it is he who exchanges his labor power for an amount of money that is valued at less than the amount of goods he produces and so the bourgeoisie keeps the difference as profit. Marx simply desired a distribution of goods that was more fair to the worker. Marx simply believed everyone is entitled to the goods he or she produces.
Second, Marx fought against church-based oppression. During the time in which Marx lived there was not the separation of church and state that exists in America today, which explains why many of us don't understand why Marx was so critical of the church.
Before the French Revolution, the common man actually had to pay taxes-not just tithes-to the church. Moreover, churches in general preached false doctrines that kept the proletariat from rebelling in order to seize the goods he produced. I believe Marx was simply fighting against oppression.
Finally, Marx was a feminist. If you haven't heard this, you probably don't understand Marx. He believed that men and women should have equal rights and in 19th century Europe, women were bitterly oppressed. It was difficult for them to own land, and there were almost no laws preventing spousal or child abuse. Divorce was difficult, if not impossible.
Consequently, Marx believed the family was merely a means to oppress women and children. He was a fighter of equal rights.
By establishing minimum wage laws in America, we have at least marginally improved the life of the proletariat. But there were no minimum wage laws when Marx was busy writing his books. The establishment of the distinction between church and state was not intact in Europe when Marx was writing. I think we have done quite well in the Western world in this regard. With clear separation of church and state, state-based oppression has largely come to an end.
Finally, in the 156 years since the publication of the manifesto, women's suffrage has been granted through the Western world, and child abuse laws have partially curtailed child abuse.
In short, all of the problems that struck at the heart of 19th century European society have now, to a large extent, been remedied. And surely it is Marx who deserves some of the credit.
His blazing critique of capitalist society has undoubtedly urged lawmakers to improve the economic systems that prevailed. The type of capitalism that exists in America today is much improved from the type that existed when Marx was writing.
Communism wasn't the answer to these social problems, but at least Marx pointed them out. In the final analysis, perhaps the greatest achievement of Marx was not Communism, but the improvement of life in the 20th century because of his critiques.
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