International Journal of History and Research (IJHR) ISSN (P): 2249–6963; ISSN (E): 2249–8079 Vol. 11, Issue 1, Jun 2021, 45-52 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.
KARL MARX’S CONCEPT OF MARXISM, CLASS STRUGGLE, AND DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM INTO THE STUDY OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Dr. ABHIJIT SAHOO Lecturer in History, Shishu Ananta Mahavidyalaya, Balipatna ABSTRACT
Scientific history is the most important trend in the historical writing of the modern era. With the progress of rationalism, the theological concept lost its ground. Sources came in for a critical study and the nature of interpretation received due consideration. Presentation and style too assumed importance. Contributions made by many writers and philosophers worked towards consolidating the scientific character of history as a branch of knowledge. The first among was Leopold Von Ranke, the father of modern history, who devised the historical method and tried to put the practice of history on a scientific basis. Hegel and Karl Marx introduced the concept of spirit and dialectical materialism into the study of historical development. Auguste Comte brought history closer to science. Benedet to Croce and R.G.
Collingwood denied the existence of facts independent of the historian and gave overwhelming importance to Original Article interpretation in writing history. Arnold Joseph Toynbee, the illustrious thinker of Britain has examined the genesis, the growth, and decay of all civilizations of mankind. During the twentieth century, the French Annals School radically changed the focus of historical research in France. Fernand Braudel wanted history to become more scientific and less subjective and demanded more quantitative evidence. Thus, we see that since the appearance of the modern period history changed her a lot. Let us throw lights on Karl Marx’s concept of spirit and dialectical materialism into the study
of historical development.
KEYWORDS: Marx’s Concept & Historical Development
Received: Mar 13, 2021; Accepted: Apr 03, 2021; Published: May 03, 2021; Paper Id.: IJHRJUN20215
INTRODUCTION
Karl Heinrich Marx (1818–1883 A.D.)
Karl Heinrich Marx, the great German intellectual of the philosophy of history. A great supporter of morals and followers of social tradition, Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 A.D. of Jewish parents in Trier in Prussian Rhineland. He was one of nine children born to Heinrich and Henrietta Marx. His father was a successful lawyer who revered Kant and Voltaire and was a passionate activist for Prussian reform. Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. Trained as a philosopher, Karl Marx turned away from philosophy in his mid-twenties, towards economics and politics. However, in addition to his overtly philosophical early work, his later writings have many points of contact with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in the philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy. He was educated at home until he was twelve and spent five years, from 1830 to 1835 A.D., at the Jesuit high school in Trier. He had his education at Bonn, Berlin, and Jena. He studied history, philosophy, and jurisprudence. His final ideas on history, economics, and philosophy materialized
www.tjprc.org [email protected] 46 Dr. Abhijit Sahoo during his studies in London. In Berlin, he studied law and philosophy and was introduced to the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel, who had been a professor at Berlin until his death in 1831. Karl Marx was not initially attracted to Hegel, but he soon became involved with the Young Hegelians, a radical group of students including Bruno Bauer and Ludwig Feuerbach, who criticized the political and religious establishments of the day. He received his doctorate from the University of Jena in 1841 A.D., but his radical politics prevented him from procuring a teaching position. He began to work as a journalist, and in 1842 A.D., he became the editor of Rheinische Zeitung, a liberal newspaper in Cologne. But the Prussian government banned the paper as too radical the following year. Harassed by the Prussian Government for his severe criticism, he was hounded out. He moved to Paris where he studied socialism and developed a friendship with Friedrich Engels, a rich cotton manufacturer. His association with socialism and with Engels proved life-long.
KARL MARX
In 1843A.D. with Arnold Ruge, Karl Marx founded a political journal titled German-French Annals in Paris. Only a single issue was published before philosophical differences between Karl Marx and Ruge resulted in its demise, but in August of 1844 A.D., the journal brought Karl Marx together with a contributor, Friedrich Engels, who would become his collaborator and lifelong friend. Together, the two began writing a criticism of the philosophy of Bruno Bauer, a Young Hegelian and former friend of Karl Marx’s. The result of Karl Marx and Engels’s first collaboration was published in 1845 A.D. as The Holy Family. Later that year, Karl Marx moved to Belgium after being expelled from France while writing for another radical newspaper, Vorxwarts which had strong ties to an organization that would later become the Communist League. Karl Marx also wrote the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 A.D., a critique of political economy in which he discusses topics such as labour wages, labour rent, and capital profit, and his ideas of how to change the economy, including proletarian socialist revolution and an eventual communist society.
In Brussels, Karl Marx was introduced to socialism by Moses Hess and finally broke off from the philosophy of the Young Hegelians completely. While there, he wrote The German Ideology, in which he first developed his theory on
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7084 NAAS Rating: 2.90 Karl Marx’s Concept of Marxism, Class Struggle, and Dialectical Materialism into the Study of Historical Development 47 historical materialism. At the beginning of 1846 A.D., Karl Marx founded a Communist Correspondence Committee in an attempt to link socialists from around Europe. Inspired by his ideas, socialists in England held a conference and formed the Communist League, and in 1847 A.D. at a Central Committee meeting in London, the organization asked Karl Marx and Engels to write the Manifesto of the Communist Party. The Communist Manifesto, as this work is commonly known, was published in 1848 A.D., and shortly after, in 1849 A.D., Karl Marx was expelled from Belgium. The book gives a clear idea of Karl Marx’s whole social philosophy. He went to France, anticipating a socialist revolution, but was deported from there as well. Karl Marx moved to London and remained in London until his death. In London, Karl Marx helped to found the German Workers’ Educational Society, as well as a new headquarters for the Communist League. He continued to work as a journalist, including a ten-year stint as a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune from 1852 to 1862 A.D., but he never earned a living wage and was largely supported by Engels. Karl Marx became increasingly focused on capitalism and economic theory, and in 1867 A.D., he published the first volume of Das Capital in which he laid out his vision of capitalism and its inevitable tendencies toward self-destruction, and took part in a growing international workers’ movement based on his revolutionary theories. The rest of his life was spent writing and revising manuscripts for additional volumes, which he did not complete. The remaining two volumes were assembled and published posthumously by Engels. Karl Marx died of pleurisy in London on March 14, 1883 A.D.
Karl Marx’s intellectual endeavour was influenced by three things
German philosophical ideas
French socialism
British political economy.
Karl Marx was not only a thinker but also a revolutionary activist. He said, “The philosophers have interpreted the world, the point, however, is to change it.” This suggests the very essence of Marxian dialectics. He was not only interested in floating a thought or idea but also his ideas were to change the entire world. Karl Marx’s remarkable works are Rheinische Zeitung (Newspaper), Vorwarts (Newspaper), The Holy Family (1845A.D.), The German Ideology (1845A.D.), The Communist Manifesto (1848A.D.), Das Capital (1867A.D.), A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859A.D.), Value, Price, and Profit (1865A.D.), The Poverty of Philosophy (1847A.D.), Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844(1844A.D.)
MARXISM
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Karl Marx was one of the greatest revolutionaries of the nineteenth century. He initiated the historical dimension to an understanding of society, culture, and economics. He created the concept of ideology in the sense of beliefs that shape and control social actions, analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction. His thought and action, during the span of four decades, changed the course of history in Europe. While his friend and collaborator Frederick Engels accompanied Karl Marx in his social adventures, Communism is identified with Karl Marx alone. Hence, its description as Marxism is widely accepted. Further, the basic thrust of Marxism is to reform and update socialism. In doing so, Marx borrowed certain concepts from his teacher and political philosopher, Hegel. Communism is also popularized as scientific socialism. Marxism had evoked prompt response in both the protagonists as well as antagonists of this ideology. In view of basing its arguments on the analysis of capitalism, Marxism appeared as its antidote and aimed at establishing scientific socialism in any advanced capitalist state. A thorough study of Marxism makes one believe that capitalism would be replaced by socialism. For, the basic premises of Marxism are put forward, in a rational and logical format. And, as Karl Marx observed, ‘the philosophers of the world have interpreted it in many ways, but the point, however, is to change it’. Hence, the mission and goal of Marxism are to change the existing socio-economic order in any society, more so in the capitalist one. That, of course, is possible if the party based on the principles of Marxism is founded on and undertakes the task of a revolution. In other words, Marxism is not just a philosophy but also an action- oriented ideology. Marxism is an effort to transform and rationalize society by analyzing and explaining the whole history. It is a theory which aims at the reconstruction of history, and in practices, it is a political weapon in the struggle for the revolutionary reconstruction of society. The fourfold doctrine, the labour theory of value, the theory of surplus-value, the theory of class war, and the theory of economic determinism of the Marxian thought, evolved during the forty years of the active life of its profounder.
History thus is the growth of man’s efforts to master the forces of nature. In Marx’s final synthesis of history meant three things i.e.
The movement of events in accordance with objective and primary economic laws.
The matching development of thought through a dialectical process.
The corresponding action, in the form of class struggle, which reconciles and unites the theory and practice of revolution.
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
Karl Marx then advocates the theory of historical materialism. Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first expressed by Karl Marx (1818-1883A.D.) as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life. The non-economic features of society e.g. social classes, political structures, ideologies are seen as being an outgrowth of its economic activity. Historical materialism started from a fundamental underlying reality of human existence, that in order for human beings to survive and continue existence from generation to generation, it is necessary for them to produce and reproduce the material requirements of life. While this may seem obvious, Karl Marx was the first to explain that this was the foundation for understanding human society and historical development. Karl Marx then extended this premise by asserting the importance of the fact that, in order to carry out production and exchange, people have to enter into very definite social relations, most fundamentally
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7084 NAAS Rating: 2.90 Karl Marx’s Concept of Marxism, Class Struggle, and Dialectical Materialism into the Study of Historical Development 49 production relations. Karl Marx identified the production relations of society (arising on the basis of given productive forces) as the economic base of society. Historical materialism can be seen to rest on the subsequent basis
The base of human society is how humans work on nature to produce the means of subsistence.
There is a division of labor into social classes based on property ownership where some people live from the labor of others.
The scheme of class division is dependent on the mode of production.
The manner of production is based on the level of the productive forces.
Society moves from stage to stage when the predominant class is displaced by a new emerging class, by overthrowing the old relations of production no longer corresponding to the new productive forces.
KARL MARX’S CONCEPT OF CLASS STRUGGLE
Karl Marx considered that there was always a clash of interest among social groups which he called class struggle. This conflict of interest is often seen in hostile political creeds. He calls this class struggle as the great motivating influence of history. There is a close connection between the class struggle and the dialectic philosophy. There has always been in history such a struggle, between feudalism and serfdom, capitalism, and trade unions, and so on. There is a perpetual war between the two groups. Progress will always be the result of a victory of the new class over its oppressors and the struggle will go on until the last vestiges of the old order disappear. In ancient times, it was a struggle between masters and slaves and between patricians and plebeians, in medieval times, it was a conflict between guild masters and journeymen and between lords and serfs, and in modern times, it is the struggle between the capitalists and the proletariat.
Exploitation leads to class struggle. Ultimately, workers will destroy capitalism and establish socialism. This will have three characteristics i.e. the dictatorship of the proletariat, payment in accordance with the work performed, and ownership and operation by the state of all means of production, distribution, and exchange. But socialism will be transitional, for it will be succeeded by something higher, communism, which is the perfect goal of historical evolution. Communism, though it is much debatable, means a classless society in which no one lives by owning, all live by working, and all get according to their needs. The state will disappear and voluntary associations will operate the means of production and provide for social necessities. According to him, the workers are being deprived of the product which they produce. He also mentions that the labourers are forced to sell their labour because their labour cannot be preserved. As a result, they are exploited by the rich. He also advocates for some fundamental changes in the present wage system for the good of the labourers. He considers the state to be an instrument for the exploitation of labourers and imagines the establishment of a classless and stateless society. He joins the theory of additional value for the betterment of labourers.
DIALECTIC MATERIALISM
The Concept of Dialectics
The word dialectics refers to a method of the intellectual discussion by dialogue. It is a term of logic. It means contradictions in the very essence of things. Everybody is seen in the contradictions of its opposite and these contradictions form the very basis of social change. Social change is possible in society because of the existence of opposite tendencies in society. Something new has to come. These dialectics can help to understand the very nature of directions of social
www.tjprc.org [email protected] 50 Dr. Abhijit Sahoo change. Dialectics is the method used by Karl Marx to advance his arguments by which change in society can be expected. This is called Karl Marx’s methodology. His basic intentions were to bring about a change in the basic order of society.
To Karl Marx, the material is the basis of this world. His materialism is dialectic. Borrowing from Hegel, Karl Marx changed it in such a way that dialectical materialism becomes a dynamic philosophy. He has changed the nature of the dialectic principle of Hegel according to his own choice. Features of his dialectic materialism of Karl Marx are given below:
Nature is not the sudden collection of things but it depends on the allied material.
He believes in the movement of materials. In this process of developing new material comes into existence and the old develops. Hence the dialecticism of Karl Marx is the study of the movement of life.
This change is qualitative and quantitative which takes place all of a sudden.
Everything has two aspects, one positive and the other negative, and because of opposition between the two conflict energies. As a result of it, old elements are destroyed and new elements take their form.
Karl Marx's dialectical materialism, therefore, means that entire human existence is in change and that change, development, and progress take place by way of contradictions and conflicts and that resulting change leads to a higher unity. It is strikingly similar to the Hegelian dialectical process except on two counts, one, Karl Marx discards the notion of eternal truths or institutions, and two, Karl Marx brings into his dialectical system the concept of class struggle, i.e. the ruling class is viewed as 'thesis' which evokes its own negation 'antithesis', its challenge to the former leads to a 'synthesis' through revolutionary transformation resulting in a higher organization which becomes the thesis of another division. The function of this dialectical method was especially to the economic structure of society, Karl Marx finds that human history passes through various economic stages which can be explained dialectically and historically as a continuous process. Every stage contains within itself its contradiction which means that it contains in itself the seed of its own destruction and the appearance of the following stage. Thus, Karl Marx's dialectical approach is a notable gift to the social scientists, for as a system of analysis it is sound and scientific. Moreover, the dialectical materialism assumes violent conflict and an abrupt and the revolutionary change as normal. But this encourages over-simplification of the course of history.
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CAPITALISM
Apart from all the theories of Karl Marx, his analysis of capitalism is most comprehensive and systematic. Karl Marx analyses the modern trends of European capitalism and in the process attempts at establishing that the growth of capitalism has a natural tendency towards inevitable proletariat revolution. Hence, capitalism in his opinion performs an indispensable progressive function, as economic development is automatically followed by social changes. While doing so, he formulates economic theories, such as labour theory of value, theories of surplus-value, capitalist exploitation, and trends of capital accumulation and profit. So, credit goes to Karl Marx for formulating ideas on capitalism, which appear to be sound both historically and empirically. Moreover, with the historical development of capitalism, his theory of the sequence of social stages acquires an empirical foundation. It may also be noted that his theory of capitalism has led the proletariat to the envisioning of an automatic and inevitable revolution.
CONCLUSIONS
In short, one cannot deny the influence of Marxian thought on contemporary society. Undoubtedly, he invented a new method of inquiry, new concepts, and a number of bold hypotheses to explain the rise and fall of human society. The entire nineteenth century was vastly affected in the realm of historical writing, political science, and sociology. Karl Marx was a visionary, a revolutionary, and a doctrinaire whose political creed abounded in contradiction with his scientific investigations. Though, on the side of the scientific method, he made two important contributions. One was the view that human societies are wholes or systems in which social groups, institutions, beliefs, and doctrines are interrelated and have to be studied in their interrelations rather than treated in isolation, as in the conventional separate histories of politics, law, religion and thought. Secondly, Karl Marx held the view of societies as inherently mutable systems, in which changes are produced largely by internal contradictions and conflicts, and these changes could be reduced to general statements and principles in order to explicate their causes and consequences. The greatest drawback of Karl Marx was that he overemphasized the economic factors and underestimated the other aspects of his philosophy. However, he combined the above-mentioned ideas into a comprehensive system and presented it as an explanation of the facts of the political economy.
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