Marxism

Even before our last lecture, I'd found it almost impossible to escape the beliefs and ideas of Karl Marx on almost a daily basis. Marxism crops up in a variety of topics and debates, particularly when you are studying Creative Writing and Journalism for your degree, so I was intrigued to learn more about him.

What I find most remarkable in the work of Marx, what separates him from most other philosophers of the past and present, is his focus on understanding the exact mechanics of the failings of man and society. Rather than merely interpreting the world around him, he set out to show what could be done to harmonise this world. He answered the question of 'how', as well as that of 'why'.

His views are perhaps some that I do not agree with in their own right, though. Marx was greatly influenced by Hegel before him, and so much of his philosophy derives from the Hegelian theory in the pursuit of a 'perfect society'. He was thus an advocate of the process of 'Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis', however, believed that history unfolds in this manner as a result of the eternal struggles in class - perhaps the most famous belief of Karl Marx. He identified the primary struggle as that between the Bourgoise of society, (i.e. those who controlled the majority of wealth in a country), and the proleteriats, who own no individual rights over others. Marx was a well-known communist and believed the only way of defeating capitalism was to see a 'proleterian revolution', whereby the unification of classes would result in the fulfillment of society's purpose, granting entry into a 'Garden of Eden'.

Marx's views still hold strong today and I believe greatly influence the ideologies of many strong-minded politicals. For example, he described religion as a simple means to escape the reality of the world, as an 'opium of the people'. He also stated that politics itself was a method of control, whereby stronger classes could easily manipulate the poorer, weaker ones. Indeed, it may be seen why Karl Marx could have been seen as a very controversial figure to many, particularly those capitalist minds of the west, in the early twentieth century after his death.

A writer of several important works, like that on economics called 'Das Capital', his most widely known is 'The Communist Manifesto', in which he reflected on the globalisation of the Bourgoise. Marx was and still is a very complex, yet fascinating, character, but perhaps after next week's seminar and having read the 'Manifesto', we'll be able to delve a little deeper into his true political nature.