Karl Marx.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Karl Marx was a German Economist and founder of international Socialism.
At an age of 25 he was deported from Paris, and he fled to England for shelter.
He studied at the British Museum at London, where he acquired knowledge
of economic literature and economic development of modern Europe.
His theories are stated in Das Kapital which is one of the most important
books ever written.

The type of society in which civilized men in Europe and USA live is Capitalist society.
This type is different from other societies wherein its wealth consists entirely upon
what are called commodities. Commodity is not an object for self-use but is to be exchanged for other products. The process of exchange involves a reciprocal
relationship between men. Every commodity must serve some useful purpose
of the use-value of money and power.

Marxism is the anti-thesis of capitalism. Capitalism is a type of a society in which economic system is based on private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods by a free competitive market and profit motive.

Marxism is a system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public
ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.
It is a slogan of :-

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his work and needs.”

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the dictum of
dialectical materialism advocates that human consciousness is innately conservative.
Most people do not like change. They resist new ideas. They cling to the
existing forms and ideas of society until they are compelled to abandon’
these ideas on the basis of massive hammer blows of events.


Marx’s Labour Theory of Value is a major pillar of traditional Marxist economics
as is evident in his Capital which states that the value of a commodity can be objectively measured by the average number of labour hours required to produce that particular commodity.

The labour theory of value has proved demonstratively false, it prevailed among classical economists through the mid nineteenth century. Adam Smith for instance flirted with a labour theory of value in his classic defence of capitalism in “ Wealth of Nations.”
and systemized a text studied by generations of free market economists.

Labour power is the worker’s capacity to produce goods and services. Value
of labour depends on number of labour hours it takes the society on average to feed, clothe, shelter a worker so that he or she has the capacity to work. In other words the long-run wage worker’s wages will depend on the number of labour hours it takes to produce.

Suppose five hours of labour are needed to feed, clothe, shelter a worker each day so
that the worker is fit to work for the next day. If labour hours equal one dollar, the
correct wages would be five dollars a day.

His theory of alienation condemns capitalism as it alienated the masses. Although
the workers produce goods for the market, market forces control the goods and not the worker. People are just objects that have lost touch with human nature that makes decisions based on profit and loss considering with little concern for human worth and need.

His scientific theory of socialism combined his economics and philosophy including the theory of value and the concept of alienation to demonstrate that through out the course of human history, a profound struggle has developed between the “Haves” and “Have not.” Capitalism has resulted into a war between two classes-the capitalists and the working class.

Marx predicted that competition among capitalists would grow so fierce that most capitalists would go bankrupt leaving only a handful of monopolists, controlling nearly all production. Monopoly exploits workers and the consumers.

His predictions have not been able to stand the test of time. Competition has
not developed into monopoly. Crisis has affected the pillars of capitalism.
but there is no such thing as final crisis and extinction of capitalism. Boom and slump
cycle has been a constant feature of capitalism for almost 200 years. The capitalist system is sure to eventually get out of even the greatest economic crisis it faces at times.

Marxist theory is appealing and charming in poorer countries to lure huge work force of labour by showing them moon in their hands. Destruction is easy. They have no
Constructive solution to complexities of production, sale and theory of reproduction in
Business matters.

Karl Marx suffered acute poverty and was made to starve including
the death of his wife and children due to poverty. It is a warning to the capitalists,
“Do not delve too much.” Marxism inflames the sentiments of wage-earners but
it is not an alternative to capitalism.




More than a century after his death Karl Marx remains one of the most controversial
figures in the world. His criticism of capitalism and his promise of an inevitable
harmonious socialistic future inspired a revolution of global proportions. It
seemed that with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the spread of communism
in the eastern Europe, it seemed that Marxism had settled down.

That dream collapsed before the century ended, as most of the East European countries rejected Marxist ideology and entered into a remarkable transition towards private property rights from the market exchange system which aspects of Marxism created
such a powerful revolutionary force and it met with its eventual death.