Marxian theory – main

postulates
• Middle of the 19th century the theory emerged

• Marxism as scientific socialism

• Born in 1818 in Germany

• 1894 onwards lived in England

• German philosopher, political economist and revolutionary

• While in college, president of the Trier Tavern Drinking Club

• Member of (influenced by) Young Hegelians –dialectic

• Marxism can be defined as a set of political and economic
principles founded by Marx and Engels in order to lay
scientific foundation of socialism

• Marx was heavily influenced by Hegel, David Ricardo,

Adam Smith, William Thompson etc.

• His interest in economics was fueled by Friedrich Engels –

friend, collaborator and benefactor
• Major works includes;

• Economic and Philosophical Manuscript

• Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

• The Communist Manifesto (Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx)

• A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

• Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (German: Das

Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie) Three Volumes
 1) Dialectical Materialism- The philosophical Basis of
Marxism
• Marx rejected the idea of Hegel that idea is the essence of universe
and postulate that matter was the essence of universe, which is the
force behind all the social changes

• Matter operate law of dialectics

• Each stages of social development is represented by the

corresponding stage of material condition of society
• He believed that social institutions are shaped by material
conditions, which are in turn determined by the mode of
economic production thus Marx replaced dialectical idealism
by his own dialectical materialism

• Thus thesis x anti-thesis = synthesis ( material as the moving

force)

• Engels identified three laws of dialectics they are:

1) The transformation of quantity to quality and vice versa-water

changing its quality under certain quantity of temperature

2) The interpenetration of opposite- Hard and soft are opposite, but

in the material world they interpenetrate each other

3) The negation of negation- every stage of social development

contain seeds of its own decay- the sprout being the negation of

the seed
 2) Historical Materialism: Scientific or Empirical Basis of
Marxism

• In any given epoch of society the economic relations exert

influence in shaping the progress of society and moulding
social, political, intellectual, and ethical relationships

• Social relations prevailing in any stage of historical

development are determined by the economic condition
• Economic interpretation of history/ materialistic
interpretation of history

• Since survival of humans depends upon their efficiency in

production of material things, production is the most
important activity of humans

• Society came in to existence primarily for the purpose of

economic production since man in group produce more than
man in isolation
• Society since its inception has been subjected to internal stress
and strain due to the disparity between needs and the amount of
goods produced

• Unsatisfied needs are the result of defective mode of

production

• Man has always imagined another world where all his needs
would meet. Thus religion came in to existence as the sobe of
opressed
• Religion is the product of defective economic system

• As the process of material production hold the key to social

changes it is responsible for historical development

• In social production of their life man enter in to definite relations

of production which are indispensable and independent of their
will

• The relations of production correspond to a definite stage of

development of the material productive forces.
• Forces of Production- it includes two elements

a) Means of production- tools, machines, factories etc

b) Labour power of workers

• Relations of Production- are constituted by pattern of economic

ownership of means of production. At every stage of history
owners of means of production constitute the dominant class and
those left with labour power only constitute the depended class
• Together the forces of production and relations of production
constitute the mode of production.

• The sum total of the relations of production constitute the

economic structure/ the base or substructure of every society

• Legal, political, moral, religious and all other institutions

constitute the super structure of a society which change
according to the changing character of the base
How change happens?

• Mans constant search for production improvement to face

scarcity leads to development of forces of production

• Means of production will develop due to the scientific

discoveries, inventions and new technologies

• Labour power will acquire new skills, education, and new

knwoledge
• The development of forces of production will lead to
contradiction with relations of production which will
ultimately result in the collapse of the existing mode of
production along with it superstructure

• Every stage of social development falls short of perfection

contains the seeds of its own decay
• Four main stages of past historical development has been
identified by Marx and Engels they are
• Primitive communism
• Slave-owner society
• Medieval feudal society- lords and serfs
• Modern capitalist society

• The abolition of feudalism lead to the emergence of industria

and commercial middle class
Theory of Revolution

• the theory of revolution is an integral part of dialectical

materialism

• Revolution is the indispensable mid wife of social changes

• Each stage of social development have certain sets of ideas

attitudes, moral values, to sustain the existing pattern

• It will comes to conflict when production forces changes

• But the new production forces will somehow manage to
smash the existing base and superstructure

• The dominant class will only part with it power when there
will be a use of force

• Revolution is thus an integral part of class struggle and social

changes

• Each epoch in a history is there for is a product of revolution

• The capitalist system emerged by overthrowing feudalism- e.g.:
French Revolution

• The proletarian revolution would be different from all other

revolutions

• It would be against a minority by a majority of masses against

class exploitation

• It is not designed to win power for a particular class but to end

class