POS223, CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL IDEAS MARXISM: THE POLITICAL IDEOLOGY OF KARL MARX

 Marxism is a worldview and a method of societal analysis that focuses on class relations and societal conflict, that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, and a dialectical view of social transformation.  Marxist methodology uses economic and sociopolitical inquiry and applies that to the critique and analysis of the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic economic change. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

 Marxism is the political, economic, and social theories of Karl Marx including the belief that the struggle between social classes is a major force in history and that there should eventually be a society in which there are no classes MIRIAM WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY

 The political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and Fri edrich Engels in which the concept of class struggle plays a central role in understanding society's alle gedly inevitable development from bourgeois oppression under capitalism to a socialist and ultimately cl assless society. ( American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition )  (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the economic and poli tical theory and practice originated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that holds that actions and hum an institutions are economically determined, that the class struggle is the basic agency of historical cha nge, and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism. ( Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged) MORE DEFINITIONS

 There is no single definitive Marxist theory; Marxist analysis has been applied to diverse subjects and has been misconceived and modified during the course of its development, resulting in numerous and sometimes contradictory theories that fall under the rubric of Marxism or Marxian analysis PROBLEM OF CONCEPTUALIZING MARXISM

 Marxism, as a political ideology, originated from Karl Marx ( ) and his friend Friedrich Engels ( ).  Marxism seeks to understand the problems of mankind and society through historical analysis and treats history as a process of conflict between antagonistic forces and classes.  The conflict is a product of the contradictions inherent in the mode of production in which the class that “has” dominates the class that does “not have”. MARXISM AS A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

 The goal of Marxism is the radical emancipation, liberation and deliverance of the proletariat, the working class (who has formed the majority in the society) from the oppressive, exploitative and inhumane activities of the bourgeoisie (the ruling class/those who control the means of production who are the minority) has subjected them to.  Therefore, the central goal of Karl Marx’s political theory is that of emancipation of the proletariat from the oppressive owners of means of production. GOAL OF MARXISM

 While the bourgeois class has the means of production, the proletariat class has nothing but their labour.  The economy system that guarantees this kind of arrangement is capitalism.  At the heart of Marxism lies the materialist conception of history, according to which the development of all human societies is ultimately determined by the methods of production that people adopt to meet their needs. MORE ON THE GOAL OF MARXISM

 Marx borrowed the idea of dialectics from Hegel, a German Philosopher.  According to Hegel, the universe is the product of the absolute spirit. The absolute spirit moves the world and human actions through the process of dialectics which is an interaction between thesis and anti-thesis leading to synthesis. The synthesis has both the thesis and the anti-thesis. The growth in the human society is the product of the absolute spirit moving towards perfection and freedom.  For Marx, matter and not idea (absolute spirit) is responsible for the growth and movement in the world. Conflict is due to the interaction between two classes on the quest for better material condition. BASIC TENETS OF MARXISM 1. DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM

Marx and Engels applied dialectics to the material or the social world consisting of economic production and exchange. A study of the productive process, for them, explained all other historical phenomena. They noted that each generation inherited a mass of productive forces, an accumulation of capital, and a set of social relations which reflected these productive forces. These forces shaped human character and thoughts of each generation. The growth of human society is a product of material forces. Thus, human history is determined by material forces. From primitive communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, communism. They articulated a deterministic view of history. despite this deterministic view of history, they argue that the individuals have a role to play in the historical transformation of the world. 2. HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

 Marx and Engels assert that the contradictions in the mode of production give rise to class conflict, and men become conscious of these contradictions that there is a conflict between the class that controls the mode of production and the class that does not have. In capitalism, two classes are the bourgeoisie, possessing the means of production and the proletariat, constituting the labour force. In every society, there are two classes – the rich and the poor; one that owns the means of production and the other that has nothing but its labour to sell. 3. CLASS STRUGGLE:

The workers are alienated first from themselves given the fragmentation of the production process (division of labour) and secondly, they cannot even consume what they produce. Also, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are alienated, though that of the proletariat class is more thorough. He is of the opinion that in the capitalist system, man is alienated from his labour, from other men, from nature and he is equally alienated from the system. These four alienated situations cannot allow man to have freedom in the capitalist system. 4. ALIENATION:

 Having identified the evils of the 19 th Century capitalism, Karl Marx recommended blood bathed revolution as the only way of ending the exploitation, alienation, oppression and domination that characterized this social eco- political arrangement.  He advocated a violent revolutionary seizure of power and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The society will have to move from capitalism through socialism to communism which is a classless society. in communism, there will be a withering away of the state. 5. REVOLUTION:

There are various ways of looking at Freedom. In a philosophical/metaphysical way, it means that one is not determined. It means we have free-will. In economic terms, it means in the market we have free access to actualize our preferences and needs. In other words, we are free to choose. In social and political thought, freedom is the absence of any constraint which is either imposed by the state or by other individuals or citizens in the society. It may either be physical or social constraint. 6. FREEDOM

For instance, we say, Y is free to do X in order to be free from Z. Thus, freedom to is not complete without freedom from. For example, if we have freedom to education, we have freedom from ignorance. The import of this logic is that one is free to the extent that there are no limitations to what we can do. Similar to this is that we have some rights and these rights are, to a large extent, not limited in so far as they do not conflict with the rights of others. CLASSES OF FREEDOM

J.S Mill, in his book On Liberty, holds that freedom or liberty should be regarded in such a way that one’s liberty stops where another person’s liberty starts. He formulated ‘HARM PRINCIPLE’. This means we have liberty in so far as it does not do any harm to others and this liberty does not give us any license to engage in any act that is detrimental to the society. This is a negative conception of liberty. Negative liberty is viewed as a form of liberty that is individualistic. It holds that we are free in so far as no constraints whatever is imposed on us. We can exercise certain basic freedoms e.g free speech, free association, etc. so long as these freedom does not infringe upon the freedom of others. CLASSES OF FREEDOM CONT.

However, there is a possibility of our freedom to be limited by some material constraints. We may be free to purchase something; but we may no have the financial power to purchase it. Thus, some scholars propounded what is known as POSITIVE FREEDOM. Isaiah Berlin, in his seminal work, “Two Concepts of Liberty”, holds that the idea of negative liberty presupposes an absence of constraints. In this view, one is free from certain restraints or constraints which could be externally imposed or internal as the case may be. The idea of positive freedom means BEING FREE TO DO SOMETHING. Berlin defines negative liberty or freedom as an area within which a man can act unobstructed by others. A. POSITIVE FREEDOM

In negative freedom, what is involved is not the nature of freedom so much as the obstacles which obstruct or impede freedom – laws or social circumstance. Positive freedom is concerned refers to autonomy or self- mastery. It stands for effective power, self-realization, self- mastery or autonomy, or moral or ‘inner freedom’. It implies the ability to do certain things that enhance one’s freedom. It holds that there should be certain material facilities provided by the state for people to exercise their negative freedom meaningfully. It is concerned with the distribution of material or economic resources. The argument is that we can have formal freedom without necessarily having the means to actualize it. B. NEGATIVE FREEDOM

Some social theorists have argued that both negative and positive freedom should go together. G.C MacCullum, in his paper, ‘Negative and Positive Freedom, argues that the difference between free to (positive freedom) and free from (negative freedom) is just a confusion of language since they can both be described in similar way. Being ‘free to’ to gain education entails being ‘free from’ ignorance. He further provides a value-free concept of freedom thus: X IS FREE FROM Y TO DO OR BE Z. NEGATIVE FREEDOM CONT.

 Find additional materials to the above subject and get your self acquainted with the criticisms that has been raised against the Marxist Philosophy.  Please note that this assignment is very necessary to you understanding of this topic Marxism. CRITICISMS AGAINST THE MARXISTS POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

 Let a few intelligent students in this class come to my office so we can discuss the modalities of writing an academic paper out of our studies so far for this semester. Emphasis will be on Marxism and the last four topics we had just finished treating in Class.  The offer last from now to one week after this special notice and call for publication has been made.  Proposed Title of Paper:  The Marxist Philosophy of Alienation and the Nigerian Factor As Major Influences of Political Behaviour & Party Politics Towards 2015 Elections.  Your contributions are welcome!  Students who participate will earn extra bonus marks and also stand that chance of having their names included in the list of Co-authors of the paper to be published in two months time! TERM PAPER FOR THE SEMESTER