ABSTRACT
This initiative aims to reveal the nature of capitalism, as well as its benefits and drawbacks. After that, a discussion of Marx’s critique of capitalism and how he pushed for its replacement with the establishment of communism through socialism will be presented. It should be highlighted that, in Marx’s opinion, the only way to achieve this goal is through a bloody revolution. As a result, a critical assessment of Marx’s critique of the capitalist system, as well as his prescription of a bloody revolution, will be conducted to discover how applicable these suggestions are in the modern period.
Then, in place of Karl Marx’s own solution/suggestion, a practical alternative solution/recommendation will be implemented. Furthermore, while many workers are better off today, many others are not. Even in places like the United States, sweatshop circumstances exist on occasion, and there are numerous countries where the majority of employees are exploited as brutally now as they were during Karl Marx’s day. As a result, the overall tendency that Marx saw continues: the wealthy continue to become wealthier and more powerful, while the majority of regular workers can consider themselves fortunate if they have secure employment and more or less acceptable benefits. In Africa, for example, the financial disparity between the wealthiest and the rest of society has been growing, and many capitalists believe that riches also translates into an imbalance of political power and influence. It may have been a time in the nineteenth century when workers were forced to work in sweatshops, where the workday lasted twelve to fourteen hours, where children were sometimes literally chained to machines to work, where workplace safety was nonexistent, where workers were deprived of education, and most importantly, where wages were so low that workers could rarely afford to buy the things they produced. All of these, however, have now changed dramatically. Although capitalism in the nineteenth century was cruel, it has since been reformated. Wages have risen, businesses and the social security system provide a variety of benefits, and today’s industrial workers own and consume more material items than even members of the old political cartoons.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
It’s becoming increasingly common to hear that capitalism’s exploitative nature dehumanizes and alienates – that is, alienates man from the product of his labor, from himself, from society, and from nature. Because of the exploitative nature of many people by a few wealthy persons, this type of economic structure has resulted in man’s inhumanity to man. Profits are made at any cost, even at the cost of human life, in this case. Few wealthy individuals accumulated money at the expense of the majority in this form of economic system of government, and as a result, income is divided inequitably, to the prejudice of the common man. As a result, Marx was unsatisfied with the system and campaigned for its overthrow. Karl Marx was concerned about the solitary individual, who was cut off from others, from the fruits of his labor, from nature, and even from his own fundamental self and emotion. The idea of alienation in Marxism explained the working class’s situation in the capitalist system during Karl Marx’s time, in which workers (proletariats) were exploited and dehumanized by their employers (capitalists/bourgeoisie). They were robbed of the fruits of their effort. As a result, Marx coined the term “alienated labor.” 1 Thus, in the capitalist system, the worker is dehumanized and instrumentalized; he is no longer considered as a human being, but as a production tool in the hands of bourgeois employers who exploit him. Hence, Marx felt that “conflict is the universal rule of progress,” influenced by Heraclitus’ philosophy and Hegel’s dialectic. 2. Heraclitus and Hegel both saw war as beneficial and necessary to progress. Perpetual peace, according to Heraclitus, would be undesirable since it would signify societal stagnation and the end of growth. According to Heraclitus, the cosmos is a universe of conflicts and clashes of opposites, and “we must realize that battle is common to all warfare, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife.” 3. Harmony and progress, according to Hegel, are the outcomes of conflicts. Progress or growth, according to his dialectic, is the result (synthesis) of conflict or contradiction between two things (thesis and anti-thesis).
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Although we cannot help but agree with Marx’s denunciation of man’s exploitation by man, we cannot agree with his commitment to Machiavellianism. We don’t believe that any means used to achieve a desirable result is morally justified. Contrary to popular belief, we believe that the end does not and cannot justify the methods.
As a result, using a poor method to achieve a good aim is an evil in and of itself. As a result, we cannot support Marxism’s promotion of class strife, antagonism, and violent revolutions. We also don’t believe in the Heraclitan-Hegelian-Marxist doctrine that only violent conflicts and bloody revolutions can bring about societal change and progress. Nobody nowadays wins a conflict; in the long run, everyone loses.
Furthermore, while Marx’s objective was to protect the people’s welfare, by advocating for a violent revolution, the people’s welfare that he was attempting to protect will be jeopardized. This is because the violence that accompanies a revolution poses a danger to people’s lives and property.
Furthermore, Marx appears to be more concerned with the goals of the battle than with the means. This is prone to error since goals accomplished by proper means are always more durable and long-lasting than those acquired through improper means. As a result, the means by which these aims are really realized is more important than the end itself for long-term peace and stability. His focus on military revolution is excessive and cannot be justified, especially in today’s world, when nations are more concerned with peaceful co-operation than with conflict. Who can disagree that violence breeds hatred and destroys lives (especially the lives of the innocent) and property, and that counter-revolutionary forces will produce even greater destruction and instability in society? Violent revolution as a means of resolving differences is destined to stifle political and social progress. It is thus beyond all reasonable doubt that the changes wrought by an armed and violent revolution are less long-lasting than those wrought by peaceful means and methods on the one hand, and persuasion on the other. “Persistent, unrelenting, and patient persuasion can break,” as I phrased it.
Further, Marx’s strategy of overthrowing one economic system and replacing it with another is risky because it has never resulted in long-term stability. The insecurity that this revolution will bring will always be fresh in the thoughts of capitalists, who will be compelled to overthrow the workers rule at the first opportunity. This will be a never-ending conflict that is detrimental to the nation’s economic, cultural, and political stability. This isn’t to argue that an oppressive economic system shouldn’t be fought and replaced; it only means that the confrontation shouldn’t be so abrasive that stability becomes unattainable.
Marx also argues that the only way to effect change is through revolution.
Further, Marx, it is argued, failed to recognize that when the state collapses, numerous new variables and classes may emerge. It should be underlined that the collapse of capitalism may not lead to communism, but rather to anarchy, from which a dictatorship unconnected to communism in essence may emerge.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that the baby should not be tossed out with the bath water. Marx, on the other hand, was a victim of this dilemma. While advocating for the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of communism through socialism, Marx inadvertently discounted the value of hard effort, which leads to invention and creativity, which promotes faster economic and societal development and advancement. Capitalism, which leads to quicker economic growth and societal progress, is well established.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following is the goal of this research project:
To begin, it is necessary to critically examine and critique capitalism in light of its exploitative nature, as proposed by Karl Marx.
Second, it is to objectively weigh Karl Marx’s notion of mass revolt/bloody revolution as a means of eliminating the capitalist system in order to determine how legitimate and tenable this suggestion is in the modern day.
Third, an attempt will be made to expose the errors in Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism as well as his proposal for communism by mass revolt/bloody revolution. Then, in place of Karl Marx’s own prescription of bloody revolution as a means of improving the pitiful state of the working class, a practical alternative solution/recommendation.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The importance of this scientific project is huge. However, only a few of them will be shown below:
To begin with, it will serve as an analytic-critical examination of Karl Marx’s well-known critique of capitalism and his proposal of communism through socialism as an alternative to capitalism through the use of mass revolt/bloody revolution.
Second, it will serve as a source of courage for all those, particularly the poor, who are victims of the exploitative, alienating, and dehumanizing conditions in which they find themselves, by demonstrating that there is a workable solution to their problems if they can unite with one voice, but that this does not have to result in a bloody revolution as Karl Marx advocated.
Finally, that will be useful.
In other words, by enlightening them on the way forward on how to carry out their struggle for freedom from the oppressive nature of the capitalist system, this research work will instill in the minds of the people (the working class) the spirit of unity and cooperation, which is a necessary tool for achieving their freedom from exploitation and dehumanization at the hands of their employers. “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains,” writes Karl Marx. They have a whole planet to conquer. UNITE, WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES!” 5
Fourth, this research will act as a deterrent to the few wealthy individuals in society who are responsible for the marginalization of the poor and less fortunate. It is going to happen.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The focus of this inquiry will be limited to the ideology of capitalism and the Marxian conception of capitalism. It will be attempted to explain Karl Marx’s critique of the capitalist system and how he pushed for a communist world free of the capitalists’ exploitation of the working class. Following that, a critical assessment of Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism, as well as his proposal to replace it with communism via socialism, will be made to determine how legitimate and tenable they are. Following that, a conclusion and a recommendation will be made.
After describing the study’s scope, I’ll go on to the methods.
METHODLOGY
The research methodology for this project will be analytic-cum-critical in character. Analytic in the sense that the problem at hand will be thoroughly investigated. It has to do with a comprehensive deconstruction; a conceptual clarity, and a full explanation of the problem at hand. And it’s important to note that it’s not a negative assessment, but rather a rational, objective, articulate, and fair assessment, whether positive or negative. As a result, being “critical” of established concepts is not the same as rejecting them: it entails critically considering whether the beliefs in question should be reformed, modified, or conserved, and employing one’s entire intellectual and imaginative capabilities to finding an answer.
As a result of the foregoing, materials to continue the research effort have been obtained.
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