What Is Marxism?

Marxism is a social and political philosophy that gets its name from the man who is primarily responsible for its creation. Karl Marx was born in Prussia in the early 1800s and lived in several different cities throughout his life. He eventually settled in London in his later years.

The early influence on Marx came from the theorist and social philosopher Hegel, who is credited with introducing the dialectic method of viewing society. Marxism also has strong roots in classic studies of economy and politics, as well as the view of a classed-based society (Engels). Some might say the essence of Marxism is that the activity of society comes from the difference in classes and the daily dialogue and struggle between those classes.

In Marxism, there is a lot of emphasis on the material things in society and the population’s efforts to produce the necessities of life. Marx also worked with humanism, which focuses on such areas as reason and science, along with human needs and interest. He created some controversy with his view of religion as a symptom of a larger disease in society. Marx wrote that religion was used by government leaders and the elite to help people feel better about their poverty and exploitation.

Marxism is often thought of in the same vein as Communism, but the more accurate connection would be with communism (with a small “c”). Generally, Marx’s theories were based in economics and the way that production affects the different classes of people. This particular view has to include reference to class struggle, in which of economic society is separated by wealth and power into various levels.

Most discussions of Marxism begin and end with arguments about Communism, capitalism and whether one or the other is right or wrong. But there is so much more to Marx’s theories, and those of Engel, which are about the dialectic method and how different classes communicate with each other. Some invoke capitalism and a free society as the antithesis of Marxism, when in truth the theories are about social change, not about two static and opposing philosophies.

It may be best to view Marxism as being about class struggle, the continuous movement within a society as various classes try to control the means of production. For capitalists, the working class owns nothing more than the ability to perform work. In the basic theory of communal living, which Marx included in his theories, there is much more control in the hands of the “public.”

The tension within economic society, according to Marxism, occurs because those who work and produce are not paid enough to purchase the end products of their labor. The ruling class (elite owners) cannot physically use or consume all of the results of production. Thus a change is necessary to achieve balance within the economic structure. Marx saw this as a dictatorship of the proletariat, the class of wage workers within industry. The struggle between the classes and the change made necessary by these inequalities were inevitable, according to Marxism.

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