Marxism and modern communism
Political Science - Theory and Thoughts · Unit III · Topic 11 of 17 · 6 min read
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1. Background
Karl Marx (1818–1883), a German philosopher who lived most of his working life in exile in London, worked closely with Friedrich Engels (1820–1895). Main works: The Communist Manifesto (with Engels, 1848), A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), Das Kapital (vol. I, 1867), The Civil War in France (1871, on the Paris Commune) and Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875). Engels wrote The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884).
Lenin said Marxism drew on three sources: German philosophy (Hegel’s dialectic, Feuerbach’s materialism), British political economy (Adam Smith and Ricardo’s labour theory of value) and French socialism (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Proudhon). The immediate background was the misery of the industrial working class in mid-nineteenth-century Europe and the failed revolutions of 1848.
2. Dialectical materialism
Hegel held that history moves through a dialectic of ideas: a thesis produces its opposite, an antithesis, and the conflict is resolved in a synthesis, which becomes a new thesis. Marx kept the dialectic but replaced ideas with matter: it is material, above all economic, conditions that develop through conflict. He said he found Hegel standing on his head and set him on his feet.
3. Historical materialism (economic interpretation of history)
The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. The economic base (forces of production plus relations of production, that is, who owns what) determines the superstructure (law, State, religion, morality, art). When the forces of production outgrow the relations of production, a period of revolution follows.
Stages of history:
- Primitive communism (no private property, no classes)
- Slavery (masters and slaves)
- Feudalism (lords and serfs)
- Capitalism (bourgeoisie and proletariat)
- Socialism (dictatorship of the proletariat)
- Communism (classless, stateless society)
4. Class struggle
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Manifesto). In every stage after primitive communism there are two main classes, the owners and the non-owners of the means of production, and their interests are opposed. Under capitalism society splits into two great hostile camps, bourgeoisie and proletariat. The proletariat has “nothing to lose but their chains”. “Workers of the world, unite!”
5. Theory of surplus value
Following the labour theory of value, the value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary labour time spent on it. The worker sells his labour power for a wage equal to what he needs to live. But he works longer than is needed to produce that value. The extra value, which the capitalist keeps as profit, is surplus value. Example: a worker produces in a 10-hour day goods worth Rs. 1,000, and his subsistence wage is Rs. 400, equal to the value he produces in 4 hours; the remaining 6 hours (Rs. 600) are surplus value. This is the economic basis of exploitation. Competition drives capitalists to increase surplus value, leading to the concentration of capital, the impoverishment of workers, recurrent crises and, finally, revolution.
6. Theory of the State
- Class instrument: the State is not a neutral body serving the common good. “The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie” (Manifesto). It arose when society split into classes, to keep the exploited in subjection (Engels).
- Revolution: since the State serves the ruling class, the proletariat cannot capture it peacefully; it must be overthrown, by force if necessary.
- Dictatorship of the proletariat: a transitional State in which the working class uses State power to abolish private ownership of the means of production and suppress the old ruling class. Marx saw the Paris Commune of 1871 as a model.
- Withering away of the State: once classes disappear, the State, an organ of class rule, has no function and “withers away” (Engels). The government of persons is replaced by the administration of things.
- Communism: a classless, stateless society governed by the principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Critique of the Gotha Programme). In the lower phase, socialism, the rule is “to each according to his work”.
7. Contributions
- Made economic factors central to the study of politics and history.
- Exposed exploitation under early capitalism and inspired labour laws, trade unions and the welfare State, even in non-communist countries.
- Showed the link between class and political power.
- Gave the working class a theory and a programme.
- Provided the ideology for revolutions in Russia (1917), China (1949) and elsewhere.
8. Criticism
- Economic determinism: religion, nationalism, ideas and great individuals also shape history. Engels himself later said the economic factor is decisive only “in the last instance”.
- Class struggle overstated: classes also cooperate; the middle class grew instead of disappearing.
- Surplus value ignores the contribution of capital, management, risk and technology to value.
- Predictions failed: revolution came not in advanced industrial countries (Britain, Germany) but in agrarian Russia and China; capitalism reformed itself.
- The State did not wither away; it became stronger and more repressive under communist rule.
- Justifies violence and dictatorship; neglects individual liberty.
9. Comparison with modern communism
| Classical Marxism | Modern communism in practice |
|---|---|
| Revolution by the mature industrial proletariat | Lenin: a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries leads the workers; Mao: revolution based on the peasantry |
| Dictatorship of the proletariat as a short transition | Permanent dictatorship of the Communist Party; one-party State |
| Withering away of the State | Strong, centralised, bureaucratic State (Stalin’s USSR) |
| International revolution | Stalin’s “socialism in one country”; national interest in foreign policy |
| Abolition of private property and markets | China from 1978 under Deng Xiaoping: market reforms, private enterprise, “socialism with Chinese characteristics” |
| Imperialism not central | Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917): capitalism survives by exploiting colonies |
The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, and Eastern European communist regimes fell in 1989–91. Communist parties still rule in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and North Korea, most of them with market economies. In India, communist parties work within parliamentary democracy and have formed governments in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura: an evolutionary rather than revolutionary path.
How this is examined
January 2026 (100-mark): “Marxism” (10-mark compulsory option); January 2026 (80-mark): “Write a short note on Marxism” (6 marks). June 2025: “Write a brief note on Karl Marx’s communism” (6 marks). January 2025: “Explain Karl Marx concept of State” (16 marks). August 2024: “Critically evaluate the contributions of Karl Marx on the theory of Marxism” (10 marks). For a 6-mark note, write the five doctrines in a paragraph each. For the concept of State, write section 6 in full, preceded by historical materialism and class struggle, and followed by the criticism and the record of modern communism.
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