Karl Marx Idea of Revolution

Karl Marx co-wrote with Friedrich Engels The German Ideology and the Communist Manifesto. In these two books, Marx discusses his ideas on Revolution.

Marx considers history as important to understanding how revolution can happened. He believes historical stages can be predicted because there are scientific laws that govern the progress of history. Marx believes he has discovered these laws.

Marx believes history unfolds according to a distinct series of historical stages. These stages ultimately lead to utopia - a time where there will be no more changes. Marx views history in materialistic terms. The society's superstructure or culture comprising of laws, morality, religion and politics. These are determined by society's infrastructure, methods of production and exchange.

He sees in history the conflicts that existed between different classes of people in society - the ruling class and the serfs during feudal times. The French Revolution brought an end to feudalism. But during his time, Marx witnessed the industrial Revolution bringing about conflicts between the capitalists and the proletariat, creating two classes in society - the rich and the poor. Marx sees the world as a class struggle - a struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed or a struggle between the bourgeoisie ( or the capitalists ) and the proletariat ( or the workers ).

In The German Ideology Marx gives an account of European history to backup his ideas. He traces ownership of properties during different periods of time: when tribes hunted, fished for food, reared animals and kept slaves; tribes united and owned communal land and kept slaves; and during the middle ages, estate properties owned by the ruling classes with the peasants or serfs, replacing slaves as the other conflicting party.

He describes how feudalism developed and how conflicts between the productive forces and the form of intercourse led to the rise of capitalism and the bourgeoisie to triumph.( Intercourse - the writers mean the interaction between people in the process of production material life, ). Marx says:

"Thus all collisions in history have their origin, according to our view, in the contradiction between the productive forces and the form of intercourse". (88-89)

Marx argues the contradictions that emerged during the feudal times would also appear in capitalism as well.

Marx sees a worker's labor as an extension of himself. Any practice that separates the worker and his labor tears him apart. The capitalists' system of exploiting the workers for profit cannot be repaired except by a forceful communist revolution to destroy private property, to reunite the worker with his labor.

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx considers the proletariat as " a class of laborers who live so long as they can find work, and who find work only so long as their labor increases capital". (87). The proletariats are like any other products and are therefore subject to market forces. Like any other products, capitalists want to minimize their costs and maximize their profits by reducing the wages that they pay the proletariat. Marx considers that the workers' wages are the costs for maintaining the survival of the workers and his family.

Using machines and dividing the work among the workers increase productivity and the capitalists' profits. But the proletarians' work become simple and boring, because their work now become part of the machines.

As industry develops, the proletariat's population increases and they realize their strength in numbers. Increasing competition in the markets and better machines, lead to the proletariat's wages to fluctuate and cause their lives to be further impoverished. Thus the Proletariat and the capitalists are in constant state of conflict. This conflict leads the workers to become aware of their collective power to improve their wages and working conditions. They form unions to fight for their rights. Through better means of communication in industry, the capitalists unwittingly helped the workers to expand their unions to face the capitalists with their grievances. As the workers increase in numbers and become more organized both nationally and internationally, the capitalists will realize that their class will fall and the workers will triumph. Karl Marx says:

"The proletariat have nothing to lose except their chains".

Ultimately, the proletariat will rebel against the capitalists. The workers when in power will get rid of capitalists laws, morality, and religions as they represent the capitalists' economic interests. The workers will destroy the cause of their slavery, private property. All this is necessary because of the capitalists' pursuit of profit which created the workers' impoverished conditions. Karl Marx says:

" What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces above all is its own grave-diggers. It falls and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitably". (94).

Marx was wrong when he said that historical stages can be predicted based on scientific means.

Marx's ideas on Revolution greatly influenced many world leaders including Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and Mao. But these leaders applied Marx ideas in different forms. Thus Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and Mao ideas of communism included authoritarianism: these leaders believed that the communist party can use any