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Making sure that everyone had the same share of wealth and giving the “have nots” an equal share of the wealth and power is the true ideal of communism.(Britannica, M575) First of all, if you want to know about communism we must first look at Marxism. Carl Marx and his associate Frederick Engels formulated Marxism in the 19th century. They observed the socio- economic, changes that were happening in Great Britain during the industrial revolution. England was the dominant world power and had the largest industrialized economy during the 1800’s. The development of the factory and the beginning of the assembly line created a large demand for workers. The urban centers met this demand with the migrating peasants from the farm areas in England and Ireland. As these cities evolved to large and almost uncontrolled metropolises, the factories became the main means for financial support for the population. The workers, who would have been termed peasantry in the old feudal system, became the working class or the proletariat. They went to the cities with hopes of finding better lives for themselves and their families. What they found was poor working conditions and meager wages that could barely feed their starving families. Though Carl Marx never sought to change England’s industrial society with social reform, the situation gave Marx a chance to study industrialism, small size capitalism, and the wrongs of such a situation. And through Marx and Engels research, they produced one of the most influential writings of their time, “The Communist Manifesto”.(Grolier’s encyclopedia). Although it at first had little or no impact on the widespread and varied revolutionary movements of the mid-19th century Europe, the Communist Manifesto was to become one of the most widely read and discussed documents of the 20th century. Marx sought to make their brand of socialism different from others by insisting that it was scientifically based on the objective study of history, which he saw as being a continuous process of change and transformation. Just as feudalism had naturally evolved into capitalism, so capitalism would inevitably give way to its logical successor, socialism, as the necessary result of class struggle. Marx's insistence that tough-minded realism should replace the Utopian idealism of earlier socialists had profound consequences: it enabled revolutionaries like Lenin to be put it into action, but it also tended to encourage its followers to accept ruthless means to justify what they believed were historically necessary ends. Radical politics were being much more widely discussed than the small number of radicals justified; but Marx uses this fact to his advantage by proclaiming that any ideology so feared must be important and worth explaining clearly. In the notes used in the Manifesto, "Marx" is used as shorthand for both Marx, the theoretician, and Engels who was the better writer out of the two. The Manifesto was originally issued in several languages, including an English version. (Tucker, 161-162). Marx did not make up the class, or did he discover a new way to class people in his theories, he pointed out that historians prior to his study of England’s industrial revolution defined the class systems. According to Marx a class is determined by its relationship to the means of production. By this he means that class is determined by the ownership or non-ownership of the means of production, which basically says that they mean raw material, the factory, or land. For example, if you were in the lower class you would be the ones doing the grunt work in the production line. The higher you get in the production line the higher you climb up the social ladder ultimately reaching the elites. The higher classed people, or Bourgeoisie, were the owners of the production line. The working class, or Proletariat, did not own the production line; instead they sold their manpower to the bourgeoisie, to work at the factories. (Britannica, M 578). These two main classes did not see “eye to eye” on issues about the road that the industrial revolution was going. The Bourgeoisie sought after greater riches through higher profits from their companies. On the other hand, the proletariat sought better working conditions, and an equal share of the wealth, of which the bourgeoisie had the Lion’s share. The two interests of these two classes were opposed and could not be solved within the confines of capitalism. This was one of the many contradictions that eventually lead to the replacement of capitalism by socialism. (Brian, Excerpt). Marx argued that what they all have in common is the fact that they are all Products of human labor. It is human labor that has created them and it is the amount of human labor that goes into them that determines value. He writes: "The value of one commodity is to the value of any other, as the labor time necessary for the production of one is to the other."( Das Capital) This, however, leaves the rather bizarre situation in which the lazy worker, taking their time about making a commodity, makes a commodity worth much more than the commodity made by a hard working efficient worker. If this was the case then employers would be sacking their diligent workers while telling the rest to go as slow as they can. Instead of Right-Wing politicians lambasting the poor for being lazy they would be lambasting them for being too hard working. This is not, however, what determines the value of a commodity. What determines the value of a commodity is the labor time socially necessary for its production. That is, the amount of labor time that is required to produce a commodity: "Under the normal conditions of production, and with the average degree of skill and intensity prevalent at the time"(Das Capital). Marxism also has a predictive analysis of the socio-economic structures. Using history, logic, and the dynamic nature of humankind as guidelines, Carl Marx mapped out a sequence of events that shows the evolution of a society, which will eventually lead to Utopia(anarchy). In his work, Das Capital, Marx details the six steps that a society goes through to achieve utopia. The first level development is the primitive form of socialism, in which we have small villages that work together to take care of the village, or community. The next level of development after primitive socialism is feudalism. Feudalism is where we get to see the birth of Monarchs, and class systems. Feudalism is when the aristocrats are introduced into the socio-economic structure, as well as the peasantry, or serfs. The next level after feudalism is the birth of the middle class, and open business, otherwise known as capitalism. Then after capitalism, the next stage would be socialism, a larger version of the primitive socialism but in a larger scale. After socialism is communism, this is when authority is lessened to the point of non-leadership, and community thinking is started. The last and final stage is anarchy, in which Marx states that total equality will be achieved. (Eagleton, 37) The first form of a society that is mentioned by Carl Marx was a primitive form of socialism. In which I can only assume that it has the same basic rules of a larger scaled form of socialism except it is for a small community. The basic rule would have been that nothing was owned privately but that the people owned belonged to the village. And everything that the village did was for the village as a whole and not as individuals. Feudalism was a social system of rights and duties based on land tenure and personal relationships in which land is held in fief by vassals from lords to whom they owed a specific service and with whom they are bound by personal loyalty. Feudalism began with the people joining together in response to common problems. Most of these problems were invaders, lack of common currency, and food shortages. Basically the people who could not defend themselves sought out protection from a more powerful village. The leader of that village would ask for payment, usually in a form of an agreement. The village leader, who will be later called a lord or king, would protect the commoner in exchange for their loyalty and their land. The lord then gives the land away to vassals that provide him with military support so that he may protect his kingdom. The formation of the feudal system introduced the Monarchs, and basically the elite of society but they also introduced the whole class system to the socio-economic structure. This also began the use of currency between kingdoms, which will later on start the capitalistic level of the evolution of society. (Britannica, F 755). Before Full blown capitalism was started, Mercantilism was common practice for the economic base of countries. The mercantilist system rested on private property and the use of markets for the basic organization of economic activity. Unlike the capitalism of Adam Smith, the fundamental focus of mercantilism was on the self-interest of the sovereign, and not the self-interest of the individual owners of economic resources. In the mercantilist era, the basic purpose of economic policy was to strengthen the national state and to further its aims. To this end the government exercised much control over production, exchange, and consumption. Later on, Two developments paved the way for the emergence of modern capitalism; both took place in the latter half of the 18th century. The first was the appearance of the physiocrats in France after 1750; and the second was the devastating impact that the ideas of Adam Smith had on the principles and practice of mercantilism. They in turn paved the way for the industrial revolution and modern capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which private individuals and business firms carry on the production and exchange of goods and services through a complex network of prices and markets, which is different from mercantilism because of the private ownership of business. Although rooted in antiquity, capitalism is primarily European in its origins; it evolved through a number of stages, reaching its zenith in the 19th century. From Europe, and especially from England, capitalism spread throughout the world, largely unchallenged as the dominant economic and social system until World War I ushered in modern socialism and then communism as a powerful competing system. ( Encarta 2000) After World War I, Russia came out of the war a socialist country that was controlled by the people, according to Marx’s theories. Socialism is an economic and social doctrine, political movement inspired by this doctrine, and system or order established when this doctrine is organized in a society. The socialist doctrine demands state ownership and control of the fundamental means of production and distribution of wealth. The doctrine specifically advocates nationalization of natural resources, basic industries, banking and credit facilities, and public utilities. It places special emphasis on the nationalization of monopolized branches of industry and trade, viewing monopolies as inimical to the public welfare. It also advocates state ownership of corporations in which the ownership function has passed from stockholders to managerial personnel. In theory the difference between socialism and the next level of Marx’s societies evolution, communism, is that everything is owned by the people, and the society is on the verge of utopia (anarchy). (Encarta 2000) According to Marx, Communism is a concept or system of society in which the major resources and means of production are owned by the community rather than by individuals. In theory, such societies provide for equal sharing of all work, according to ability, and all benefits, according to need. Some conceptions of communist societies assume that, ultimately, coercive government would be unnecessary and therefore that such a society would be without rulers. Which would mean that there would not be any order in social classing. Everyone would be equal because no one would be above anybody else in social standings. But until the ultimate stages are reached, however, communism involves the abolition of private property by a revolutionary movement; responsibility for meeting public needs is then vested in the state. (Britannica C) Communism is a society without money, without a state, without property and without social classes. People come together to carry out a project or to respond to some need of the human community but without the possibility of their collective activity taking the form of an enterprise that involves wages and the exchange of its products. The circulation of goods is not accomplished by means of exchange: quite the contrary, the by-word for this society is "from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs". The final stage in Marx’s evolution of society, would be Utopia, or anarchism. Anarchism is a political theory that is opposed to all forms of government. Anarchists believe that the highest attainment of humanity is the freedom of individuals to express themselves, unhindered by any form of repression or control from other people. They hold that the perfection of humanity will not be attained until all government is abolished and each individual is left absolutely free. And in achieving this equality is achieved and total freedom is given to the people. Marxism, though thought of as inconclusive now with the fall of the Soviet Union from communism to capitalism, we must leave our minds open to the possibility that this type of change can bring about positive results. Marx studied the changes in society during the Industrial revolution which showed the in humane ways that people were treated for profits, personal gain by the faceless company. Marx fought for the equality of the lower class who were not getting the fair share of what society is owed them. We also see the changes described by Marx and Engels in the evolution of the socio-economic structures. From the lowly beginnings of a simple socialist village, to the transformation into Utopia, we can see the definite possibilities of a society where everyone is born into the same social class. Where there is no higher class, or lower class. There are no rich or poor. Everyone would be taken cared of and human beings can give their efforts into bettering themselves instead of conflicting with each other. Everybody fears change; it is a part of human nature. But change can happen and with it we can start a new side where everyone can live in harmony without fear of respite. Bibliography: none Word Count: 2506
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