TOPIC NAME-MARXIEN SOCIALISM

WHAT IS SOCIALISM IN
MARXISM?
▪ The Marxist definition of socialism is an economic transition. In this transition,
the sole criterion for production is use-value (i.e. direct satisfaction of human
needs, or economic demands), therefore the law of value no longer directs
economic activity. Marxist production for use is coordinated through
conscious economic planning. Distribution of products is based on the
principle of "to each according to his contribution". The social relations of
socialism are characterized by the proletariat effectively controlling the means
of production, either through cooperative enterprisesor by public
ownership or private artisanal tools and self-management. Surplus value goes
to the working class and hence society as a whole.
WHAT IS SOCIALISM IN
MARXISM?
▪ The Marxian conception of socialism stands in contrast to other early
conceptions of socialism, most notably early forms of market socialismbased
on classical economics such as mutualismand Ricardian socialism. Unlike the
Marxian conception, these conceptions of socialism retained commodity
exchange (markets) for labour and the means of production seeking to perfect
the market process.[5] The Marxist idea of socialism was also heavily opposed
to utopian socialism. Although Marx and Engels wrote very little on socialism
and neglected to provide any details on how it might be
organized,[6] numerous social scientists and neoclassical economistshave used
Marx's theory as a basis for developing their own models of socialist economic
systems. The Marxist view of socialism served as a point of reference during
the socialist calculation debate.
CLASSICAL MARXISM
▪ Classical Marxism denotes the collection of socio-eco-political theories expounded by Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels. "Marxism", as Ernest Mandelremarked, "is always open, always critical,
always self-critical". As such, classical Marxism distinguishes between "Marxism" as broadly
perceived and "what Marx believed", thus in 1883 Marx wrote to the French labour leader Jules
Guesde and to Marx's son-in-law Paul Lafargue—both of whom claimed to represent Marxist
principles—accusing them of "revolutionary phrase-mongering" and of denying the value of
reformist struggle.
▪ From Marx's letter derives the paraphrase "If that is Marxism, then I am not a
Marxist".[35][36] American Marxist scholar Hal Draper responded to this comment by saying:
"There are few thinkers in modern history whose thought has been so badly misrepresented, by
Marxists and anti-Marxists alike".[37] On the other hand, the book Communism: The Great
Misunderstanding argues that the source of such misrepresentations lies in ignoring the
philosophy of Marxism, which is dialectical materialism. In large part, this was due to the fact
that The German Ideology, in which Marx and Engels developed this philosophy, did not find a
publisher for almost one hundred years.
 REVOLUTION
▪ According to orthodox Marxist theory, the overthrow of capitalism by a socialist
revolution in contemporary society is inevitable. While the inevitability of an
eventual socialist revolution is a controversial debate among many different Marxist
schools of thought, all Marxists believe socialism is a necessity, if not inevitable.
Marxists believe that a socialist society is far better for the majority of the populace
than its capitalist counterpart. Prior to the Russian revolution of 1917, Lenin wrote:
"The socialization of production is bound to lead to the conversion of the means of
production into the property of society ... This conversion will directly result in an
immense increase in productivity of labour, a reduction of working hours, and the
replacement of the remnants, the ruins of small-scale, primitive, disunited
production by collective and improved labour".[33] The failure of the 1905 revolution
and the failure of socialist movements to resist the outbreak of World War One led
to renewed theoretical effort and valuable contributions from Lenin and Rosa
Luxemburg towards an appreciation of Marx's crisis theory and efforts to formulate
a theory of imperialism.[34]
 MARX'S CONCEPT OF SOCIALISM
▪ Marx's concept of socialism follows from his concept of man. It should be clear by now that
according to this concept, socialism is not a society of regimented, automatized individuals,
regardless of whether there is equality of income or not, and regardless of whether they are
well fed and well clad. It is not a society in which the individual is subordinated to the state,
to the machine, to the bureaucracy. Even if the state as an "abstract capitalist" were the
employer, even if "the entire social capital were united in the hands either of a single
capitalist or a single capitalist corporation,"this would not be socialism. In fact, as Marx
says quite clearly in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, "communism as such is
not the aim of human development." What, then, is the aim?
▪ Quite clearly the aim of socialism is man. It is to create a form of production and an
organization of society in which man can overcome alienation from his product, from his
work, from his fellow man, from himself and from nature; in which he can return to himself
and grasp the world with his own powers, thus becoming one with the world. Socialism for
Marx was, as Paul Tillich put it, "a resistance movement against the destruction of love in
social reality
 AIM OF SOCIALISM
▪ Marx expressed the aim of socialism with great clarity at the end of the third volume of
Capital: "In fact, the realm of freedom does not commence until the point is passed where
labor under the compulsion of necessity and of external utility is required. In the very
nature of things it lies beyond the sphere of material production in the strict meaning of the
term. Just as the savage must wrestle with nature, in order to satisfy his wants, in order to
maintain his life and reproduce it, so civilized man has to do it, and he must do it in all
forms of society and under all possible modes of production. With his development the
realm of natural necessity expands, because his wants increase; but at the same time the
forces of production increase, by which these wants are satisfied. The freedom in this field
cannot consist of anything else but of the fact that socialized man, the associated
producers, regulate their interchange with nature rationally, bring it under their common
control, instead of being ruled by it as by some blind power; they accomplish their task with
the least expenditure of energy and under conditions most adequate to their human nature
and most worthy of it. But it always remains a realm of necessity. Beyond it begins that
development of human power, which is its own end, the true realm of freedom, which,
however, can flourish only upon that realm of necessity as its basis
 ELEMENTS OF SOCIALISM
▪ Marx expresses here all essential elements of socialism. First, man produces in an associated, not
competitive way; he produces rationally and in an unalienated way, which means that he brings
production under his control, instead of being ruled by it as by some blind power. This clearly excludes a
concept of socialism in which man is manipulated by a bureaucracy, even if this bureaucracy rules the
whole state economy, rather than only a big corporation. It means that the individual participates actively
in the planning and in the execution of the plans; it means, in short, the realization of political and
industrial democracy. Marx expected that by this new form of an unalienated society man would become
independent, stand on his own feet, and would no longer be crippled by the alienated mode of production
and consumption; that he would truly be the master and the creator of his life, and hence that he could
begin to make living his main business, rather than producing the means for living. Socialism, for Marx,
was never as such the fulfillment of life, but the condition for such fulfillment. When man has built a
rational, nonalienated form of society, he will have the chance to begin with what is the aim of life: the
"development of human power, which is its own end, the true realm of freedom." Marx, the man who
every year read all the works of Aeschylus and Shakespeare, who brought to life in himself the greatest
works of human thought, would never have dreamt that his idea of socialism could be interpreted as
having as its aim the well-fed and well-clad "welfare" or "workers' " state. Man, in Marx's view, has
created in the course of history a culture which he will be free to make his own when he is freed from the
chains, not only of economic poverty, but of the spiritual poverty created by alienation. Marx's vision is
based on his faith in man, in the inherent and real potentialities of the essence of man which have
developed in history. He looked at socialism as the condition of human freedom and creativity, not as in
itself constituting the goal of man's life
▪ Marxism has had a profound impact on global academia and has
influenced many fields such as archaeology, art
history, anthropology,[5][6] media studies,[7] science
studies,[8] political science, theater, history, sociology, art
history and theory, cultural
studies, education, economics, ethics, criminology, geography, liter
ary criticism, aesthetics, film theory, critical
psychology and philosophy
▪ But this development has been complicated by the presence of another factor. If the state or
the society is meant to serve the realization of certain spiritual values, the danger exists that a
supreme authority tells man -and forces him -- to think and behave in a certain way. The
incorporation of certain objectively valid values into social life tends to produce
authoritarianism. The spiritual authority of the Middle Ages was the Catholic Church.
Protestantism fought this authority, at first promising greater independence for the individual,
only to make the princely state the undisputed and arbitrary ruler of man's body and soul. The
rebellion against princely authority occurred in the name of the nation, and for a while the
national state promised to be the representative of freedom. But soon the national state
devoted itself to the protection of the material interests of those who owned capital, and could
thus exploit the labor of the majority of the population. Certain classes of society protested
against this new authoritarianism and insisted on the freedom of the individual from the
interference of secular authority. This postulate of liberalism, which tended to protect
"freedom from," led, on the other hand, to the insistence that state and society must not
attempt to realize "freedom to," that is to say, liberalism had to insist not only on separation
from State and Church, but had also to deny that it was the function of the state to help realize
certain spiritual and moral values; these values were supposed to be entirely a matter for the
individual
▪ Socialism is the abolition of human self-alienation, the return of man as
a real human being. "It is the definitive resolution of the antagonism
between man and nature, and between man and man. It is the true
solution of the conflict between existence and essence, be tween
objectification and self-affirmation, between freedom and necessity,
between individual and species. It is a solution of the riddle of history
and knows itself to be this solution". For Marx, socialism meant the
social order which permits the return of man to himself, the identity
between existence and essence, the overcoming of the separateness and
antagonism between subject and object, the humanization of nature; it
meant a world in which man is no longer a stranger among strangers,
but is in his world, where he is at home.
THANK YOU