Summary of Marxism Essay Example for Free

Summary of Marxism EssayFor the past few months Ive been studying and reading Karl Marxs nearly important work Capital (Das Kapital). This thing is enormous. Its three volumes, containing over 2000 pages. In it Marx attempted to figure out and explain how capitalism works What he came up with is fascinating. It is a genuinely detailed and mixed analysis. While Marx is commonly known for being the father of communism the reality is that his major accomplishment is his examination of capitalism. In fact, this may surprise you, Marx never wrote around how communism works, which is kind of strange for someone that is considered the father of it. Unfortunately, thither is such a negative stigma attached to Marx that we, as a society, are deficient out on a very interesting perspective for understanding capitalism. In this post, I leave behind lay out the essence of what Marx was trying to govern us about capitalism. His book Capital is much, much, much more intricate and detai led. But the following is the big picture.Throughout all of human history there is something that happens, no matter what kind of society, no matter when in human history, that we as humans fail to appreciate, consider and integrate into how we understand the world we blend in some people use their brains and their body to trans corpse nature in a useful way, i. e. they do work, and some people do non. The easiest and most simple example is babies. They are not doing work. Often elderly people do not work. Very sick people do not work. sometimes people who can work, i. e. they are mentally and physically capable of doing work, also do not work.This raises a question how is it possible for people who do not work to survive? In order for it to be possible for some people to not work and also survive, be it a baby or a capable adult, it must be true that those who do work, bring more stuff than they themselves consume. Otherwise, the people who do not work would die. For each morta l that works, the do of their work that goes to go alonging themselves, Marx calls Necessary Labor, and the produce of their work that they do not consume themselves, Marx calls Surplus Labor.So, Marx asks how does any given society check 1) who will work, how will they work, and how much of what they produce will go to them 2) who will not work, but live off of the surplus labor of those who do work, and how much will they originate? Marx says that how a society decides to deal with this issue shapes the society in various ways culturally, politically, economically, etc and if we dont recognize how this shapes society, we are missing a very important part of understanding how and why our society is the way it is. Again who works, who doesnt, how much of the produce does each sort get, and how is that decided.Marx breaks the history of humans down into 5 types of arrangements based on how the Surplus is administrated to those who do not produce it. 1)) Communism a community o r a group of people work together, and they produce a surplus, maintain it, and themselves distribute it to those that do not work. For example, if a group of us grow some food, and we have more than we are going to consume, we decide how to distribute the extra. 2)) Ancient the work is not do not by a group of people, but by individuals alone. This would be someone that is self-employed, and produces stuff on his or her own.For example, if I grow some food, and I have more than I am going to consume, I decide how to distribute the extra. At this point, Marx makes a distinction. The following three types of arrangement have something in common that is different than the first two, and it is this the people who do the work that produces the surplus are not in control of the surplus that they produce, and therefore are not in control of distributing it. Marx calls these systems exploitative. The producers of the surplus are exploited, and all this means is that the producers of the surplus do not maintain and distribute the extra. )) Slave if the work is done by a person or a group of people and none of what that person or the group produces belongs to them. What they produce is maintained and distributed by the slave owner. For example, if a slave produces some food, the slave owner decides how much the slave gets, how much the slave owner gets, and how to distribute the extra. 4)) Feudalism the work is done by a serfs, and some of the time is spent producing what is for them, and some other amount of time is spent producing what then belongs to the feudalistic lord. The lord maintains and distributes the surplus.For example, if a serf produces some food, some of the food belongs to the serf, and the rest belongs to the feudal lord, and the feudal lord decides how to maintain and distribute the extra. 5)) Capitalist the work is done by wage or salary earners, and they do not control, maintain, or distribute the surplus that they produce. They receive a wa ge or salary, and all of what they produce belongs to the capitalist/owner. For example, if some workers grow some food, they are paid a wage or salary equivalent to some of that food, but importantly not all of it, and the capitalist maintains control of and distributes the surplus/extra.Marx claims, I think correctly, there is only one reason why a capitalist/owner/employer would cave in a worker a wage or salary, and that is if he or she is going to get more out of the worker than the value of what worker contributes during his or her working hours. Whats interesting is this relationship, between the capitalist/employer and the worker/employee, is that it is closest to the slave/slave owner relationship. Hence why sometimes capitalism is referred to as wage-slavery.They are certainly not the same, but strangely they are more similar to each other than the capitalist and the ancient is. again, ancient refers to self-employed) Heres an irony in our modern day capitalist America, the American Dream for a lot of people is to be self-employed. According to Marx, self-employment is NOT capitalism. It is the ancient degree of production. Capitalism, on the other hand, is a relationship where someone (a capitalist), pays someone else (a worker), to do work for them, and in this relationship the worker contributes MORE than they receive in the form of a wage or salary. It is precisely in paying workers less than they contribute that the capitalist/owner is able to make a profit.The common protestation to this Marxist perspective is But the capitalist/owner is risking his or her own money in the business, so they have to receive a profit, or why else would they invest their money in starting a business. Indeed, I dont think Marx would disagree. Thats how capitalism works This is Marxs fundamental insight of capitalism the mesh of capitalists/owners come from the exploitation of workers, i. e. paying them less than the value they contribute to the business. This raises an nteresting question is whats best for our Job-Creators in America (capitalists/owners) also whats best for the majority of Americans who live on wages and salaries? Is it any wonder that Marxism is a taboo subject in America? What if Marxism becomes common knowledge, and workers start thinking to themselves do we really need the capitalists/owners? Could we collectively run businesses and make decisions as groups, i. e. communally (communist)? If so, wouldnt we then get the full value of what we contribute in our working hours?