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The Political Philosophy of Karl Marx

Anti-Capitalism in the Industrial Revolution

Apr 30, 2009 Jeanie Turner

Karl Marx founded a controversial political theory that had serious effects in the twentieth century. His vision of 'utopia' was appealing though impossible.

Karl Marx did what few had done before him-he appealed to the decency and general morality of all of mankind from all walks of life. He did not do so because he genuinely cared for the plight of the workers of the world at the time, but because he viewed his theory as the inevitable destiny of mankind. The life of humanity in this ‘Age of Ideology’ and industry was deplorable, but it was also necessary for the continued growth and prosperity of civilization in its present state. Once the road towards Capitalism was embarked upon, there was no turning back. Marx offered a radical idea that could (theoretically) end the oppressive system of Capitalism. Revolution and ‘class struggle’ were the major tenets of this idea and the end result would be a ‘utopian society’ ruled by workers and free of classes.

Marx's Alternative

Men, through no fault of their own, were born into a world that they had no control over. They were taught how to live, work, and think as everyone else did. Marx offered an alternative to this predetermined cycle of life: Communism. If man can break from the grasp of bourgeois ideology and think and act independent of his society without regard to religion, law, ideals, or morality, then he shall be free. He advocated for the forcible overthrow of all ruling classes (bourgeoisie) and called for all workers from all over the world to unite and end the oppressive system of Capitalism upon which they were virtual slaves to.

Hope for a better world...

Marx’s view of Communism was not rational or practical by any stretch of the imagination. His ‘utopian’ society is impossible because mankind naturally divides itself between those who lead and those who follow. Even if the workers took over the world in some great Proletariat revolution as Marx envisioned, little would change. The workers would divide themselves into worker classes and the process of oppressor and oppressed would begin anew. Marx’s views were vague at best but truly inspirational. His alternative to Capitalism was and still remains commendable. He was right on in his assessment of the poor state of affairs among the labor classes of the nineteenth century. There was nothing wrong with him providing these people hope for a better world where they were more than a number in a book. Marx swayed millions to his way of thinking and was a major factor in the start of Russian Revolution. Even today, there are many avowed Marxists. There is nothing wrong with a ‘Utopian society’, but Utopia is not real.

Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. United States: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC, 2005.

Phillip Regal. The Anatomy of Judgment. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1990, pp. 205-245

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