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Karl Marx

The document discusses the Marxian concept of class, emphasizing the distinction between the bourgeoisie (owners of production) and the proletariat (workers). It explains the concept of surplus value, which is the unpaid labor of workers, and how capitalism inherently leads to class struggle and revolution. Ultimately, it posits that socialism will arise from the contradictions within capitalist society, as the bourgeoisie creates its own downfall.

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Vidhi Gondaliya
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17 views7 pages

Karl Marx

The document discusses the Marxian concept of class, emphasizing the distinction between the bourgeoisie (owners of production) and the proletariat (workers). It explains the concept of surplus value, which is the unpaid labor of workers, and how capitalism inherently leads to class struggle and revolution. Ultimately, it posits that socialism will arise from the contradictions within capitalist society, as the bourgeoisie creates its own downfall.

Uploaded by

Vidhi Gondaliya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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POLITICAL SCIENCE AND

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BY-: AISHWARYA SINGH


THEORY OF CLASS WAR
The understanding of the concept of "class" is central to the understanding of Marxian
philosophy. The sole criterion on the basis of which the class of a person is determined is his
ownership (or control) of means of production (land, capital, machines & teclinology). Those
who own ' or control the means of production constitute the bourgeoisie (exploiters), and.
those who own only labour power constitute the proletariat (exploited).
Marx admits that human labour cannot create value by itself alone. It uses instrunments of
production which are owned by the capitalist. The capitalist buys the "labour power" of the
labourer and applies it to the raw material to produce commodities which have an exchange
value. The difference between the exchange value of the commodity and the wages paid to the
worker by the capitalist in producing that commodity is surplus value.
Surplus value is unpaid labours of the labourer. It call be variously measured in terms of time
as well as in terms of money.
Suppose a worker works for ten hours in producing a commodity. He may get paid for only what
is equivalent to his eight hours labour. Thus, his two hours labour has been appropriated by the
capitalist: Marx also argued that gradually the proportion of surplus value becomes more and
more. In the example cited above the worker was not paid for his two hours labour out of ten
hours that he had spent in producing a commodity because he was paid only for his eight hours
labour. By and by, the proportion of unpaid labour will increase from two to three, four or five
hours. Finally, a stage comes when the worker gets paid only the minimum that is necessary for
his survival. (His survival does not mean only his personal survival but also the survival of his
family so that when this worker is not able to work (due to old age or death or illness) his
children may take his place). As pointed out above, the working class consists of those who own
nothing but their own labour power which they are forced to sell in order to live. According to
Marx, the history of capitalist production is a history of struggles by the capitalist to increase his
surplus value and resistance by the workers against this increase
The basic cause of revolution

The capitalist mode of production emerged from the womb of feudal order in the same way as
feudal mode of production emerged from the womb of the slave society. Likewise, socialism
will emerge from the womb of bourgeois society itself. This is so because capitalism constantly
revolutionises its own means of production and thus undermines its own conditions of
existence. In fact, the bourgeoisie produces, above all, its own grave diggers.

DICTATORSHIP OF PROLETARIAT
Marx was attracted to Hegelian Idealism but he soon shifted his interest to
Humanism and ultimately to Scientific Socialism

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