8 minutes agoMarks, where he went wrong and what he accurately predicted
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)Karl Marks has often been described as one of the greatest thinkers of the 19th century. His writings have inspired revolutions and have caused centuries of heated debate. Marks was born in Prus, modern - day Germany, on May 5, 1818. He believed capitalism, which at the time was in [...]
Marks was born in Prus, modern - day Germany, on May 5, 1818. He believed that capitalism, at that time at its peak, had major shortcomings.
According to him, capitalists, in search of even greater profits, would postpone ideology that work is good and entertainment is wrong, and that only material things make us happy.
In addition, he predicted that capitalism, embracing mass production, would not allow workers to enjoy secular work. At the same time, capitalism would exploit the working class.
He was involved with the Communist League, a small group of intellectuals who wanted to bring down the class system and distribute their property equally.
Marks wrote the Communist Manifestion in 1847, with his supporter and sponsor, Friedrich Engels. The manifesto expressed the idea of a society where wealth was equally divided. It says that property should be public and education should be free of charge.
By that time, however, Marks was a little familiar and little read. When he died in 1883, only 11 attended his funeral. His ideas flourished only after death.
Based on Marxism's ideas, Communism came, the creation of a state-run society, where everyone is equal.
Communism became a global movement, but the utopian idea of a just, equal society never materialized. Communism isolated and impoverished their subjects and slaughtered tens of millions. Today, capitalism prevails worldwide.
Many of Marks' criticisms continue to remain current. Inequity between the poor and the rich is enormous. Marks had predicted that capitalism would make the rich even richer and the poor would remain poor. He was right about that.
Marks also predicted that capitalism would create a growth and crisis economy, such as phase regularly followed by one another, and that capitalism would lead to globalisation, where the market would be dominated by a small group of giant companies.
However, Marks downplayed the capacity of capitalism to make all people richer, making every product more expensive. In fact, since 1980, the world has been with 1 billion people who have been out of absolute poverty.
Marks made a mistake and could not predict the capacity of capitalism to reform itself, creating social systems that redistribute wealth through taxes.
While Marks still has to learn from, the solution he offered was worse than the present disease.
But at the same time, it cannot be said that present - day capitalism, where deep inequality and financial crises prevail, has succeeded in triumph.
