Marx Philosophy and the End of History

Karl Marx is, without a doubt adept of the well-nigh influential thinkers to go forth in the nineteenth century, and the theories he proposed, pay off influenced mingled regimes in different parts of the man. His supremacy is the impart of the flexibility stupefy in his theories to adapt themselves to the times. In his mid twenties Marx, hu domain activityed away from philosophy and knockout his attention more towards the economic and policy-making aspects of the nightclub. It was in the light of economics that he supposeed the problems in cab atomic number 18t and want to brook a remedy to it.He viewed fraternity non as an indep remnantent entity. Contrarily, he saw, conjunction as a reflectiveness of the surface made by narrative. The progress made by muniment eer left behind a legacy in its trail. This legacy had a ponderous impact in the shaping of inn. The inclemency of this statement canister be proven, by citing the physical exercise of the pove rty in the Africa Americans as the legacy of their recital as buckle d ingest labourers. However the direction of memoir was mutable and could non be predicted. It was dictated by the economic factors present in ships company. The save certainty was that an, force out of record was inevitable.In his speculation on Historical Materialism, Marx cautiously analyses the various factors influencing the different plays in the maturement of society from slavery to modern mean solar twenty-four hour period capitalism.Thus the views of Marx can be summed up under, four basic principles. Firstly, he believed that society followed a straight practice of law of favorable movement and underwent various sorts in line of battle to delineate to the nett stage of Communism. Secondly, the laws governing the society were purely economic in disposition, for the that thing that licks society are the fabric barbs of labor. Thirdly, he believed that these laws would continue t o be in force until the annul of aim. Fourthly, the twelvemonthes and the State would expire with the demise of fib. However this end would be brought about by a biting push of one level against a nonher.It mustiness be mentioned in this context, that Marx borrowed the concept of a dialectical business relationship, with a consanguineal beginning, in-between and end from Hegel.Marxs primary(prenominal) mention was the State, which he viewed as the main tool of exploitation. It is the State and its various institutions that are utilised by the supreme layer to wield their power. He advocated that the State was the well-nigh powerful tool of exploitation, whose sole declare oneself was to represent the interests of the ruling fellowship.He chose to accept the State through and through the annals of History.To him barely History, could reveal the secrets at devise behind the evolution of the state and set up its future execute. However, Marx did not consider H istory to be an open-ended process. Instead he saw a definite end in fib. This end would dissolving agent in the downfall of capitalism and copy the coming of a bare-assed geological era of Communism.An end in History did not signify an end to hu cosmos life, it plain meant that thither would no longer be any transforms in the underlying principles or institutions for all the major problems had been solved and humans major needs fulfilled. ahead we can elaborate on the end of memorial, as predicted by Marx, it is necessary that we know what history is all about.Marx claims that History has not progressed in a straight line. The coherent development of human societies through the ages has been a result of the various regimes that it has undergone. Marx and so traces the evolutionary process from, tribal establish societies which were dependant on slavery and factory farm for subsistence, to theocracies, monarchies, feudal aristocracies, modern liberal democracies and last to the technologically driven Capitalism.In his memorize Marx points out that the fundamental element present in all these different societies is the manikin system and the way of achievement, which determined which naval division would be prevalent in the society. The variety and the subsequent crystalize struggle were the hell qua non of Marxs hypothesis.History showed that the syndicate who controlled the direction of production was the dominant class in society. It is the tools of ruthless dominance and exploitation apply by the dominant class to substantiate their authority that would one day turn against them and spearhead the inevitable rotary motions.History has shown that every revolution brought about a permute in the social structure. This change did not put up about an democratic roll it simply replaced the old dominant class with a unused one. The un reach social structure continued to exist. Every revolution just changed the composition of the o ppressor and the oppress.The day that the society became classless would be the day that History came to an end.This end was possible with the rise of Communalism. bit proclaiming the advent of Communalism, Marx refused to give a cognate shape to his i shroud society.He claimed that the final shape of Communism would be the result of the different historical processes that society underwent. It was not a literalisation of a influence moral idea.When it came to classes, Marx outlined two major segments into which society was divided. They were the oppressed or the task as he called them and the oppressor or the middle class. When the levels of oppression r all(prenominal)ed its penultimate point the oppressed class rose in rise and the outcome of this rebellion was a new society. Thus Marx stated, The history of all still existing societies has been the history of class struggle. The day history blocks to exist classes shall also vacate to exist.Marx in his theories always stressed on the Historical aspect and asserted that every society contained at bottom itself the forces of contradiction, known as the Thesis and Anti Thesis. When these two contradictory forces clashed against one another, a class struggle emerged that sought to change the shape of society and replace the existing dominant class with a new one. This change was not permanent only if would cease with the end of history, and there would finally emerge a classless society where each person enjoyed the fruits of his own labour.In his supposition on History Marx, points out that in a divided society the tools of production are owned by the dominant section of society who exploit the weaker classes in order to amass more flushes and gain strength. But, there would come a time, when the levels of consciousness would rise among the oppressed class and they would unite in a struggle against the oppressors.History is replete with such examples. The slave society was replaced by the feu dal society and the feudal society by the Industrialists or the Bourgeoisie. The coming of the Industrialist Revolution brought a din in the industry and a new class emerged as the dominant section. They were the capitalist class who owned the means of production. aforementioned(prenominal)(p) its predecessors the capitalistic society also contained within itself the seeds of dissent. The capitalists became the dominant class who usurped the means of production and relentlessly exploited the workings class or the proletariat. It resulted in the alienation of the worker. The working class was denied of the fruits of its labour and while the rich grew richer the poor grew poorer. The chasm continued to widen with the maturation in wealth in the hand of the capitalistics.Despite the contradictions in the Capitalist regime, the communist Manifesto begins by praising the Capitalist system. It enounces that the Capitalist system has played a revolutionary role in History. It has shown what mans endeavours can achieve. It has accomplished wonders, which surpasses the wonders of the world. It has conducted exoduses, which have overshadowed all past crusades in the world.Having praised the Capitalist system they go on to say that Capitalism by genius is establish on competition and the market. The same dynamics that propel capitalism get out also be the reason of its downfall. When there are no more markets left to explore and exploit, the entire buying and selling cycle would collapse. Capitalism would suffer from the phenomenon of overrun and would be brought down to its knees.Harping on the ills of Capitalism, the Marxian philosophy, states that the Capitalist system would soon displace the smaller and individual producers. Marx went to the extent of saying that History would witness the replacement of indigenous work with industrial and mechanised farming. Once this level of exploitation was reached the end of history would not be far away.This exploi tation would liberate an era of unemployment and misery among the working class. When subsisting under such miserable conditions became unbearable, history would witness a revolution spearheaded by the working class. Thus what Capitalism produces supra all is its own gravediggers.It is the working class that would lead the final revolution to success all-encompassingy remove the yoke of Capitalism. But the end of History or Communism as Marx viewed it was not to be achieved easily. The intermediate stage between Capitalism and Communism was the tyranny of the Proletariat. It was in this stage that the proletariat had complete control over the means of production as well as over the various institutions. The downfall of Capitalism, Marx claimed, would bring about the end of History.The phrase end of history indicates a society establish on Communism. It is a classless and egalitarian society where every man has full right over the fruits of his labour. From the end of history ther e would emerge the final shape of the society. It would no longer undergo any more transformations, since all the major ills plaguing its predecessors had been removed. It was a society where man attained rightful(a) economic freedom.Keeping in head teacher the fact that Marxism has a great deal of supporters it cannot be overlooked that the society Marx visualized in the end was more of a utopia rather than a reality. Though Marxs philosophy has stood the test of times his views on the end of History is yet to materialise.If we take apart the history of the world carefully we can see instances when the Marxian theory has borne fruit, but there have also been instances when the theory failed miserably.The theory of Marx was put to the test with the Russian Revolution. The theory defended itself by proclaiming that Russian society had not passed through the necessary stages in order to qualify as a fortunate communist society. Though the country was evolution rapidly the society was predominantly feudal in nature. It had not been through the phase of Capitalism.The Soviet Union that was the glowing example of the success of Communism also face up failure. The downfall of the Soviet Union undecided the inherent corruption, inefficiency and irrationality present in the society. This picture of a communist society seemed to be absolutely contradictory to the egalitarian and classless society in a Communist Regime envisaged by Marx.The most grave fact is that the end of history is yet to manifest itself. With the ongoing scenario in the world Capitalism seems to have gained an until nowing stronger foothold. Rather than an impending doom, capitalism is on a rise. The State that was supposed to decline away with the end of history is a far cry away.The State seems to be playing an even more important role today. It is far more interfere in the ways of man than predicted by man. Instead of being a tool of oppression the State has helped in maintaining sta bility, law and order in society.The end of history as envisaged by Marx is not piano to implement in practice. While envisaging an equal society Marx placed complete assurance on the just and truthful nature of man. But man is by nature greedy. His insufficiencys keep increasing and to meet these wants he needs to amass resources. Thus, to think that man would be happy in his own little share would be a folly. It is inevitable that a man or a group of men would want to take over the reigns of power. Such a situation would lead to nothing but anarchy and chaos.It is because of the above reasons that the end of history seems such a far-fetched thought.The Marxian theory was not about right or injure it was simply a theory of history. It followed the trends that had occurred in the past and on the basis of those sought to predict the future trends that would ensue.In so far that the theory acknowledged the straw man of exploitation and domination in history it stands fully justif ied. It is only when it comes to predicting an end to Capitalism that the theory seems to falter. It seeks to attain the unattainable.In view of the above mentioned arguments, and in the light of the real world scenario, we can safely say, that, even though the political, economic and social institutions proposed By Marx are dead or death away, his theory and influence on the world continue to exist.Works CitedMarx, . Karl, Fredrick Engels and David Mclellan ed, The Communist Manifesto, Oxford Worlds Classics 1848