This essay will return to the writings of Marx to assess to what extent he drew a distinction between “scientific” and “utopian” socialism. His work is polemical, and he does not conceal the radical and revolutionary aspects of his political thought.

In this essay, I will mostly confine my response to the essential aspects of the Marxist ideological dogma and its relevance to the “white privilege” doctrine. Marx concludes that the antagonism within the capitalist order is the result of the bourgeoisie’s exploitation of the capital of the proletariat; and, thus, the key to “The Communist programme was the abolition of private property” (Taylor, 1985, p. 31). The elimination of class rests on the elimination of the capitalist means of production. For Marx, class is the structure upon which the narrative of history rests, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 79). History is functional in the sense of meeting the need that society has to know itself and to understand its relationship with the past and to other societies and cultures. These communities would be composed of farmers, industrial workers, artists, and, in some cases, capitalists. The Communist Manifesto, as Hampsher-Monk illustrates, is an “account of economic-historical development” (Hampsher-Monk, 1992, p. 515) which argues that revolutionary politics is necessary to complete the process.. He goes on to say that “the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 120).

Could you give more in depth descriptions of what you are seeing and help people who have little background in understanding Totalitarian thought, see more clearly how these new mantras are in fact stemming from totalitarian movements which we need to have confidence in naming more accurately. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Therefore, the implication of Marx’s thought is that a socialist-communist utopia would find a means to eradicate class exploitation. I agree with what you are saying.

Marx’s theory of contradiction within capitalism is based on his assertion of historical materialism, and his notion of exploitation.

For Marx, “every form of society has been based… on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 93).

Reference this.

Coming from a broadly Judeo-Christian History is not simply a recording of facts and events; and it is not only a logical classification of the collected data in a chronological order. However, the scientific method objected to elements of utopian socialism, which assumed “socialism is the expression of absolute truth, reason and justice, and has only to be discovered to conquer all the world by virtue of its own power. VAT Registration No: 842417633. In my 35-years living in Juneau, I have never experienced or observed any institutional racism in Southeast Alaska. However, Marx, himself, denied that his vision was utopian. Instead, Marx saw a socialist-communist society, based on the abolition of private property, as the rational solution to the dialectical process of history. He argues that The Communists “openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible and overthrow of all existing social conditions” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 120). History is a social process, the development and evolution of mankind from the past through present and to future. © Copyright - Alaska Watchman, LLC • All Rights Reserved. Therefore, the Hegelian influence on Marx cannot be overstated. History explains a pattern of nations’ emergence and growth, intellectualizes facts, and searches for causes of historic events. However, because of the historical materialism and dialectical process that underpins Marx’s theory, the communist “utopia” is also a scientific resolution to the contradictions within capitalism.

Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? You have workers under you. Marxists define Marxism as a system of philosophical, economic and socio-political views that make up the worldview of the working class and the revolutionary transformation of the world, the socio-economic development of society, and human moral behavior and set of beliefs. And possibly also because they decide it is in the interest of the country they love.”, It’s imperative that in a free democratic society someone is voicing an opposition to the current neo-Marxist groupthink movement in our country, including an opposition to the Kueffner-like convoluted defense of “white privilege” doctrine. This means that the human sciences are predictable, measurable and observable in the same way as the natural sciences.

7 – 47. Marx was not seeking natural or moral laws for guidance. Firstly, revolution would lead to the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, and then the second phase would lead to “Proper Communism”. Sadly, radical neo-Marxists don’t really want to discuss anything of substance. Indeed, all Americans should exercise our constitutional freedoms, peaceful expression of thought, and constitutional voting rights instead of destroying historic monuments and both public and private properties, rioting and violent protests. Goodwin argues that “Marx used the dialectical less technically and less insistently than Hegel, but [the dialectical] forms the basis of his conception of capitalism as ‘contradictory’ and ridden with class conflict” (Goodwin, 1997, p. 68). According to the utopian socialists’ hypothesis, these communities would be stable and self-sustaining, insuring all communal members an adequate livelihood—a remarkably naïve utopia of a harmonious and cohesive human society (e.g., CHAZ or CHOP in Seattle). Some forms of Utopian socialism share a lot of traits with authentic Marxist communism. Indeed, there are many similarities between today’s reality with the absurd “reality” of the dystopia of George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” History was a big part of Orwell’s novel—Big Brother had no tolerance for any history other than what Big Brother said. He moved to Juneau in 1986 where he has taught Russian studies at the University of Alaska, Southeast. Any of several later political philosophies such as libertarian socialism, democratic socialism and social democracy which do not envisage the need for full state ownership of the means of production nor transition to full communism, and which are typically are based on principles of community decision making, social equality and the avoidance of economic and social exclusion, with economic policy should giving first preference to community goals over individual ones. Marx argues that capitalism does possess such a contradiction, since “property… is based on the antagonism of capital and wage labour” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 97).
Taylor, A. J. P. (1985) “Introduction” in The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Classics, London pp. There is no simple answer to this question because history is a complex subject.

Marx details how this would come about, and to understand this it is necessary to once again return to the idea of the dialectical process and contradictions. Today, neo-Marxism in America divides a society between oppressor and oppressed, identifies the systems by which the oppression takes place and outlines the methods or tactics (e.g., BLM, ANTIFA, “systemic racism”) for how “white privilege” doctrine is supposed to change our socio-economic system, moral behavior and traditional set of beliefs. As Goodwin says, Marx may not have laid down a “blueprint”, but “the formal characteristics of communist society are made clear in his works, as are the particular principles on which it would operate” (Goodwin, 1997, p.81). In his book Manifesto of the Communist Party published in 1848, Marx stated: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. According to Goodwin, Marx saw economic and technical innovation as the originator of all historical change, with the most recent example being the replacing of a feudal society with a capitalist society (Goodwin, 1997, p. 76). Marx was a revolutionary thinker, and he was calling for an overturning of the capitalist system. However, for people who either want hand-outs for free or to provide hand-outs for free, it is difficult to understand that personal success and accomplishments are much more rewarding than charity.


For more specific information on this subject, read Toby Young’s article titled “No need to plead guilty: The fashionable doctrine of ‘white privilege’ is fatally undermined by the facts” published in the journal The Critic in December of 2019. It is now necessary to outline the “scientific” process by which capitalist society would collapse under its own contradictions, and be replaced by a socialist-communist society. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!