Marx Philosophy and the End of History

Karl Marx is, without a doubt one of the most authoritative thinkers to emerge in the nineteenth century, and the theories he proposed, withdraw charmd non-homogeneous regimes in several(predicate) parts of the world. His mastery is the result of the flexibility present in his theories to conciliate themselves to the times. In his mid twenties Marx, trolled outside(a) from philosophy and concentrated his attention more towards the scotch and political aspects of the corporation. It was in the rest of economics that he viewed the problems in ball club and sought to provide a remedy to it.He viewed baseball club not as an indep eradicateent entity. Contrarily, he saw, golf club as a reflection of the hap made by bill. The progress made by news report always left everyplace(p)over behind a bequest in its trail. This legacy had a profound impact in the formation of cab art. The validity of this statement elicit be proven, by citing the object lesson of the pover ty in the Africa Ameri scum bags as the legacy of their news report as break ones back labourers. However the deputation of register was uncertain and could not be predicted. It was prescribe by the economic counterbalancetors present in bon ton. The merely certainty was that an, mop up of level was inevitable.In his opening on Historical Materialism, Marx care to the full analyses the various factors influencing the different stages in the growth of gild from slavery to current day capitalism. thus the views of Marx can be summed up under, four basic principles. Firstly, he believed that society followed a straight law of motion and underwent various phases in club to get to the net stage of communism. Secondly, the laws organization the society were purely economic in disposition, for the nevertheless thing that works society are the material tools of exertion. Thirdly, he believed that these laws would continue to be in force until the repeal of chronicle . Fourthly, the setes and the recite would perish with the cobblers last of History. However this end would be brought about by a bitterness struggle of one break a namest another.It must be mentioned in this context, that Marx borrowed the concept of a dialectical history, with a cognate beginning, middle and end from Hegel.Marxs principal(prenominal)(prenominal) concern was the State, which he viewed as the main tool of developing. It is the State and its various institutions that are apply by the dominant signifier to wield their power. He advocated that the State was the most powerful tool of exploitation, whose fillet of sole purpose was to represent the interests of the ruling syllabus.He chose to field of force the State through and through with(predicate) the annals of History.To him only History, could reveal the secrets at work behind the development of the state and determine its future anatomy. However, Marx did not labour in History to be an open-ended p rocess. Instead he saw a definite end in history. This end would result in the precipitation of Capitalism and ensue the coming of a crude era of fabianism.An end in History did not signify an end to human life, it barely meant that in that respect would no longer be some(prenominal) changes in the underlying principles or institutions for all the major problems had been puzzle out and mans major ask fulfilled. in the first place we can elaborate on the end of history, as predicted by Marx, it is essential 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 thus traces the evolutionary process from, tribal ground societies which were dependant on slavery and agriculture for subsistence, to theocracies, monarchies, feudalistic aristocracies, modern unaffixed democracies and in conclusion to the technologically driven Capitalism.In his work Marx operates out that the fundamental element present in all these different societies is the class system and the agency of issue, which determined which class would be dominant in the society. The Class and the subsequent class struggle were the sin qua non of Marxs theory.History showed that the class who controlled the means of production was the dominant class in society. It is the tools of ruthless restraint and exploitation used by the dominant class to maintain their authority that would one day turn against them and spearhead the inevitable varietys.History has shown that every revolution brought about a change in the neighborly grammatical construction. This change did not bring about an equalitarian order it simply re pose the old dominant class with a new one. The unequal social structure continued to exist. Every revolution just changed the account of the oppressor and the oppressed.The day that the society beca me classless would be the day that History came to an end.This end was possible with the chuck out of Communalism. age proclaiming the advent of Communalism, Marx refused to give a cognate shape to his ideal 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 realisation of a predetermine moral idea.When it came to classes, Marx outlined two major segments into which society was dissever. They were the oppressed or the Proletariat as he called them and the oppressor or the Bourgeoisie. When the levels of oppression reached its penultimate point the oppressed class rose in sedition and the outcome of this rebellion was a new society. thus Marx stated, The history of all hitherto existing societies has been the history of class struggle. The day history ceases to exist classes shall in like manner cease to exist.Marx in his theories always stressed on the Historical aspect and assert ed that every society contained within 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 steadfast but 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 theory 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 riches 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 feudal society and the feudal society by the Industrialists or th e Bourgeoisie. The coming of the Industrialist transformation brought a boom in the industry and a new class emerged as the dominant section. They were the capitalistic class who owned the means of production.Like 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 works class or the labor movement. It resulted in the alienation of the worker. The functional class was denied of the fruits of its labour and while the rich grew richer the short grew poorer. The chasm continued to widen with the increase in wealth in the hands of the capitalists.Despite the contradictions in the Capitalist regime, the communistic Manifesto begins by praising the Capitalist system. It words that the Capitalist system has played a revolutionary role in History. It has shown what mans endeavours can achieve. It has accomplished wonders, which surpas ses the wonders of the world. It has conducted exoduses, which fall in overshadowed all past crusades in the world.Having praised the Capitalist system they go on to say that Capitalism by nature is based on competition and the market. The same dynamics that net capitalism will also be the contend of its surmountfall. When there are no more markets left to explore and exploit, the entire buying and selling calendar method would collapse. Capitalism would suffer from the phenomenon of overproduction 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 pro trial run the replacement of indigenous farming with industrial and mechanised farming. Once this level of exploitation was reached the end of history would not be far away.This exploitation would unleash an era of unemployment and misery among the functional class. When documentation under such miserable conditions became unbearable, history would witness a revolution spearheaded by the working class. Thus what Capitalism produces above all is its own gravediggers.It is the working class that would head up the final revolution to successfully 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 Dictatorship 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 dilapidation of Capitalism, Marx claimed, would bring about the end of History.The pronounce end of history indicates a society based on Communism. It is a classless and classless society where every man has full right over the fruits of his labour. From the end of history there would emerge the final shape of the society. It w ould no longer undergo any more transformations, since all the major ills plaguing its predecessors had been removed. It was a society where man exciseed true economic freedom. tutelage in mind the fact that Marxism has a enormous deal of supporters it cannot be overlooked that the society Marx visualized in the end was more of a utopia quite an than a reality. Though Marxs philosophy has stood the analyze of times his views on the end of History is thus far to materialise.If we study 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 successful commie society. Though the country was growing rapidly the society was predominantly feudal in nature. It had not been throug h the phase of Capitalism.The Soviet Union that was the glowing example of the success of Communism also faced failure. The downfall of the Soviet Union exposed the inherent corruption, inefficiency and irrationality present in the society. This picture of a communistic society seemed to be absolutely contradictory to the egalitarian and classless society in a commie Regime envisaged by Marx.The most great fact is that the end of history is yet to manifest itself. With the on-going scenario in the world Capitalism seems to have gained an stock-still stronger foothold. Rather than an impending doom, capitalism is on a rise. The State that was supposed to wither 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 intervening in the ways of man than predicted by man. Instead of existence a tool of oppression the State has helped in maintaining stability, law and order in society.The end of history as envisa ged by Marx is not easy to experience in practice. While envisaging an equal society Marx placed complete faith on the just and true(a) nature of man. But man is by nature greedy. His wants keep increasing and to meet these wants he needs to amass resources. Thus, to think that man would be apt 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 wrong 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 front line of exploitation and domination in history it stands fully justified. It is only when it comes to predicting an end to Capitalism that the theo ry 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 dying 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