Discuss briefly, the ideas of Marx and Engels on class relations.
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.” — Karl Marx
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are among the most influential political thinkers of all time. They founded Marxist theory and, in 1845, published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research in Manchester, England. In 1848, they co-authored The Communist Manifesto, which articulated the struggle of the proletariat (the working class) and called for the revolution of the existing socio-economic structure. Not only was The Communist Manifesto a keystone to the beginning of workers’ rights, but it has also greatly influenced the course of world history.
Class, Class Society, Class Ideas - Bourgeois:
People may be individuals as separate identities, but under a trend of production and distribution, they merge into a collective identity called class. According to Marxism, all societies have been class societies—societies dominated by one or another exploiting class—constituted of one group controlling the means of production (the bourgeois) and the other that is exploited for labor and suppressed (the proletariat). It must also be pointed out that the ruling group usually considers itself honest, righteous, and truthful, believing they are born by right to enjoy the luxuries of life, and does everything within and outside of their means to justify the power imbalance under various titles like hard work and honest endeavor.
The line of thought that is propagated states that hard work and focused activity pay, and this is a belief that the ruling class actually holds, promoting labels like equal opportunity, democratic functioning, and freedom. They emphatically believe that they are enjoying the fruits of their own labor and bring morality and religion to their side.
In specific cases, the ruling classes of today promote national chauvinism, casteism, gender inequality, and racism. They create an industry of myth-construction to retain their power and maximize their profits in society.
According to Marx and Engels, the bourgeois have a tendency to accumulate wealth, leading the proletariat to delve deeper into poverty, deepening the class divide and reducing the humanity of the workers, as labor itself has become a commodity.
Class, Class Society, Class Ideas - Proletariat:
Marx and Engels wrote that the part of society being exploited for their labor is also the part that is farthest away from the actual fruits of their labor. The proletariat does not own the means of production and is thus estranged from the product of their labor and their humanity, which is enjoyed by the ruling class. The working class works long hours in deplorable conditions, promoting their alienation and exploitation.
Additionally, since capitalism promotes competition, workers are also estranged from their fellow workers, weakening cooperation.
Moreover, broadly speaking, the feelings, thoughts, and responses of the ordinary masses are molded by those in social power. Hence, in spite of the acute frustration and ever-shifting goalposts, ordinary people seldom look at the real cause—unequal conditions in society—but instead construct the concept of fate and divine agency. They assume inequality to be God-given.
Marxism & The Call for Revolution:
Organized under a specific system of production and distribution, society exerts immense pressure on its members. Individuals or groups in a society are molded by the forces of production and distribution, and the classes of people—the haves and have-nots—are in constant clash with one another, striving to establish and retain their supremacy over the other. Marxism tells us that the class struggle is the essence of society, and nothing happening in society can be adequately explained without reference to this fact.
In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels issued a call for revolution. The freedom of the working class could only be guaranteed by the overthrow of the ruling class. The workers must seize the means of production, which could lead to the establishment of a classless society free from exploitation. They also centered their focus on the abolition of private property, which they viewed as the source of inequality and class conflict.
They argued that this was not something that would upend the social order but the next logical step in the course of history. The contradictions of capitalist society would lead to its demise, resulting in socialism and communism—as new means of production—where the means of production would be collectively owned.
While the actual implementation of Marxist ideas has had mixed results throughout human history, we cannot deny that their work remains a potent force in shaping the discourse on human society and class relations. Movements, including unionization, labor rights, human rights, and social welfare, all draw inspiration from Marx and Engels. Despite the test of time, the call for a classless society still echoes in the corridors of history and in current events raging across the world (from mining in Congo to war in Israel-Palestine). The relevance of their ideas endures in contemporary society, where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and inhuman worker exploitation continues to persist.