Karl Marx, the Class Struggle and Capitalism

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cheated out of the value of their labor by being offered living wages inadequate for their living expenses. Meanwhile the rich are getting richer.

Marx’s critique of capitalism emphasizes its legitimatization by the ruling class. Indeed, put in perspective, American culture, which inevitably shapes the world views and values of Americans, makes the capitalist system seem natural and right. That is how the system persists despite the observations that the system only benefits those who are rich and powerful. That is how the system persists despite the current political tensions between the rich and the poor. Marx, from his studies, concluded that history was the chronology of class struggles, wars, and uprising. Marx preferred a socialist system which he believed would be governed by the working class. Marxism, the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, was then born. However, the socialist system that Marx advocated for is widely known today as communism. Marx himself believed that socialism would eventually be replaced by a stateless, classless society called pure communism.

As a matter of fact, Karl Marx is credited with having sparked the Communist revolution in the 1900s. However, while communism is an excellent theory, it has continuously failed so far in practice. Indeed, in most modern communist societies, the state eventually grew to control all aspects of the society when the point of communism, according to Marx, was to have a stateless society in which all property is publicly owned and each person’s work is valued based on their abilities and need.