Marxist Ideals
I will try to describe the ideal society as pictured by Marx*. This is not an easy task for a single coherent statement of socialist society is not to be found in his work. I will therefore piece together a somewhat blurred picture from several writings. I am confident that while people may dispute some details and interpretations the major characteristics of socialist society [That is the characterists that shape not the details but the overall Marxist vision of the future], as pieced together in the following analysis are substantially accurate and beyond dispute .
Marx sharply distinguishes between two distinct stages in the development of his ideal society. The first stage which is “Socialist” is described in some detail (Specially in Critique, Civil War in France and the Manifesto.) . It is characterized by the existence of ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat’ and has the following features.
i. Abolition of private property (specially in land) and inheritance laws.
ii. Progressive taxation.
iii. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state
iv. Equal liability of all to labour.
v. Rapid industrialization and the right to free education
Despite the abolition of private property Marx envisages the existence of considerable inequality of income in the socialist, transitional society – his proposals for progressive taxation and centralization of credit are designed to check this inequality and the autonomy of enterprises . Reduction in income inequalities are accompanied by a tremendous increase in the rate of development. This allows society to create new economic arrangements which lead to the abolition of the antagonism between town and country and is a first step toward the abolition of the division of labour [As discussed later Marx regarded the abolition of the division of labour as one of the most crucial steps towards the development of full communism].
The political organization of the transitional socialist state was briefly sketched by Marx. This state is characterized by the dictatorship of the proletariat from the time of the overthrow of capitalism to the full establishment of communist society. The dictatorship of the proletariat is “the democratic rule of the entire working class (including farm workers) which makes up a large proportion [Marx is not clear whether by this is implied a majority-Alghazlians] of the population of all advanced countries”. The dictatorship of the proletariat has been described as “a permanent revolution (where) the remains of the old order (are destroyed) by the state using all the force that is necessary for this purpose”. It is modeled on the Paris Commune of 1871 which was “the political form at last discovered under which to work out the economic emancipation of labour” [This and the other two quotes are taken from Civil War in France London 1986 pp.21-23]. According to Marx the Commune.
1.Was formed of municipal councilors elected on the basis of universal suffrage. These councilors were at all times recallable.
2.Functioned as both an executive and a legislative body.
3.All administrative official, police, accountants and judges were elective, responsible and recallable by the commune councilors.
4.The army was disbanded and replaced by the armed people.
The vision is therefore of a political society in which there are frequent elections and referenda, people are capable of clearly mandating their representatives who are not corrupted by power [Marx rejects this possibility vehemently in his “Marginal Notes on Bakunin’s State and Anarchism” See E. Mayer “Marx on Bakunin Studies de Marxiologie Oct. 1959 p. 112] . A standing army is unnecessary because “communism is only possible as the act of the dominant people, simultaneously” (German Ideology p. 25) . This means that Marx expected a world socialist revolution at the outset of the development of the transitional socialist society [He gives the absence of such a revolution as a major cause of the failure of the 1871 Paris commune see Civil War in France passim] .
Once the socialist revolution has succeeded there is an almost immediate improvement in working conditions. The working day is cut by fifty percent (Capital Vol.1 London 1967 p. 350) but there is a rapid increase in production. This happens because the socialist revolution is supposed to take place in the most industrially advanced areas – Marx’s proletariat unlike Lenin’s does not have to build the material basis for socialist society. Planning strikes an efficient dynamic balance between growing resources and growing needs [Actual planning mechanisms are never discussed].
Real wages and the proportion of the social product allocated to the individual labourer rises rapidly (ibid; p.351). Moreover the measure guiding distribution during the socialist transitional phase will be labour time. Each labourer will receive a voucher entitling him to obtain an amount of commodities from the social fund equivalent to the time he has spent in production. These vouchers will not circulate and means of production and social means of consumption – such as trains – will not be for sale. The role of money will gradually be reduced during the socialist transitional phase (Capital Vol.II p.358). But despite this there will be both private accumulation and income inequalities during the socialist transitional phase although classes will gradually disappear . Marx does not describe the forms of economic organization explicitly enough to enable us to measure the extent of workers control (if any) at the enterprise level. He also does not describe democratic processes for reconciling and resolving conflict among workers on the one hand and between workers and their delegates on the other. These are very important “silences”.
This transitional socialism gradually give way to full blown communism. Communism is made possible by a fundamental change in the morality of the people which deprives the dictatorship of the proletariat of its raisin d’etre. This moral transformation is the result of a superabundance of wealth made possible by the outstanding success of planning and phenomenal technological advance. Communism is characterized by:
1 The elimination of the division of labour.
2 Activity with and for others becomes a prime want of every individual.
3 Social ownership is extended to all natural objects. (including items of personal consumption).
4 Total human mastery over nature.
5 The end of all organization of human activity except productive activity (the realm of necessity).
6 The elimination of all coercion and punishment.
7 The disappearance of all divisions within humanity – family., race, nation, the rural-urban divide, occupation and class.
The individual’s victory over the division of labour is undoubtedly the chief characteristic of full blown communist society. The individual “needs the totality of human life activities” (p.173) and “the anti thesis between mental and physical labour has vanished” (p. 23). Everyone participates in factory work and in the production and consumption of culture and science because he wants to. Communism will see a flowering of the talent of ordinary people. Everyone will not only perform many tasks they will perform them extra ordinarily well (p.62).
These very highly talented individuals will show a very high degree of co-operation and mutual concern. Each individual is conscious of humanity as being part of himself. Man sees himself as a specie being and “society is man himself in social relation” (p. 613). However communist man’s concern for others is not associated with any sense of duty but rather with the satisfaction one gets oneself in helping others. The individual recognizes the other as part of his own being. No conflict between individuals is conceivable since scarcity has been abolished and each can have what he wants just for the asking. The community stores are replete with everything and there is never a matter of an individual depriving himself for the sake of others. Private property disappears, in other words due to the disappearance of scarcity.
Scarcity is overcome by the conquest of nature. The supremacy of “the individual over chance and over objective conditions” (p. 37) is established in Communism. Natural science and human service are fused into one (p. iii) and the individual is able to do all that he wants to do. Nature becomes “man’s own real body” (p. 440).
Man “consciously (strips) all natural processes of their natural character and subjugates them to the power of individuals” (p.70). . Man becomes a creator and the whole world is his creation” (p.104). As all individuals are equal creators, organization and leadership necessarily disappear. Even in the factories the managers function only as the conductor of a willing orchestra (p.376).
Every worker gets to become a manager when he chooses. Laziness dies a “natural death” and “from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs” is a maxim nobody thinks of denying under full blown Communism (Id. pp.81-86). Work gradually becomes “the activity of real freedom,” (p.505) “positive power to assert man’s individuality” (p.176). Work is an instrument for the realization of this freedom. It is uncoerced and does not require authority.
The withering away of coercion finds fullest expression in the withering away of the institutions of the state-judicial, legislative and executive. It was the state in the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat that was instrumental in the over throw of capitalism and in the transition to communism, but once communism is reached the state like Wittgenstein’s ladder is “thrown away”. Retributive justice has no place in the communist order. Lapses from co-operative behaviour are “punished: solely by self inflicted guilt. Others-society-will help relieve the anguish an individual inflicts on himself, through falling to live up to generally accepted standards (Id. p.239) . These standards are universally accepted. Communist people agree on all major subjects once the structure of communist society has been formally established.
The withering away of the state is an aspect of the withering away of all divisions in society. “The witchery of religion” (p.24) is no more. all nations and races have disappeared [There is no room in the Marxist vision for world courts, world parliaments or a world state. There is only free and spontaneous global co-ordination (particularly in the area of production)]. The bourgeois family is replaced by group living, monogamous sexual relationships and the communal raising of children. Sex in communist society is always associated with love and love is an exclusive – some times permanent, sometimes temporary relationship between one man and one woman [There is no scope for homosexual sex in Marx’s communism]. Universal love which is described as the basis of social co-operation apparently does not include free sexual activity . Monogamous sexual love in communist society is the measure of perfection for all other relationships (pp. 88-93, p.101) . The love of parents for children and of children for parents has no place in the communist utopia.
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*The analysis is based on the following writings Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The German Ideology, Critique of the Gotha Programme, Civil War in France, Communist Manifesto, Poverty of Philosophy, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 , The Holy Family and Capital Vols. I and III,Grundrisse.
Marx sharply distinguishes between two distinct stages in the development of his ideal society. The first stage which is “Socialist” is described in some detail (Specially in Critique, Civil War in France and the Manifesto.) . It is characterized by the existence of ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat’ and has the following features.
i. Abolition of private property (specially in land) and inheritance laws.
ii. Progressive taxation.
iii. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state
iv. Equal liability of all to labour.
v. Rapid industrialization and the right to free education
The purpose of these changes is to “wrest all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state and to increase the total of productive forces as rapidly as possible” . The dictatorship of the proletariat is to be exercised in alliance with the peasantry which should be won over (not coerced) to accept the collectivization strategy implied by the abolition of private property in land.
Despite the abolition of private property Marx envisages the existence of considerable inequality of income in the socialist, transitional society – his proposals for progressive taxation and centralization of credit are designed to check this inequality and the autonomy of enterprises . Reduction in income inequalities are accompanied by a tremendous increase in the rate of development. This allows society to create new economic arrangements which lead to the abolition of the antagonism between town and country and is a first step toward the abolition of the division of labour [As discussed later Marx regarded the abolition of the division of labour as one of the most crucial steps towards the development of full communism].
The political organization of the transitional socialist state was briefly sketched by Marx. This state is characterized by the dictatorship of the proletariat from the time of the overthrow of capitalism to the full establishment of communist society. The dictatorship of the proletariat is “the democratic rule of the entire working class (including farm workers) which makes up a large proportion [Marx is not clear whether by this is implied a majority-Alghazlians] of the population of all advanced countries”. The dictatorship of the proletariat has been described as “a permanent revolution (where) the remains of the old order (are destroyed) by the state using all the force that is necessary for this purpose”. It is modeled on the Paris Commune of 1871 which was “the political form at last discovered under which to work out the economic emancipation of labour” [This and the other two quotes are taken from Civil War in France London 1986 pp.21-23]. According to Marx the Commune.
1.Was formed of municipal councilors elected on the basis of universal suffrage. These councilors were at all times recallable.
2.Functioned as both an executive and a legislative body.
3.All administrative official, police, accountants and judges were elective, responsible and recallable by the commune councilors.
4.The army was disbanded and replaced by the armed people.
The vision is therefore of a political society in which there are frequent elections and referenda, people are capable of clearly mandating their representatives who are not corrupted by power [Marx rejects this possibility vehemently in his “Marginal Notes on Bakunin’s State and Anarchism” See E. Mayer “Marx on Bakunin Studies de Marxiologie Oct. 1959 p. 112] . A standing army is unnecessary because “communism is only possible as the act of the dominant people, simultaneously” (German Ideology p. 25) . This means that Marx expected a world socialist revolution at the outset of the development of the transitional socialist society [He gives the absence of such a revolution as a major cause of the failure of the 1871 Paris commune see Civil War in France passim] .
Once the socialist revolution has succeeded there is an almost immediate improvement in working conditions. The working day is cut by fifty percent (Capital Vol.1 London 1967 p. 350) but there is a rapid increase in production. This happens because the socialist revolution is supposed to take place in the most industrially advanced areas – Marx’s proletariat unlike Lenin’s does not have to build the material basis for socialist society. Planning strikes an efficient dynamic balance between growing resources and growing needs [Actual planning mechanisms are never discussed].
Real wages and the proportion of the social product allocated to the individual labourer rises rapidly (ibid; p.351). Moreover the measure guiding distribution during the socialist transitional phase will be labour time. Each labourer will receive a voucher entitling him to obtain an amount of commodities from the social fund equivalent to the time he has spent in production. These vouchers will not circulate and means of production and social means of consumption – such as trains – will not be for sale. The role of money will gradually be reduced during the socialist transitional phase (Capital Vol.II p.358). But despite this there will be both private accumulation and income inequalities during the socialist transitional phase although classes will gradually disappear . Marx does not describe the forms of economic organization explicitly enough to enable us to measure the extent of workers control (if any) at the enterprise level. He also does not describe democratic processes for reconciling and resolving conflict among workers on the one hand and between workers and their delegates on the other. These are very important “silences”.
This transitional socialism gradually give way to full blown communism. Communism is made possible by a fundamental change in the morality of the people which deprives the dictatorship of the proletariat of its raisin d’etre. This moral transformation is the result of a superabundance of wealth made possible by the outstanding success of planning and phenomenal technological advance. Communism is characterized by:
1 The elimination of the division of labour.
2 Activity with and for others becomes a prime want of every individual.
3 Social ownership is extended to all natural objects. (including items of personal consumption).
4 Total human mastery over nature.
5 The end of all organization of human activity except productive activity (the realm of necessity).
6 The elimination of all coercion and punishment.
7 The disappearance of all divisions within humanity – family., race, nation, the rural-urban divide, occupation and class.
The individual’s victory over the division of labour is undoubtedly the chief characteristic of full blown communist society. The individual “needs the totality of human life activities” (p.173) and “the anti thesis between mental and physical labour has vanished” (p. 23). Everyone participates in factory work and in the production and consumption of culture and science because he wants to. Communism will see a flowering of the talent of ordinary people. Everyone will not only perform many tasks they will perform them extra ordinarily well (p.62).
These very highly talented individuals will show a very high degree of co-operation and mutual concern. Each individual is conscious of humanity as being part of himself. Man sees himself as a specie being and “society is man himself in social relation” (p. 613). However communist man’s concern for others is not associated with any sense of duty but rather with the satisfaction one gets oneself in helping others. The individual recognizes the other as part of his own being. No conflict between individuals is conceivable since scarcity has been abolished and each can have what he wants just for the asking. The community stores are replete with everything and there is never a matter of an individual depriving himself for the sake of others. Private property disappears, in other words due to the disappearance of scarcity.
Scarcity is overcome by the conquest of nature. The supremacy of “the individual over chance and over objective conditions” (p. 37) is established in Communism. Natural science and human service are fused into one (p. iii) and the individual is able to do all that he wants to do. Nature becomes “man’s own real body” (p. 440).
Man “consciously (strips) all natural processes of their natural character and subjugates them to the power of individuals” (p.70). . Man becomes a creator and the whole world is his creation” (p.104). As all individuals are equal creators, organization and leadership necessarily disappear. Even in the factories the managers function only as the conductor of a willing orchestra (p.376).
Every worker gets to become a manager when he chooses. Laziness dies a “natural death” and “from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs” is a maxim nobody thinks of denying under full blown Communism (Id. pp.81-86). Work gradually becomes “the activity of real freedom,” (p.505) “positive power to assert man’s individuality” (p.176). Work is an instrument for the realization of this freedom. It is uncoerced and does not require authority.
The withering away of coercion finds fullest expression in the withering away of the institutions of the state-judicial, legislative and executive. It was the state in the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat that was instrumental in the over throw of capitalism and in the transition to communism, but once communism is reached the state like Wittgenstein’s ladder is “thrown away”. Retributive justice has no place in the communist order. Lapses from co-operative behaviour are “punished: solely by self inflicted guilt. Others-society-will help relieve the anguish an individual inflicts on himself, through falling to live up to generally accepted standards (Id. p.239) . These standards are universally accepted. Communist people agree on all major subjects once the structure of communist society has been formally established.
The withering away of the state is an aspect of the withering away of all divisions in society. “The witchery of religion” (p.24) is no more. all nations and races have disappeared [There is no room in the Marxist vision for world courts, world parliaments or a world state. There is only free and spontaneous global co-ordination (particularly in the area of production)]. The bourgeois family is replaced by group living, monogamous sexual relationships and the communal raising of children. Sex in communist society is always associated with love and love is an exclusive – some times permanent, sometimes temporary relationship between one man and one woman [There is no scope for homosexual sex in Marx’s communism]. Universal love which is described as the basis of social co-operation apparently does not include free sexual activity . Monogamous sexual love in communist society is the measure of perfection for all other relationships (pp. 88-93, p.101) . The love of parents for children and of children for parents has no place in the communist utopia.
--
*The analysis is based on the following writings Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The German Ideology, Critique of the Gotha Programme, Civil War in France, Communist Manifesto, Poverty of Philosophy, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 , The Holy Family and Capital Vols. I and III,Grundrisse.
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