Karl Marx

Karl Marx is considered as one of the most influential philosophers. It all started when he published The Communist Manifesto in 1948 and Das Kapital in 1867-1894. His arguments were anchored on the criticisms of capitalism and of the emergence of communism following its collapse.

Karl Marx's major criticisms took its roots from the concepts of class struggles and inequality, injustice exploitations and alienation of labor.

In the case of class struggles, he pointed out that in a capitalist society there are two main classes: the capitalists or bourgeoisies, and the workers or the proletarians. He also expressed disapproval on the idea that the state or the government in a capitalist society do not interfere in the affairs of the economy. He stated that those who are elected to a certain position are the capitalists. The capitalists dominated both the political and economic affairs of the state. As a result, they promulgated and implemented rules in line with their individual interests even if it's a mean of taking advantage over others especially the workers. The capitalists own and manage the means of production. In this manner, the capitalists get richer and richer while the workers will be poorer and poorer. As long as there's this kind of division in the society, the capitalists would exert incessant, relentless efforts to maintain their standing and elevate their level, and on the contrary, those in the lower class would continually struggle and strive in order to get out from the horrific 'prison' they are in. Another thing, there is a mindset present that a capitalist will always be a capitalist and would always have child that’s a capitalist, too. For the workers, it's the other way around. It turned out to be just like the caste system. Those on the top would do everything in order to make all of this happen. In contrast, the working class would try their utmost best to escape from poverty and put an end to the oppression. Marx is strongly against this policy and argued that it’s the cause of inequality in the society.

He also thought of the economic system as exploitative. Exploitation of workers results from the sequestration of labor for profit. He described that commodities are the product of labor and these are related to each other by an exchange of value, referring to the price. According to the labor theory of value, the price of a commodity is proportional to the amount of labor used to create it. In capitalism, there would be no capital if there is no exploitation of labor. With this, he coined the term "surplus value" which indicates that the workers produce a higher value of good for the capitalists than the wages they received. As a result, the workers' wages directly depends on the amount needed to keep him or her alive and work again the next day. This is why it is called as a 'subsistence wage'. Also, alienation of labor occurred under capitalism wherein the product made by the workers are not under their control or discretion. Therefore, the product is alien to them.

With the aforementioned flaws of capitalisms, there's no wonder why it is injustice. The surplus labor is unpaid and there are manifestations of social injustice such as child labor, unfair wages, inhumane working hours and the horrible working conditions. But on the first place, what made the system itself unjust is the exploitation of the labor force. Lastly, he criticized capitalism because he believed that there are inner contradictions in the said system which will be the main reason why it will collapse someday. He disagreed to the idea that capitalism is self-regulating rather he believed that it is self-destructing.

Marx was also certain of dialectic materialism that capitalism, just like any other systems, will come to pass. As soon as the laborers become a proletarian, their means of labor are turned into capital, the capitalist mode of production stands on its own, the common means of production take a new form. Now, it is no longer the working class to be expropriated but the capitalist exploiting many laborers. This expropriation is achieved through immanent laws of capitalism itself by the centralization of capital. As a result, it will lead to the development of the cooperative form of labor process, the technical application of science and the economizing of all people in the net of the world market. In line with the decreasing number of the industrialists who seize and monopolize the advantages of this process, emerges the mass of poverty, sufferings, oppression, degradation, exploitation. But along with this, sprouts the revolt or uprising of the increasing working class. The working class become so fed up to that extent that they’re fuming with great fury and want to destroy the system. The monopoly of the capital becomes a restraint upon the mode of production which has flourished upon with and under it. Centralization of the means of production and socialization of labor reach a point where the two become incompatible with their capitalist integument. Then, this integument explodes into different parts. The expropriators are expropriated. The capitalist mode of production produces capitalist private property, which is the first negation of individual private property as founded on the labor of the proprietor. But then, the capitalist production begets its own negation. This is the negation of negation. So, there’s this internal contradiction and it becomes worse as time progresses and finally results to its downfall.