Why I always would say that I am not a "believer" of Marxist ideas?
At the outset I must confess that I only have a simple and basic understanding of Marxist principles. I am no way qualified to write exhaustive critique on Marxist school of thought. I make this attempt to highlight the areas of Marxism where I do have major differences in my limited understanding. This article is meant only to enhance my knowledge on the subject. Not to downgrade or belittle or to find faults in it.
Majority of "believers" of today's Marxists are people who fell into Marxism controlled organisations due to some circumstances in their lives. They also may have been attracted to it due to personality of some charismatic leaders. Some might be into it because of their association with Marxists dominated trade unions and some might be due to benefits which they received at some point. Many of them do not think beyond the belief system to which they are wedded to. They are more akin to followers of religions or political parties in my opinion. Like majority followers of religion do not have any basic idea about the religion to which they belong. It is only because they are born into it they are following. Most do not even make an attempt to learn the basics of their religion's history or philosophy but blindly follow all rituals and methods. Similarly normal people who are members of parties or organisations which have Marxism their core doctrine do not have any basic idea of the school of thought. Like their religious counterparts they blindly follow what their leaders say. I think, that is one of the reasons why Marxism is also a kind of religious faith according to one school of thought.
Basic elements
Here I will try to outline my doubts and differences vis-a-vis some of important Marxist principles limiting the subject matter to my understanding. Class struggle, increased awareness of proletariat classes which would result into conflicts and ultimately revolution, Annihilation of classes, Labor value excess theory,etc. These are some of Marxist concepts. Let us discuss the above concepts briefly..
Annihilation
According to Marx due to the increased struggle between proletariat and ruling classes there will be more and more conflicts in society which will result ultimately in a revolution and a whole new society will emerge out of the revolution. We know that all Marxism induced revolutions in the world resulted into large scale violence. It is a different debate whether it was possible to have change of governments in countries without violence. After getting Marxist inspired proletariat led government, moot question comes how to implement the ideals of Marxism in the country. First to get transformed was Soviet union where the Marxist leadership tried to change everything through governmental force. Redistribution of wealth took place which turned many rich into paupers. Wherever opposition came they crushed them with state power.
Unfortunately this forceful transformation may yield fruits in the short run. In the long run the experiment will collapse sooner or later.
Labour excess value theory
One of the basic tenets of Marxism is the Labor excess theory value. Marx tries to establish the core value of labor through some complicated mathematical formulas. In the whole human existence, Marx was the first to attach primacy to labour. That was opening of door of labor welfarist thinking in the history. Subsequently it paved the way for many labour centric developments. But it was too simple to say that labour is the major or the only contributor of all 'Capital' generated. This theory was negated immediately after it was formulated during 19th Century. In the modern 21st century context it is all the more complicated. Determining value of products is a more cumbersome process now and it is very difficult to arrive at a definite value at the making level. Anyhow labour gets his value of his services at the time of giving his services. Value gets determined based on many factors at the time of selling. There cannot be a standardised value for a product. In my opinion selling of a product or service should get a primary position rather than that of labour or employee who only do it mechanically. Here idea is the creative phenomenon and is more important.
Sacrosanctity and proselytizing
Marxism is always a kind of science according to their proponents. Its tenets are subject to many interpretations. When this is an irrefutable fact, many Marxist schools adopt a very rigid stance on the subject. Many believers or faithfuls who do not have an iota of idea about the concepts blindly follow their ideological mentors and thereby obstruct any meaningful debates. Any theory or ideology will grow only when free discussions are allowed within the fold. All religions have standard interpretations or orthodoxy. Religious ideologies do not evolve or grow. They remain stagnant. People who contradict the standard positions will be discouraged in the religions. Unfortunately this seems to be happening in most of Marxism based schools too. If anyone offers a differing perception he is criticized and vilified. If he persists he is thrown out of the fold and all kinds of character assassination happens. This is the level of democracy prevailing there. Like in Abrahamic religions especially Christianity, proselytizing or trying to convert people into the fold is always encouraged in a
systemic manner. This is also ridiculously similar to religions.
Marxist Predictions of future turned out to be blatantly wrong
Predictions of marx like increased class conflict, awareness of proletariat or working class of the exploitative nature of capitalist order are yet to materialize. It is never going to materialize, it seems. As the proletariat classes are fragmented into several forms or types there is absolutely no homogeneity among them. It is a daunting task now to bring them all under one roof in the name of a doctrine. During the early days of nineteenth century there weren't numerous varieties of the labor like in today's world. The forms of labor were very simple like agricultural or mechanical or industrial. During modern era this has become so complex and into multiple forms, it has become almost impossible to raise class consciousness uniformly across all sections of proletariat.
Denial of human spirit
Marxism is a Collectivist idea and there is no scope for any individualism. Extraordinarily brilliant minds normally are not encouraged in a Marxist inspired system. Many talented scientific minds, Artists and intellectuals who had their origins in Soviet Russia left the country for better prospects in US or west. Marx himself is a product of western liberalism.
Only this way or high way attitude- no faith in democracy
Democracy and Marxism inspired state never go together. The system is a declared totalitarian and dissenting views are not permitted. So there is self criticism in the system.
No scope for improvement or expansion of economy
Marxism based Economic structure will not have the opportunity to go beyond the actual size as free markets and share trading are highly regulated and controlled. The scope for expanding of economy is very compared to free market systems.
Myth of collectivism vs myth of god centric philosophy
In the religious systems GOD is the central point of belief around which everything is woven. Here in Marx based structure central point is Egalitarian utopia realizing it is the myth. The whole idea is centered around that myth. God is a kind of "other"world concept whereas in communist society the myth is "THIS" worldly though realizing it is only like chasing mirage.
Do not recognize the role of religions in uniting people
Marxists have a negative view of religious philosophies. They do not recognize the positive
role of religions in shaping of human mind and culture. This stems out of seeing all things through materialist prism.
They do not realize that it is also an extension or continuation of theological systems in a way. So this isolated thinking impedes their evolving further.
No mechanism for update of ideas though calls itself modern and scientific
Here in Marx philosophy there is no mechanism updating the concepts based on changed circumstances. Like Muslims ' view of Quran, Marxists say the concepts are always relevant and scientific and needs no updation.This dogmatic approach is doing more harm than good. Most of them do not recognize this fundamentalist tendency is also unfortunate.
No authentic interpretation
Another problem faced by the idealogy of Marx is that there is no authentic interpretation of the same. The ideas are interpreted to suit the interests of the people in power. Like in countries like in Romania, Cambodia etc.
Calling for abolition of marriage system without having any alternative ideas to it
Communist Manifesto calls for abolition of system of marriages in Society. It says marriage is the root cause of accumulation of wealth by people. So, if you abolish marriages it is easier for establishment of Egalitarian society. Whether suddenly or gradual, it is not clear. Soviet union under Stalin tried this experiment by running a campaign to discourage marriages. They advocated officially for free relationships. It was a complete disaster for women and children. It was discarded after some years.
Exploitation of common people in the name of collective welfare
In a capitalist set up workers are exploited by individual owners or corporates. In a Collectivist Communist idea the same exploitative conditions may be imposed by the state in the name of development of country. Whether they will be paid adequately depend on the leadership and circumstances. So there is every possibility of continuation of exploitation albeit in a different form.
Conspiracy theorists
As I have seen from the behavior of typical communists
and from what I learnt from communist literature, they have this tendency to call anything which does not come within the ambit of their thinking domain, as conspiracy hatched by bourgeois class. That may be spiritual or any development due to advancement in technology.
End justifying the means?
For a communist " end will always justify the means ". It doesn't matter what are the means adopted towards realizing the objective. Annihilation or total destruction theory was born out of this somewhat primitive idea. A modern civilised group cannot agree to this preposition
which tends glorify violence.
Instant solutions rather than incremental ones
Communists are for the total transformation of society
with the help of proletariat revolution and dictatorship which follows it. I think, internationally the experiences in several countries tell catrostrophic consequences due to hasty implemententation of these ideas. So in those places, had these ideas been executed having some sort of incremen4al or step by step there could be likelihood of long lasting successes.
To conclude I might add that communist ideas are a mixed bag. There are good and bad things. But it was a game changer in the lives of common folks of the world. I am writing separately in another part why I am saying so.
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