MARXIAN SOCIALISM
Karl Marx. who wrote 111 11167 his famous book boo’ Das Kapital, the Bible of social.. is considered to be the father of scientific socialism. He traced to put the theory of socialism on a scientific basis. His theory led him to the inclusion that capitalism was doomed to decay.
(i) Materialistic composition of history karl max seeks to explain every male of
ground. He gives an economic interpretation of history. All wars. notes and political movements have their origin in economic factors. There is an appropriate.
ate political organisation. corresponding to every economic stage. A capitalist economy, for example. will evolve a system of government which perpetuates and supports property rights. I goes on to explain how capitalism will generate conditions which will replace it by socialism. The capitalists will grow in wealth as time passes, but will become fewer and fewer. the bigger whales swallowing the smaller ones. Monopolies will be created, production will expand necessitating scramble for markets abroad. This will lead to an imperialist war, and one war will be followed another more terrible than the preceding one till capitalism perishes in the conflict, and the dictatorship of the proletariat is established
(ii)Labour Thro f Value According to Karl Marx, value represents the human labour used in production. n uthe words the vale of a commodity Depends on e labour s!!d in the production of Commodity. t is equal to the socially necessary our me. Marx dined value a commodity ityity “as the ‘. creation of labour. labour time required to produce ~an article under the normal conditions of production ~u with the average
degree of skill and intensity prevalent at the time. Karl Marx has given the same definition of capital asas Ricardo has defined it on thc basis of past labour, As for differences in quality of labour, he considered efficient labour as a form of intense labour. According to, him, a given quantity of skilled labour is equal to; bigger amount of o nary labour. Ilc said this deficiency is continuously being made good. Whatever ay be the amount of skilled labour used in the production of a commodity hut if it is equated to a commodity produced by ordinal)’ lahore. its price will . represent only a given quantity of ordinary labour. According to Marx, the ratio of skilled labour and unskilled labour IS fixed by convention. In his view. skilled labour is more valuable because, as compared with unskilled labor. it requires more time and labour.
(iii) Theory of surplus value of explanation Marx propounded his theory of surplus value on the basis of his theory of value, He said that order to enable labor to carrion the work of production, he should have some instruments of production and other facilities but he lacks these facilities. Hence, he has to sell his labor to the capitalist. It is, however, not necessary for the capitalist to pay labor the full value o the product produced by him. lien’ Karl Marx supported his theory on the basis of a classical theory, the subsistence theory of value according to which the level of wages is determined by the subsistence of the worker. What happens is that a worker continues working even after he ha~ earned sufficient amount of money lor his subsistence, That is, he continues working even beyond the time when he has put in labour worth its price; Sometimes he works for 12 hours whereas six hours’ labour was enough to compensate the capitalist. Thus, of is not merely to produce value equal to Its price but much more, is surplus value is the 4 Time crc ncc between the market value f the commodity and the cost of the factors ed in the production of the commodity. Karl Marx says that the manufacture gets for his commodity more than what he has spent 011 labor and The excess of market value over the costs is the surplus value. By using this surplus value. the pita list can get still more surplus. This surplus is the creation of It is created because labour is paid much less than is due to it. ie characteristic the appropriation of the surplus value by the capitalist as robbery and exploitation. COMmodity. according to him, is simply ‘crystallised labour’ or ‘congealed labour’. In this way, the capitalist class goes on becoming richer and richer through exploitation of the working class. Thus. Karl Marx propound’ his theory of exploitation on the Pol'” 0 of the theory of surplus value. Development and its End. ‘g to Karl Marx. the forces that operate in the capitalistic system lead to greater and greater of labour, The capitalist another 10 increase their? Ricardo. Karl Marx u-scratch th.rt in the have a tendency 10 Iall to thc minimuru suhsivtcucc level. In other words. an.oHling to Marxl the ,holt run. exceed the subsistence level. BUI the von put forward by Marx for e wage being equal III subsistence level arc different from those given byby Ricardo. Acidulous 10 Ricardo, wages kccp to the subsistence level tu increase in populanou. BUI according tll ~ larx. it is the excess of rent of labour over demand that prevents the wage, II”111 rising above .
