Title: Karl Heinrich Marx
1Karl Heinrich Marx
- May 5, 1818
- March 14, 1883
- Economic Theory
2The Works of Marx
- He was a prolific writer, despite his personal
life tragedies. - Here is a brief list of works by Karl Marx
- 1844
- A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's
Philosophy of Right. Introduction - Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy
- Critical Notes on "The King of Prussia"
- Economic and Philosophic Manuscript
- 1845 Theses on Feuerbach
3Additional Works by Marx
- He also wrote many articles with F. Engels
- Communist League (1847)
- The Communist Manifesto (1848)
- England's 17th c. Revolution (1850)
- The Alleged Splits in the International (1872)
- Reformists in Germany's Social-Democratic party
(1879)
4DAS KAPITAL
- The most important work by Karl Marx is clearly
Das Kapital which appeared in three volumes.
Only volume I appeared while he was alive.
Volumes II and III were edited by Engels and
appeared after Karl Marxs death in 1883
5Georg Hegel 1770-1831
Thesis
Anti-thesis
Synthesis
6Ludwig Feuerbach
- Doctrine of Materialism
- Man is object of conscious rather than
unconscious - For instance, paintings of GOD in the image of
Man - Alienation process and result of converting the
product of the individual as a social activity
into something that is part of themselves -both
independent and dominant
7Dialectic Materialism
- Marx agreed with Adam Smith on the importance of
the division of labor to economic evolution. - He saw conflict will arise as a result from the
division of labor - Recall, Adam Smith had similar concerns in that
he saw - Social disadvantage - workers dehumanized by
repetitive, monotonous tasks
8Conflicts due to division of Labor
- Next, industry from commerce
- Then, conflict among the different types of labor
- Eventually individual conflicts with society as
workers become enslaved to their trade - Eventually, humans labor becomes an alien power,
opposed to them and enslaving them. - Resulting into socialism and communism
9Dialectic MaterialismThe Conflicts
- For instance, Industry and commerce separate from
agriculture with resulting - conflict between city and rural areas
- In general, Marx viewed with concern the opposing
(conflicting) scenarios brough about by dialectic
materialism - Rural vs. Urban
- Worker vs. Owner
- Innovation vs. Status Quo
10Static vs. Dynamic
Religion, Law, Government
Social Superstructure
Static
Relations of Production
Private Property, Wage System
Dynamic
Factors of Production
Land, Labor, Capital, and Technology
11Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of
1844(published in 1932)
- Appears his thoughts were more consistent between
early writings and Das Kapital than at first
thought. Among the points - Criticized political economist for only
explaining the workings of the economy rather
than the causes - Contradiction in that more wealth the worker
produces the poorer they became
125 Laws of Capitalist Motion
- LAW I Law of Accumulation and Failing Rate of
Profit - K é ð L ê ð p ê
- LAW II due to p ê in Law I then
- Law of Concentration and Centralization of
Industry - ð Concentration only way to keep p high
13Laws of Accumulation (cont.)
- LAW III
- Because of the existence of Laws I and II there
will result - The Law of a Growing Industrial Reserve Army
- UNEMPLOYMENT
14Laws of Accumulation (cont.)
- As a consequence of increased unemployment then
- LAW IV The Law of Increasing Misery of the
Proletariat - LAW V The Law of Crisis and Depressions
15Communist Manifesto
- Written in 1848 it was
commissioned to Marx and
Engels at the second
Congress of the League of Communists
in London
16Communist Manifesto (cont.)
- ... the first step in the revolution by the
working class is to raise the proletariat to the
position of ruling class to win the battle of
democracy - The proletariat will use its political supremacy
to wrest, by degree, all capital from the
bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of
production in the hands of the state,
17Communist Manifesto (cont.)
- 10 Points which, in general, will be needed for
the proletariat to take over - 1. Abolition of property in land and
application of all rents of land to public
purposes. - 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
- 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
18Communist Manifesto (cont.)
- 4. Confiscation of the property of all
emigrants and rebels. - 5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the
state, by means of a national bank with state
capital and an exclusive monopoly - 6. Centralization of the means of communication
and transport in the hands of the state.
19Communist Manifesto (cont.)
- 7. Extension of factories and instruments of
production owned by the state the bringing into
cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement
of the soil generally in accordance with a common
plan. - 8. Equal obligation of all to work.
Establishment of industrial armies, especially
for agriculture.
20Communist Manifesto (cont.)
- 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing
industries gradual abolition of all the
distinction between town and country by a more
equable distribution of the populace over the
country. - 10. Free education for all children in public
schools. Abolition of children's factory labor
in its present form. Combination of education
with industrial production, etc.
21The Great Contradiction
- If the Exchange value of commodities is
determined by the labor time they contain, how
can these commodities frequently differ from
their labor values? - In other words Competition is supposed to
produce equal profits across industries - Yet capital/labor ratios differ between industries
22The Great Contradiction (cont.)
- Thus, according to Marx since labor is the sole
source of surplus it must be that labor intensive
industries should have the largest possible
profits - In order to argue against the critics, he used
the following formulas
23The Great Contradiction (cont.)
- Definitions
- Constant Capital (c) º charges on fixed capital
- (i.e. depreciation plus the cost of raw
materials) - Variable Capital (v) º total wages paid to labor
- Outlay (k) º cost of production
- (excluding profits) or c v
- Surplus Value º Total Revenues - (cv)
- or Total Revenues - k
24The Great Contradiction (cont.)
- Rate of surplus value (s) º s/v
- Rate of profit (p)
º s/ k - Organic composition of capital (O) º ratio of
capital to labor - In contemporary terms
- GNP c v s k s
- NNP v s
25The Great Contradiction (cont.)
- ASSUMPTIONS
- Different commodities are produced at different
organic composition of capital - rate of surplus is taken to be 100 (for
simplicity) - Competition will equalize the average profit
26Transformation of Values to Prices
27Explanation of Table
- Column 1 represents five different commodities
- Column 2 capital/labor ratios with outlay being
a 100 per industry and 500 for entire economy - Column 3 Amount of constant capital (c) used
28Transformation of Values to Prices
29Explanation of Table (cont.)
- Column 4 Cost of product (cv)
- Column 5 Surplus value (since a 100 is
assumed that implies that sv - Column 6 TRUE value of product according to
Marx (4)(5)
30Transformation of Values to Prices
31Explanation of Table (cont.)
- Column 7 Average profits
(recall that p s/ k or 110/500.22) - Column 8 Sale price (4) (7)
- Column 9 Deviation of Price from Value (8)-(6)
32Transformation of Values to Prices
On average the difference is zero
33Those who used Marx
- Vladmir Ilyich Lenin
- Indicated that the
movement towards
communism could be
shortened in order to be
applicable in Russia
34Lenin on How to Achieve Communism
- ... during the transition from capitalism to
communism suppression is still necessary, but it
is now the suppression of the exploiting minority
by the exploited majority...
35A special apparatus, a special machine for
suppression, the "state", is still necessary, but
this is now a transitional state. It is no longer
a state in the proper sense of the word for the
suppression of the minority of exploiters by the
majority of the wage slaves of yesterday is
comparatively so easy, simple and natural a task
that it will entail far less bloodshed than the
oppression of the rising of slaves, serfs or
wage-laborers, and it will cost mankind far less.
36Why Russia needs to be ready for War
- the victory of socialism in one country does not
at one stroke eliminate all wars in general. On
the contrary, it presupposes wars. The
development of capitalism proceeds extremely
unevenly in different countries. It cannot be
otherwise under commodity production. From this
it follows irrefutably that socialism cannot
achieve victory simultaneously in all countries.
37It will achieve victory first in one or several
countries, while the others will for some time
remain bourgeois or pre-bourgeois. This is bound
to create not only friction, but a direct attempt
on the part of the bourgeoisie of other countries
to crush the socialist state's victorious
proletariat. In such cases, a war on our part
would be a legitimate and just war
38Leon Trotsky
- Leader of the Russian
Revolution. - Architect of the Red Army. Commissar of
foreign affairs
between 1917-1924. - In 1929, deported from
the USSR by Stalinists. - In 1940,murdered by
assassin.
39MAO TSE-TUNG
40MAO TSE-TUNG
- The transition to communism is based on
- the numerous types of state system in the world
can be reduced to three basic kinds according to
the class character of their political power - (1) republics under bourgeois dictatorship
- (2) republics under the dictatorship of the
proletariat and - (3) republics under the joint dictatorship of
several revolutionary classes.
41MAO TSE-TUNG
- The first kind comprises the old democratic
states - The second kind exists in the Soviet Union, and
the conditions for its birth are ripening in
capitalist countries. In the future, it will be
the dominant form throughout the world for a
certain period.
42MAO TSE-TUNG
- The third kind is the transitional form of state
to be adopted in the revolutions of the colonial
and semi-colonial countries. Each of these
revolutions will necessarily have specific
characteristics of its own, but these will be
minor variations on a general theme
43On why democracy is not needed to evolve to
Communism
- The so-called democratic system in modern states
is usually monopolized by the bourgeoisie and has
become simply an instrument for oppressing the
common people. On the other hand, the
Kuomintang's Principle of Democracy means a
democratic system shared by all the common people
and not privately owned by the few.