• The whole of what is called world history is the creation of human labor
• Capitalist development prevents human beings from reaching their full potential as self-determining and self-actualizing human beings
• Only when capitalists are overthrown, private property is abolished, and communal ownership of the means of production is established by an initial dictatorship of the proletariat can economic justice be achieved

Some men are better off, but others are not
“The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer”

involuntary unemployment
pollution, crime
poverty, homelessness
child labor, unsafe working conditions
disease, malnutrition

WHY? What has gone wrong with the Capitalist system?

What distinguishes man from the animals
Not Cost-Benefit Analysis
Not the Social Conscience
Not the fear of a Leviathan

But CONSCIOUS PRODUCTION for USE
Man cooperates in order to build things he needs
but cannot obtain on his own

man achieves an INTRINSIC satisfaction from building things
he does not seek a material reward for his labor

Labor is rewarding in and of itself
We also receive external stroking from those around us
by doing a good job
What we do is who we are

We tend to specialize in that thing that makes us feel the best inside
what the community appreciates us doing for it

And the better we get at it
The more they appreciate it
and the better we get at it

However, Men must also perform work for the community
in order to obtain a SUBSISTENCE

but they only work as long as they need to
in order to be able to play

By play Marx means pursue an intrinsically satisfying occupation
or form of production

Normally, in a real COMMUNIST SOCIETY
these two occupations would be one and the same

But sometimes this isn’t so
and this leads to CONTRADICTION

And they begin to believe that satisfaction can be obtained
through the accumulation and consumption of material goods

This leads to ALIENATION
the EXPROPRIATION of resources necessary for the production of necessities
and the creation of economic classes through

EXPLOITATION
the theft of surplus labor value by the few who OWN

This inevitably leads to FRAGMENTATION
class conflict of the Haves and Have NOTS

REVOLUTION is INEVITABLE

This is one of the things which separates Marx from Rousseau
Revolution is not just a DUTY
it is an INEVITABILITY because of CLASS STRUGGLE

Marx states that he is an EMPIRICIST,
a PRAGMATIST or REALIST

Rousseau is an IDEALIST
his head is in the clouds

Arguments like society itself must be based on the reality of HUMAN EXISTENCE
and NOT on some Divine Plan

Human Rights are NOT inalienable, nor are they UNIVERSAL
They change with changes in the SUPERSTRUCTURE of SOCIETY

For instance, Property is NOT an Inalienable Right given to us by God
and Title is not granted out of RESPECT for added-value through labor
Property is held for for Use
If a product is not used, or if someone can use it more,
or if the community would benefit,
you must give it up

History has a MATERIAL BASIS
which points toward ever-increasing progress in technology

You cannot simply hope for a return to a pastoral, agricultural past
This is UTOPIAN SOCIALISM

It is a fantasy world: impractical, unrealistic, and unachievable

Marx was the founder of SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
He believed he had uncovered the iron laws of historical development

and the solution to the problem of utility and justice

DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM

A. DIALECTICS (Hegel)
-thesis, antithesis, synthesis

B. MATERIALISM (Feuerbach)
-economic base
-social superstructure

C. HISTORICAL INEVITABILITY
-stages of history:
tribalism
slavery (Plato)
feudalism (Hobbes)
capitalism (Smith)
communism
-dynamic change: class struggle and revolution

“the history of all existing societies is the history of class struggle

Which culminated in the Public ownership of the means of production

When he said the Workers should unite, they had nothing to lose but their chains
He meant business

However, toward the end of his life, there is some evidence that Marx began to accept that
a Democratic system might have the flexibility
to undergo REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES in structure
without having to go through the violent overthrow and destruction
of the existing state

So when he said Workers of the World unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains
He meant UNIONS

He concentrated on two existing methods of achieving COMMUNISM
within the system:
the organization of unions
active government intervention in society

Again with the primary goal of achieving
public ownership of the means of production
and a progression to true COMMUNISM

“from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs”

How was this to be achieved

Through the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Can it really be a DICTATORSHIP if the MAJORITY (the Workers) RULE?

Yes! Because it is the Rule of the Majority with No RESPECT
for the Rights of the Minority

Why? Because there are no INALIENABLE RIGHTS.

Act Utilitarianism believes in “bending” the rules,
there are no such thing as universals beyond production for use

You’re either in the Community, Bound by the Social Contract or

1. REHABILITATION / REEDUCATION / RESOCIALIZATION

or if you are “incorrigible”; you’re no better than an animal an

2. ELIMINATION

you have no RIGHT to LIVE
if you are not CONTRIBUTING to the COMMUNITY!!

Note: that as more and more recalcitrants are reeducated,
there is less and less need for a dictatorship to protect, reeducate, and supervise

Marx’s belief in the Universal World Government

a combination of INEVITABILITY and IDEALISM

If there is no such thing as universal human rights or religion
What unites us all?

What do we all have in common?

LABOR:
We all do our work and we all respect each other’s work

We contribute what we can to society
and take what we need

Robert A. Crawford.
Copyright © 1998

All rights reserved.
Revised: August 30, 2007