KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Class Struggle
Marxian Analysis of Class
Criteria of a Class
Core Elements of Class Struggle
War between Classes
Essential Aspects of the Marxian Theory of
Class Conflict
Karl Marx’s Theory of Class Struggle
1. Communist Society
2. Capitalist Society
3. Feudal Society
4. Ancient Society
5. Primitive Communist Society
Criticism of Class Struggle
Conclusion

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 3

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

Introduction:-
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of
class struggles”.
Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a
German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political
theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary.

Born in Trier, Germany, Marx studied law and philosophy at university. He

married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843. Due to his political publications,
Marx became stateless and lived in exile with his wife and children
in London for decades, where he continued to develop his thought in collaboration with
German thinker Friedrich Engels and publish his writings, researching in the reading room of the
British Museum. His best-known titles are the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto, and
the three-volume Das Kapital. His political and philosophical thought had enormous influence
on subsequent intellectual, economic and political history and his name has been used as an
adjective, a noun and a school of social theory.

Marx's theories about society, economics and politics – collectively understood as Marxism –
hold that human societies develop through class struggle.

Class Struggle
The concept of class struggle, though not originally propounded by Karl Marx, is yet one of his
great contributions to Sociology. To Marx, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the
history of class struggle.” (The first line of communist manifesto (1848) reads) According to
Raymond Aron, “the classes are the principal actors in the historical drama of capitalism in
particular and of history in general.”

Classes refer to the groups of people having their own role to play in the relations of
production. Relations of production refer to the fact that in the process of industrial production
the labour and capital stands in specific relation to each other. Labour is the capacity which the
working class possesses.

Capital is the instrument invested out of which profit is derived. Those who possess capital they
are the owners of capital. Those who are labourers—they are the owners of labour power.
Capital gets profit, labour gets wage. Labour and capital are interrelated, they are inseparable.
One cannot be thought of without the other.

Marx says:

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 4

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

Classes are hence the groups of people identified and distinguished from each other on the
basis of their relations to the economic means of production. Economic means of production
refers to the economic infrastructure that few people own as against many. Few people are
capitalists and many are labourers. Economic infrastructure refers to all those land, machinery,
tools, technology and the skills that assist the process of production.

Marxian Analysis of Class

Marx defined a social class as all those people who share a common relationship to the means
of economic production. Those who own and control the means of production (slave owners,
feudal landowners or owners of property such as factories and capital) are the dominant class.

They exercise power because of their ownership of means of production. In an industrial

society the means of production include the factories, and the machinery and raw materials
used for manufacturing goods. Marx called them the class of ‘Bourgeoisie’ or capitalists or
owners of property.

All those who work for dominant class are — slaves, peasants, or industrial labourers. They
constitute the subordinate class. Marx called this class — the ‘proletariat’ or the labour class or
working class or poor class. Members of the proletariat own only their labour which they hire
out to the owners of industry in return for wages.

The relationship between these two classes is not only one of dominance and subordination but
also of ‘exploitation’. The workers produce more wealth in the form of food, manufactured
products and services than is necessary to meet their basic needs.

It means they produce ‘surplus wealth’. But they do not enjoy the use of the surplus they have
created. On the contrary, those who own the means of production are able to grab this surplus
wealth as ‘profit’ for their own use.

The capitalists are a non-producing class. They do not actually produce anything. Still much of
the wealth produced by the proletariats is taken away by the capitalists. According to Marx, this
kind of exploitation has been the main source of conflict between the two classes throughout
history.

Criteria of a Class
According to Marx, every class needs two criteria-

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 5

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

 Relationship to the prevailing mode of production.

 Consciousness of itself as a group.

Lenin proposes four dimensions of class-

 Opposition and conflict.

 Means of production.
 Relationship to the production.
 Means of capture social wealth.

Core Elements of Class Struggle

Overall, there are six elements in Marx's view of class conflict.

 Classes are authority relationships based on property ownership.

 A class defines groupings of individuals with shared life situations, thus interests.
 Classes are naturally antagonistic by virtue of their interests.
 Imminent within modern society is the growth of two antagonistic classes and their
struggle, which eventually absorbs all social relations.
 Political organization and Power is an instrumentality of class struggle, and reigning
ideas are its reflection.
 Structural change is a consequence of the class struggle.

Finally, the division between classes will widen and the condition of the exploited worker will
deteriorate so badly that social structure collapses: the class struggle is transformed into a
proletarian revolution. The workers' triumph will eliminate the basis of class division in property
through public ownership of the means of production.

War between Classes:

Marx says that according to the relentless law of history, a particular class owns and controls
the means of production, and by virtue of this exploits the rest of the people. The capitalist
class makes use of the state as an instrument of oppression and exploitation.

Thus at every stage there are broadly two classes: the owners of means of production, that is,
exploiters on one side and the exploited on the other. History presents nothing but the record
of a war between classes.

Every exploiting class at each stage gives rise to an opposite class. Hence thesis and anti-thesis
can be noted. Feudal barons and capitalists form the thesis, and the serf and the proletariat
respectively constitute the anti-thesis. Marx gave a call to the workers to overthrow the thesis
of capitalism by the antithesis of organised labour.

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 6

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

Essential Aspects of the Marxian Theory of Class Conflict:

Marx developed his theory of class conflict in his analysis and critique of the capitalist society.
The main ingredients of this theory of conflict have been enlisted by Abraham and Morgan who
may be briefly described here

 The Development of the Proletariat:

Accentuation of capital is the essence of capitalism. In Raymond Aron’s words, “The essence of
capitalist exchange is to proceed from money to money by way of commodity and end up with
more money than one had at the outset.” Capital is gained, according to Marx, from the
exploitation of the masses of population, the working class.

“The capitalist economic systems transformed the masses of people into workers, created for
them a common situation and inculcated in them an awareness of common interest. Through
the development of class consciousness, the economic conditions of capitalism united the
masses and constituted them into “a class for itself’.

 Importance of Property:
According to Marx, the most distinguishing feature of any society is its form of property. An
individual’s behavior is determined by his relations to property. Classes are determined on the
basis of individual’s relation to the means of production. Means of production or forces of
production represent a type of property which in the capitalist society is owned by the
capitalists.

Here, an individual’s occupation is not important but his relations to the means of production
are important. “Property divisions are the crucial breaking lines in the class structure.”

 Identification of Economic and Political Power and Authority:

From a Marxian perspective, political power emerges from economic power. The power of the
ruling class therefore stems from its ownership and control of the forces of production. The
political and legal systems reflect ruling class interests. In Marx’s words: “The existing relations
of production between individuals must necessarily express themselves also as political and
legal relations.

“The capitalists who hold monopoly of effective private property take control of political
machinery. Their interests are clearly reflected in their political and ideological spheres. As
Raymond Aron points out, “Political power, properly so-called, is merely the organised power of

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 7

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

one class for oppressing another.” The political power and ideoiogy thus seem to serve the
same functions for capitalists that class consciousness serves for the working class.

 Polarisation of Classes:
In the capitalist society there could be only two social classes: (i) The capitalists who own the
means of production and distribution, and (ii) the working classes who own nothing but their
own labour. Though Marx had repeatedly referred to the intermediate state such as the “small
capitalists”, “the petti bourgeoisie”, and the “iumpen proletariat”, he was of the firm belief that
at the height of conflict these would be drawn into the ranks of the proletariat. Raymond Aron
has termed this process as “proletarianisation.”

 The Dictatorship of the Proletariat:

Marx felt that the revolution would be a bloody one. This revolution terminates the capitalist
society and leads to the social dictatorship of the proletariat. Since the revolution results in the
liquidation of the bourgeoisie, they will cease to have any power and will be reduced to the
ranks of the proletariat. Thus, the inevitable historical process destroys the bourgeoisie.

The proletariats then establish their social dictatorship. But this expression “social dictatorship
of the proletariat” has become a topic of controversy among the communists themselves.
Many have abandoned that “treacherous phrase” particularly after the tyrannical Stalinist and
post-Stalinist dictatorships.

Marx himself had written that he differentiated himself from “those communists who were out
to destroy personal liberty and who wish to turn the world into one large barrack or into a
gigantic warehouse.

 Inauguration of the Communist Society:

After attaining the success in the revolution, the workers in course of time, would create a new
socialist society. In this new society the means of producing and distributing wealth would be
publicly and not privately owned. This new socialist society would be a classless and a casteless
society free from exploitation of all sorts.

The state which has no place in such a society will eventually “wither away”. In this society
nobody owns anything but everybody owns everything. Each individual contributes according
to his ability and receives according to his needs.

Karl Marx’s Theory of Class Struggle

Marxist analysis of society identifies two main social groups-

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 8

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

 Labor (the proletariat or workers) includes anyone who earns their livelihood by selling
their labor power and being paid a wage or salary for their labor time. They have little
choice but to work for capital, since they typically have no independent way to survive.
 Capital (the bourgeoisieor capitalists) includes anyone who gets their income not from
labor as much as from the surplus value they appropriate from the workers who create
wealth. The income of the capitalists, therefore ,is based on their exploitation of
the workers (proletariat).

According to Marx and Engels, class struggle emerged in all society from time to time. Marx
says the difference between the means of production and relations of production are highly
responsible for class struggle. Class struggle is also emerged on the basis of “Class in itself‟ and
“Class for itself‟.

Class struggle is not emerged in a society. In different stages in human civilization different
social systems have been emerged on the basis of means of production and the relations
of production.

 Primitive Communist Society:

In this society there are no class and no private property. There was absence of sense of
deprivation for which the class for itself concept was not emerged. As a result the class struggle
has not been emerged in the Primitive Communist Society.

 Ancient Society:
In this society the means of production and the relations of production were changed. As a
result, class was emerged and sense of deprivation was identified that helped to emerge the
class for itself concept. From that time, class struggle was emerged between the master and the
slave. In this stage, agriculture and cattle rearing started. Certain people were the owner of the
land and certain people were slaves. For example, in Rome patricians, knights, slaves were
emerged as different class.

 Feudal Society:
In this society big landlords were the owners of the land and slaves produce everything but they
were not the owners of the land. They were under the control of their feudal lords. In this
society, two classes, the land lords and the others were emerged and massive economic
exploitation that created class struggle to emancipate the others from the landlords. In 19 th
century the Britain, Germany, Portugal are the prominent example of this society.

 Capitalist Society:

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 9

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

Because of class conflict, the feudalist society was abolished and the capitalist society has been
emerged. In this society, two classes have been emerged, bourgeoisie and proletariat. In this
society the bourgeoisie class is highly benefited rather than the proletariat class. Bourgeoisie is
the class of modern capitalist who control over the means of production. And the proletariat
has no control over the means of production. Bourgeoisie puts importance on the accumulation
of profit for which the few getting richer and the proletariat coming poorer because of much
exploitations.

 Economic exploitation and inhuman working condition leads the increasing alienation of
the proletariat.
 Fighting against bourgeoisie.
 Revolutionary class.
 Enlightenment and progress of proletariat.
 Invisible victory of the proletariat.
 Dictatorship of the Proletariat Class:

After the revolution, capitalism would vanish and dictatorship of the proletariat would be
established. Marx’s come out to be fully free and today the dictatorship of the proletariat has
been established in Russia, Hungry, China, Poland, Romania etc. Here because of the
dictatorship of the proletariat class, sense of deprivation was emerged and class struggle was
emerged.

 Communist Society:
Communist society is the last step of class struggle. When fully communist country has
established, no class struggle will be present because every person enjoys same opportunities
in a communist society. So, no class struggle and no class will be in communist society.

Criticism of Class Struggle

Class struggle has some criticism such as-

Marx’s theory of class struggle seems unclear because he did not explain class anywhere
in his works. It creates a kind of frustration among scholars.
Marx’s classes of bourgeoisie and proletariat are not applicable now because at a time a
bourgeoisie is a customer/service-holder and a member of the business groups as share
market. Marx denied this asymmetric relation.
Marx argued that the past class system was complex and divided into many groups
whereas present society is based on two hostile camps as bourgeoisie and proletariat.
But scholars criticized his notion of class as arbitrary definition and a mere abstraction

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 10

 KARL MARX: - THEORY OF CLASS STRUGGLE

for denying other minor classes as permanent class as middle class and lower middle
class etc.
Marx suggested the proletariats to hate the bourgeoisie are not
applicablebecause through the development of capitalism many proletariats arebecomi
ng bourgeoisies.
Time and history have invalidated many of his assumptions and predictions. According
to H. J. Laski, Marx’s theory about collapse of the capitalist society is not scientific,
baseless, inapplicable and inappropriate for the development of capitalism all over the
world.
Workers have not grown homogenous but are divided and sub-divided into different
skill groups.

Conclusion
Marx's emphasis on class conflict as constituting the dynamics of social change, his awareness
that change was not random but the outcome of a conflict of interests, and his view of social
relations as based on power were contributions of the first magnitude. However, time and
history have invalidated many of his assumptions and predictions. Class stability has been
undercut by the development of a large middle class and considerable social mobility. These
historical events and trends notwithstanding, the sociological outlines of Marx's approach have
much value. His emphasis on conflict, on classes, on their relations to the state, and on social
change was a powerful perspective that should not be discarded. The spirit if not the substance
of his theory is worth developing.

Made By:- Utkarsh Tiwari (B,49) Page 11