The Impact of Marxism on Western Civilization Assignment

The Impact of Marxism on Western Civilization - Assignment Example A system of social and economic analysis, Marxism came into existence during The Enlightenment era; a period in time characterized by widespread slavery, pervasive disenfranchisement of the right of women to vote, extreme discrimination of the poor, particularly in Europe, and imperialism that saw jostling for resources by the European powers extended to Africa and the far east. To be sure, the world was under the control of a handful of extremely wealthy lords, yet scientific modes of production were at the early stages of development; man [the poor] was basically the source of wealth amassed and concentrated in the few hands. Essentially, Marxism developed out of philosophical materialism; a view that events in the universe follow the laws of nature and that the notion of superhuman upheld by fore-agents of capitalism is headed for a crumble and the subsequent takeover by communism someday. Marx's theoretical analysis centered upon the idea that social systems rise and fall as a re sult of the obstructive impediments to the development of collective, human productive power. In his analysis, the convergence of history and economics would be the causal effect to the ultimate breakdown of capitalism, arguing that historical processes evolved towards the realization of the inevitable pre-determined moral ideals. Noteworthy, Karl Marx was the pioneer thinker to boldly and comprehensively bring to the fore the understanding that the working class were the engine to a prosperous society., and thus are crucially fundamental in determining its course. In his theory of dialectical materialism, a theory share by Engels, Marx believed that everything in the universe revolves around materialism, and that the defined boundaries of encroachment are just but man-made concepts that are nonexistent in the Absolute state of nature (Shimp 37). Marx argues that there can be no freedom for the great mass of the working class as long as economic control [the vast resources] remains in the hands of the few political favorites; an unpalatable argument to the liberals who support the right to hold economic power and the subsequent freedom of its usage as the owner(s) may deem fit. According to Marx’s theory of historical materialism, capitalism was/is a social evil constantly under transformative economic forces towards a system that guarantees equality of mankind. Friedrich Engels, Marx’s longtime friend and coauthor, notes that Marx’s theory of Historical Materialism was a â€Å"law of development of human history†