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Karl Marx remains so far one of the most controversial figures in the field of economics. His criticism of capitalism, and his promise of a harmonious socialist future, inspired a revolution of global proportions which brought some economic and political systems to disaster. But, despite the collapse of socialism in the Eastern Europe it is evident that the Marxist dream had firm roots in reality. To understand those one has to look through general characteristics of Marxism – its economics, social theory, and overall vision.

The core of Marxian economics is the labour theory of value elaborated in Capital (1867). Its general issue is rather simple: the value of a commodity can be measured by the amount of labour hours that are necessary to produce that commodity.

To illustrate this Marxists usually employ pretty simple examples. If a watch usually takes twice as long to produce as a pair of jeans, for example, then watches are twice as valuable as jeans. In the long run the competitive price of watches will be twice the price of jeans, no matter what the value of the physical inputs is.

Marx was not the inventor of the theory. Marxism is based on the classical economics of the mid nineteenth century, namely on Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) and David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy (1817). But Marx went much further than his predecessors. He turned his theory against this advocates of capitalism. Arguing that his theory is supposed to explain the value of all commodities, Marx includes there also the commodity that workers sell to capitalists for a wage. Marx called this commodity «labour power». This move was imbued with strong political implications.

Labour power is the worker's capacity to produce commodities. The value of labor power depends on the number of labour hours it takes society to produce a person who is fit for work (to give him food, clothes, and shelter). Therefore, the worker's wage must correspond to this number of hours. If five hours of labour are needed to maintain the worker's capacity to produce commodities, and one labour hour is equal to one dollar, then the proper wage must be five dollars a day.

But, if all goods and services are sold at prices that reflect their true value (corresponding to labour hours), how can capitalists enjoy profits, which they really do?

The answer is as follows: the owners of the means of production use their privileged and powerful position to exploit workers by making them work more hours than are necessary to create the worker's labour power. Paying each of their workers five dollars a day, capitalists make them work twelve, and even more, hours a day, thus producing «surplus value».

The mainstream economists argue this core idea of Marxism, showing that capitalists earn profits not by exploiting workers, but by taking risks and organizing efficient production.

Even more politically biased is Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, where the author undertook to explain the general logic of the human history. The key role is played here by his concept of alienation.

Marxists suppose that people by nature are free, creative beings. But the modern, industrialized world does not allow man to realize his freedom and creativity, as this world is apparently beyond our full control. The market economy – through the spontaneous laws of supply and demand – blocks our ability to influence any of our individual and collective destinies.

Although workers produce things for the market, market forces control things; workers do not. Workers are alienated from the things they produce, and work itself, loosing its creative implications, becomes monotonous, and suitable for machines rather than free, creative people. Eventually people themselves become robotlike machines that have lost touch with human nature. Marxists propose then to abolish the market-based society and replace it with a democratic, comprehensively planned society.

Marx called his theory «scientific socialism» to prove his assumptions that throughout the course of human history, a profound struggle has developed between those who «have» and those who «have not», the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. This struggle of classes is the law of history, and eventually proletariat will win the battle.

A socialist revolution, say Marxists, is inevitable.

Слова и выражения:

abolish – уничтожать, отменять

advocate – защитник; защищать

alienation – отчуждение

apparent – очевидный

biased – пристрастный, отражающий пристрастие к чему-либо

block – блокировать, предотвращать, запрещать, препятствовать

bourgeoisie – буржуазия

capacity – мощность, способность, возможность

collapse – падение

comprehensive – понятный, умопостигаемый

controversial – противоречивый, спорный

core – ядро

creativity – творческое начало, «креативность»

destiny – предназначение, судьба

disaster – катастрофа

elaborate – детально разрабатывать

evident – очевидный

firm – твердый

global – глобальный, всемирный, мировой

harmonious – гармоничный

imbue – наделять

implication – следствие, нечто подразумеваемое

inevitable – неизбежный

inspire – вдохновлять

issue – пункт, выпуск

mainstream – главное направление (букв.: основное течение)

maintain – поддерживать

Marxism – марксизм

monotonous – монотонный

namely – а именно

overall – полный, совокупный, целостный

predecessor – предшественник

privileged – привилегированный

profound – глубокий, основательный

proletariat – пролетариат

robotlike – подобный роботу

root – корень

shelter – укрытие, защита; укрывать, защищать

spontaneous – спонтанный

so far – до сих пор, по настоящее время

labour theory of value – теория стоимости рабочей силы

take twice as long – занимать вдвое больше времени

twice as valuable as– в два раза более ценный, чем

competitive price – конкурентоспособная цена

twice the price – вдвое дороже

physical input – материальные составляющие

mid nineteenth century – середина девятнадцатого века

fit for work – способный к работе

enjoy profits – получать прибыли

surplus value – прибавочная стоимость

beyond control – не поддающийся контролю

lose touch – утратить связь

Exercise 8

Answer the questions:

1. What does one have to do in order to understand why Marxism inspired revolutions?

2. What theory is the core of Marxian economics?

3. How can the value of a commodity be measured, according to Capital?

4. What economic theories was Marxism based on?

5. How was the labour power value calculated?

6. How can a capitalist make a worker produce the «surplus value»?

7. What idea makes the key issue of Marxist historical concept?

8. How can free market block workers' creativity?

9. What is the Marxian way to democratic society?

10. What is the main law of history, in Marxists' opinion?