What is in Marxist Theory (part 1)

Marxist ideology began by the criticism came from Karl Marx (1818-1883) against capitalism. Karl Marx is known as a major pioneer of scientific socialism movement and father of international capitalism. Marx began to be known when he published a book together with Friedrich Engels entitled Communist Manifesto in 1847. The book described about the dispute between classes. This book also called the state as an instrument of oppression. In addition to book the Communist Manifesto, Marx also wrote many other books whose contents led to the socialist concept. One of the famous Marx's works is his book Das Capital in 1867. The works of Marx is what ultimately underlies the emergence of the ideology of Marxism (Deliarnov, 2005: 52).

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Early, Marx never put his concepts as an ideology or Marxism. Marxism as an ideology was developed after Marx's death in 1883. Thought Marx made a new ideology called Marxist by thinkers of Germany (Ritzer, 2005: 478). Because the ideology wasn’t created on purpose by Marx itself, it sometimes difficult to define the Marxist concepts clearly. Then, Marxist doctrine seeks to harmonize between reality, theory and concept of thought (Albert, Hahnel, 1991: 13).

The cornerstone of the philosophy of Karl Marx rests on a dialectic developed by Hegel in 1818. Hegel expressed a philosophy of idealism and history. This philosophy explains the social unrest related to the future of civilization. Hegel on the cycles of historical change was the inspiration of Marx. Marx thought of a revolutionary concept in shaping society theory (Chilcote, 2010: 114).

Marx described the essential concepts of the state and the ruling class. Marx believed that history was the result of the class struggle. In the process of social classes formation, capitalism has a major role. Capitalism allows the ruling classes in the exploitation of the workers. Under capitalism, the state would side on the authorities. Marx believed that the ruling class would be those whose economic powerful and they would able to control political action. In this case, the state is a creation of civil society that is used to protect the interests of the ruling classes. Conflicts of interest between these classes encourage dissension in the country. Marx proposed that the state and the ruling class would be abolished (Chilcote, 2010: 148).

continue to part 2