In Communist Manifesto, how do Marx and Engels criticize capitalism (capital/labor relations)?
Marx and Engels greatly based their arguments concerning capitalism on the labor theory value. This involved a thorough analysis of the capitalist profits, which revealed that capitalism is the extraction of surplus value from the ill-used workers. Therefore, according to the analysis of the previous economic situations, the two philosophers concluded that capitalism is closely linked to economic downturn and suggested for its replacement with communism (Marx and Engels 216).
Therefore, Marx notes that capitalism is associated with labor alienation and exploitation that imposes enormous challenges to the proletariats. For instance, workers suffered from alienation from the product that is either exported or taken away from the producer upon creation. Again, laborers suffered from productive activity since work is associated with tournament in capitalism (Center for the Study of Language and Information). Additionally, humans suffered from species-being due to an argument that humans produce blindly without necessarily considering their truly human powers. Finally, the Marx and Engels criticize capitalism citing that it involves the replacement of the human satisfaction of mutual need with the relation of exchange.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
An analysis of economic ideologies depicts ruthless exploitation from a capitalist economy due to the consequences of human behavior. For instance, capitalists depend on exploitation of their workers based on some legal limits to remain competitive in the market and ultimately attain some types of bourgeois economics; including profits, wages, rent, and exchange (Center for the Study of Language and Information). Marx and Engels clearly expound how capitalism can generate the aforesaid profits primarily due to the workers’ exploitation strategy. This is possible when commodities are transformed and exchanged to enhance capital advancement to gain much profit through sales at higher prices.
Hence, capitalism depends on surplus production meant to exploit the workers to gain profits. Marx points out that in case of a decline in profits, the general economy will experience a downfall in capitalism. Marx and Engels advocated for the harmony between the worker and the capitalist by championing for better conditions of work coupled with better wages. Briefly, Marx and Engels argue that capitalism is associated with antisocial and destructive implication son human beings and therefore, people must adopt communism to create an industrial society (Robert and Kathleen 280).
What do they mean by commodification and alienation?
Alienation involves human activities that establish impersonal forces aimed at dominating the society. According to Marx’s ideological perspectives on human nature, alienation is dependent on the material world in connection to the loss of control over the labor force. Therefore, since alienation is related to the dominant behaviors prejudice and discrimination of the feudal ruling class, alienation leads to reduce productive forces as a result of human subordination to land (Center for the Study of Language and Information).
At the same time, how do they praise these new industrial transformations in history and how do they describe what we now call “globalization”?
Although Marx and Engels have critiqued the bourgeois social order, they appreciate the role of industrial transformations towards the realization of a cosmopolitan character ( The Crew) . This is based on interdependency regarding production and consumption and the common ownership of production and property rights amongst various countries. Therefore, people have developed new wants that need satisfaction from the production of other countries rather than the traditional national seclusion and self-sufficiency that did not promote interdependence ( The Crew) . The transformations have promoted civilization and upgrading of the instruments of production towards the achievement of a more reliable means of communication.
Finally, they have described globalization as the subjection to the rule of the towns reflected in economic worldwide expansion of capitalism. As a result, a number of urban cities have emerged with higher populations that eventually rescued part of the world population from the idiocy of rural life ( The Crew) .
References
Center for the Study of Language and Information. (2017). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Marx Karl. Stanford. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/
Marx, Karl and Engels Fredrick. (2010). Marx & Engels Collected Works vol. 1. ISBN 978-1-84327-945-7. Great Britain: Lawrence & Wishart Publishers. http://www.hekmatist.com/Marx%20Engles/Marx%20&%20Engels%20Collected%20Works%20Volume%201_%20Ka%20-%20Karl%20Marx.pdf
Solomon, Robert and Higgins, Kathleen. (n.d). Routledge History of Philosophy Volume VI. The Age of German Idealism. London and New York: file:///C:/Users/Nicholas/Downloads/Routledge%20-History%20Of%20Philosophy%20-%20The%20Age%20Of%20German%20Idealism.pdf
The Crew. (2008). Marx and Engels in praise of the bourgeoisie: “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (1848), Part I – Bourgeois and Proletarians. http://perspectivesontandt.blogspot.co.ke/2008/08/marx-and-engels-in-praise-of.html
