Marxian concept of social class
The word “class” originated from the Latin term “Classis,” a group called to arms, a division of the people. During the rule of the legendary Roman king, Servius Tullius (678-534 B.C.), Roman society was divided into five classes or orders according to their wealth. Subsequently, the word ‘class’ was applied to large groups of people into which human society came to be divided. Marx speaks of classes in the Capital (2019) and differentiates three classes based on the source of their income. These are:
1. The owners of the land, who get rent.
2. The owners of capital, who earn the profit.
3. The owners of simple labour power, who get wages.
In this way, the class structure of modern capitalist society is composed of three major classes, i.e., salaried labourers, workers, capitalists, and landowners. At a broader level, society could be divided into two major classes—Haves and Have-not’s. Haves are the owners of land/or capital, often called the Bourgeoisie and the Have-not’s are those who own nothing but their own labour power, often called as Proletariats. Under the capitalist system, these are the two functional classes. Marx defined the class as “a social class occupies a fixed place in the process of production.”
In Marx’s famous work, “The Communist Manifesto,” he argues that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engels, 1848). Marx believed that throughout history, societies have been characterized by a fundamental conflict between classes, which is rooted in the relationship between the mode of production and the social relations of production. The mode of production refers to the means by which society produces goods and services, while the social relations of production refer to the relationships between individuals in the process of producing and distributing goods and services.
Marx’s analysis of social class also includes a critique of the ideology of the ruling class. Marx argued that the ruling class uses its power to shape the dominant culture and ideology of society, which often justifies the exploitation of the working class. Marx referred to this as false consciousness, or the belief that the existing social order is natural and inevitable rather than a product of social and historical processes.
In “Capital,” Marx further developed his concept of social class, emphasizing the importance of class struggle in shaping the dynamics of capitalist society. Marx argued that the contradictions and crises of capitalism are rooted in the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, which is driven by the pursuit of profits and the exploitation of labour. Marx believed that this conflict would eventually lead to the downfall of capitalism, as the working class becomes conscious of their exploitation and begins to organize and struggle for their rights.
How class struggle leads to social revolution
Marx’s theory of social revolution is based on his analysis of the contradictions and dynamics of capitalist society. According to Marx, capitalism is characterized by the fundamental conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, which arises from the control of the means of production and the exploitation of labour. Marx argued that this relationship is exploitative because the bourgeoisie pays the proletariat less than the value of the goods and services they produce and keeps the surplus value for themselves. This creates a situation where the bourgeoisie becomes wealthy and powerful while the proletariat remains poor and oppressed.
Class struggle leads to a revolution in which the bourgeoisie’s power is overthrown. The revolution established the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is important to understand that Marx’s viewpoint of conflict resolution is that there would be a fundamental and radical change in society. New relations of production emerge. This proletariat revolution is two-fold. Firstly, it is intended to destroy capitalist order and, secondly, to change old institutions into new ones. Marx, however, says that “Between Capitalism and Communism lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. There corresponds to this also a political transition period in which the slate can do nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariats.” He believed that in the changed, set-up majority would expropriate the minority or the bourgeoisie.
Marx was, however, of the view that the change-over from bourgeoise to proletariat society could not be sudden. There will be at least two stages.
1. The production system will not remain in the hands of a single stage, but every individual will be obliged to perform some socially essential functions. This period will, however, entail heavy responsibilities for the workers. During this period, the proletariats will have to work with care and defend themselves from all aggressions, even from within the society. Those in authority at present shall try to foil every attempt for a change in the social order. They must keep their own centralized agencies to check force and maintain normal conditions. It will be a very critical period and the workers will have to work with patience.
2. It will be the final in which the dictatorship of the proletariats will be established. Marx was of the opinion that it was a stage in which a new idea would have to be inculcated. The very psychology of the masses will have to be changed and a new order will have to be established. In the words of Lenin: “Under the dictatorship of the proletariats we will have to be re-educate millions of peasants and petty proprietors, hundreds of thousands of foe workers and bourgeoisie habits and transitions, to re-educate in protracted struggle under the controlling auspices of dictatorship of the proletariats; the proletarians themselves, for they will not be able themselves of own petty bourgeoisie prejudices and the first stroke, as if by magic, or at the behest of the Virgin Mary, or by a slogan, resolution, or decree, it can be done only in the course of a long and difficult mass struggle against the mass of petty influences.”
Thus, in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx writes, ‘Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under circumstance chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past’. It is thus clear that Marx combines subjective conditions (trajectory of capitalist development towards its self-dissolution) and subjective conditions (working-class struggles) to explain revolution. Understanding how Marx combines subjective conditions and subjective conditions will result in the realization that when the proletariat seizes power, the working classes will control the means of production and there will be no one left to exploit. Everyone must work towards the common good or the interests of the entire community. The emergence of a classless society will occur at this point.
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