BUDDHA OR KARL MARX 443
II THE ORIGINAL CREED OF KARL MARX
Let us now turn to the creed of Karl Marx as originally propounded by him. Karl Marx is no doubt the father of modern socialism or Communism but he was not interested merely in propounding the theory of Socialism. That had been done long before him by others. Marx was more interested in proving that his Socialism was scientific. His crusade was as much against the capitalists as it was against those whom he called the Utopian Socialists. He disliked them both. It is necessary to note this point because Marx attached the greatest importance to the scientific character of his Socialism. All the doctrines which Marx propounded had no other purpose than to establish his contention that his brand of Socialism was scientific and not Utopian.
By scientific socialism what Karl Marx meant was that his brand of socialism was inevitable and inescapable and that society was moving towards it and that nothing could prevent its march. It is to prove this contention of his that Marx principally laboured.
Marx’s contention rested on the following theses. They were :—
(i) That the purpose of philosophy is to reconstruct the world and not to explain the origin of the universe.
(ii) That the forces which shapes the course of history are primarily economic.
(iii) That society is divided into two classes, owners and workers.
(iv) That there is always a class conflict going on between the two classes.
(v) That the workers are exploited by the owners who misappropriate the surplus value which is the result of the workers’ labour.
(vi) That this exploitation can be put an end to by nationalization of the instruments of production i.e. abolition of private property.
(vii) That this exploitation is leading to greater and greater impoverishment of the workers.
(viii) That this growing impoverishment of the workers is resulting in a revolutionary spirit among the workers and the conversion of the class conflict into a class struggle.
(ix) That as the workers outnumber the owners, the workers are bound to capture the State and establish their rule which he called the dictatorship of the proletariat.
(x) These factors are irresistible and therefore socialism is inevitable,
I hope I have reported correctly the propositions which formed the original basis of Marxian Socialism.