The Antithesis

In the United States, Karl Marx—not to mention Friederich Engels—has been largely erased from history. I was never taught much about Marx or Marxism. In my AP World History class, I vaguely remember my teacher describing historical materialism, which I thought I understood, but really I didn’t. Now I think I understand it, but I probably don’t. Later in my freshman honors seminar we read the Communist Manifesto, which—as I have come to learn—is only one chapter in Marx and Marxism.

It makes sense that I wasn’t taught about Marx in the United States. One can’t expect public schools nor private interests to teach a philosophy that espouses revolution of the political and economic system. This is especially true considering the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the ideological, economic, and military rival of the United States for much of the 20th century. On a cultural level, Marxism is antithetical to the liberal tradition that shaped the United States, which says that each person striving for their own self-interest will create the best society. And experiments at implementing Marxist ideas in self-proclaimed “Communist” countries like the USSR and North Korea have achieved bleak results.

But Marxism was a very big deal in world history. As I understand it, Marx adapted Hegelian dialectics for his theory of historical materialism. Marx was an important stepping stone in feminism. Marx (along with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber) formed the foundation of modern sociology. Much of the world’s political economy in the 20^th and 21^st centuries has been shaped by Dependency Theory and World Systems Theory, both of which used Marxist dialectics to understand the international system. And the evolution of the welfare state began with Bismarck's introduction of social insurance in Germany to assuage pressure from Socialist-inspired labor movements. Thus, Marxism massively affected countries all over the world. Its legacy inspired important institutions like social security, Medicare, and Medicaid in the United States. And today many of the world's most powerful countries have prominent socialist parties or regimes that claim to be socialist.

Finally, while the economic systems that Lenin and Mao Zedong built using Marx’s writings have fallen or transformed, Marx’s criticisms of Capitalism still ring true to me. The market system, which excels at increasing aggregate wealth, relies on exploitation of the masses by the elites and produces societal discontent. This is not to say that Capitalism will one day be overthrown by a superior system, as Marx suggested. But I think a better understanding of Capitalism's flaws (as explained by Marx and many others who followed) could alleviate some of the system's darker externalities.

I think anyone who entirely discounts Marxism without first looking into it greatly limits his or her understanding of the world. Every social science is heavily-laden with Marxist ideas, such that when I take classes in Turkey my knowledge of political science is disadvantaged because Marxism was censored in my education. This inhibits my ability to analyze my own social environment and envision ways to improve it.

Referring to Capitalist Neoliberalism, Margaret Thatcher famously used the slogan,“There is no alternative.” Regardless of whether or not this statement is correct, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy the moment we believe it’s true. By accepting ignorance of the alternatives at the behest of our leaders, we rent property in a world of false consciousness. But maybe I’m wasting my time explaining that idea—it’s Marx’s.