The culmination of the twentieth century and the advent of twenty-first century were marked by events that shaped the political discourse of recent history. Fall of Soviet Union and a series of revolutions that ended the socialist regimes from Russia, to Central Asia and Eastern Europe are often associated with a general decline of Marxist socialist ideology throughout the world; the ideology that is alleged to have caused extermination of masses and an unprecedented loss to the Human Kind through its practical application. This political philosophy, primarily the brainchild of Karl Heinrich Marx makes him one of the most discussed, criticised and appreciated political philosophers of all times. What is it in Marxist theory that makes it so
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This seeming paradox is explicit in the writings of Karl Marx and Engels themselves, who termed morality as a form of ideology that always arises “out of a particular stage of development of productive forces and relations and so is relative to a particular mode of production and particular class interests” , and envisioned an ideal communist society to have transcended morality. Thus it seems that the early Marxists were themselves highly uncertain of the role that morality and ethics can play in the struggle against class-based inequality. This uncertainty on the question of morality has also been highlighted in Steven Luke’s “Marxism and Morality”. He points out and explains the inherent paradox prevalent in the writings of Marx, Engels and later Marxian philosophers wherein morality has been presented as “bourgeois prejudice, a form of ideology that is social in origin, illusory in content and serving class interest; while moral concepts have been excessively invoked in the denunciation of capitalism and the advocacy of communism.” Hence, the existence of such a paradoxical stance towards morality and ethics challenges the reliability of the theory, particularly in the contemporary political and social context where intense criticism and consequential apologist attitude of Marxists philosophers is not uncommon to find, with regards to the applicability of the theory in the political realm of
This seeming paradox is explicit in the writings of Karl Marx and Engels themselves, who termed morality as a form of ideology that always arises “out of a particular stage of development of productive forces and relations and so is relative to a particular mode of production and particular class interests” , and envisioned an ideal communist society to have transcended morality. Thus it seems that the early Marxists were themselves highly uncertain of the role that morality and ethics can play in the struggle against class-based inequality. This uncertainty on the question of morality has also been highlighted in Steven Luke’s “Marxism and Morality”. He points out and explains the inherent paradox prevalent in the writings of Marx, Engels and later Marxian philosophers wherein morality has been presented as “bourgeois prejudice, a form of ideology that is social in origin, illusory in content and serving class interest; while moral concepts have been excessively invoked in the denunciation of capitalism and the advocacy of communism.” Hence, the existence of such a paradoxical stance towards morality and ethics challenges the reliability of the theory, particularly in the contemporary political and social context where intense criticism and consequential apologist attitude of Marxists philosophers is not uncommon to find, with regards to the applicability of the theory in the political realm of