Industrialization According to Marx and Engels Essay

The issue of how man relates to nature and how free is his existence has been a subject of much debate among social theorists and philosophers. The pursuit of individualism as propounded by John Locke and Capitalism by Adam Smith laid the foundations for the industrial revolution and democratization of the Western World. This view was challenged by Marx and Engels who held both philosophies as evil and contrary to the natural freedom of man. This essay examines the works of Marx and Engels in their critique of industrialization.

That man profited from industrialization is a fact. The levels of production of Great Britain more than trebled with the advent of the industrial revolution and more land and raw materials could be exploited more efficiently thanks to industrialization. Industrialization made it possible for the West to suitably exploit and enhance their profits, wealth, and hold over much of the developing world. It can be said without doubt that the fruits of the industrial revolution allowed advances in science and technology including the science of war which ensured the victory of the Christian world over the Muslims led by the Ottoman Empire which had lagged behind on industrialization. Since commodities became available in large numbers, more finished products were made available to a larger number of people and thus more money could be generated with the sale of those goods thus prosperity increased. Hence industrialization undoubtedly helped those countries. Marx and Engels however, believed that industrialization served to exploit the workers getting cheap labor and reaping the profits from the lands that belonged to everyone. According to them Industrialization increased the divide between the rich and the poor and shackled the poor to the chains of servility and penury. Their clarion call, “Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. (Jackson 122)” evoked the Russian revolution. Engels amplified that despite the growing wealth of the rich the workers were “sinking into pauperism (Marx, Engels and Moore 65)”. According to Marx and Engels, the problems of industrialization did not lie in its natural form but in the ‘bourgeoisie capitalism’. Industrialization in which equitable distribution of wealth was ensured was good however that required state ownership of land and industries. It required that the produce of those industries and industrialization, in general, be distributed to all members of the state without enriching the few against the toils of the many. Hence ‘collectivization’ was the way forward as enriching the few only increased greed, avarice, and corruption. An egalitarian society where all were equal including their economic status was according to Marx and Engels, the epitome of human society.

The writings of Marx and Engels were adopted by the socialists and the communists with a gusto that led to the establishment of the communist state of Russia. However, both Marx and Engels have been proved wrong by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the repudiation of Marxism by Communist China which now embraces capitalism and industrialization with as much fervor as the West. The experiment with ‘state ownership’ failed badly in the former Soviet Union and productivity declined because the practical application of Marxism requires coercion and forced labor, just the opposite of what Marx had theorized. It can thus be concluded that industrialization with western capitalism triumphed over Marxism.

References

Jackson, John Hampden. England since the industrial revolution, 1815-1948. NY: Taylor & Francis, 1975.

Marx, Karl, et al. The Communist Manifesto. NY: Penguin Classics, 2002.