Last
week, many parts of London and other cities across Great Britain were hit by
looting and rioting as public disorder had entailed destruction across the
land. Although senior politicians, the media and the public had perceived this
riot to be 'opportunistic' many Marxists have stated across social media sites
that they believed this was a classical example of the "class
struggle" and an uprising of the proletariat.
The
German philosopher Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) had previously
written that the ruling class could not be overthrown in any other way but on
the grounds of a collective communist consciousness of the masses subsequently
followed by revolution. Since his publication entitled 'The Communist
Manifesto' in 1848, Marx's legacy has gone on to influence billions of
people across the world. There are now Marxist and Fabian societies in almost
every university as well as political movements such as Socialist Appeal, The
Communist Party of Great Britain and more notably 'The Labour Party' who are
all a force for economical and political change based on Marx's grounding.
There
are two distinct and contrasting means, or schools of thought, aiming to meet
the ends proposed by Marx. The first are the Marxists, who believe that the
necessary means must be identical and literal to what Marx had envisaged to be
the means used to reaching the overall goal of revolution . The second means is
the Fabian method - the reformist approach; refuting the act of revolution, and
more in favour of reforming Capitalism to meet the same ends.
However,
through the influence of Hegel's dialectics (which had discussed the process of
an object alienating a part of itself in order to fully understand itself) and
Marx's revolutionary theory of the emancipation of the proletariat due to the
oppressive tendencies of capitalist society, a clear similarity has been made
transparent through modern political thought and the philosophy behind the film
'The Matrix'. This similarity could prove that a third means to meeting
the ends is possible, and could also potentially prove both Marxist and Fabian
methods as completely wrong due to a clear misinterpretation of Marx's theory,
as both of the said movements walk in the opposite direction to Marx's road
that is said to lead to the revolution..
Considering
that both Marxist and Fabian means have, hitherto, been unsuccessful in their
attempts to bringing about social and economic change, it can therefore be
suggested that the reasoning why this has not been made possible is actually
nothing to do with the forces of capitalism and all its protectors, but more so
to do with the Marxist , Fabian and socialist movements themselves.
As
nature is unable to manifest itself (as we intervene upon nature in order to
protect the poorest of society), this means that the proletariat is not
reaching a mutually understood class struggle. This is more so to do with the
Fabian and Socialist methods than it is due to methods of Marxists , as Fabian
and socialist views are continuously counteracting Capitalism where they should
adopt a laissez faire approach. Marx corroborates this stating "....as
history continues, and as the struggle of the proletariat takes shape more
clearly, they have no further need to look for a science in their own minds;
they have only to observe what is happening before their own eyes" and
Marx then goes on to say "...they see in poverty only poverty, without
noticing its revolutionary and subversive aspect, which will overthrow the old
society". Therefore, Marx has clearly been misinterpreted, as we are in no
way the determination but the prolonger of the revolution and material determinism.
As our
movements are based on a science, the scientific thought that we collude with
prolongs the material determination and the nature of man. For example, in the
film 'The Matrix: Revolutions' Neo can be seen as the driving force of
communism and Agent Smith perceived as the destructive force of Capitalism. As
they fight at the end, the struggle is continuous and it is not until Neo
concedes to Agent Smith, and becomes as he is, that Agent Smith has reached his
entirety and has been exposed to everyone around him, that an implosion from
within sees the very end of him and his kind. One man fights using fire, and so
in retaliation the second man fights fire with fire... In the end, all that is
left behind are the ashes of both forces and the eternal continuation of the
war.
Therefore,
if communism should succeed, then capitalism must peak and reach its entirety
in order for the revolution to derive and manifest itself into the eye of
nature. This is the same rule with all life as it is the same with the
polymorphism of caterpillars into butterflies and the apoptosis (which is the
programmed cell death of healthy living cells that commit suicide for the
greater good).
The
entire population must not fight against capitalism, just as Neo stopped
fighting against Agent Smith in The Matrix. This is so that capitalism can
manifest itself entirely and absolutely. Socialist parties only strengthen both
capitalism and the status quo, as we set out to prolong our own lives by prolonging
nature's course, do we actually prolong the revolution from taking place.
By Sean Ash
