Marx and the future of the working class

Capitalism, claimed Marx, contained the seeds of its own destruction. The system must grow in order to survive. Marx believed that at some point no further growth is possible and the next system must replace it.

Historians still argue as to whether that point has been reached now, more than a century after his death. Some argue that there is no such point, that capitalism can in fact reform itself indefinitely!

The next phase in human history, said Marx, must be where the working class assumes control of society. But a worker cannot own, say, the lathe he operates in a factory, with another owning the bench upon which it stands. The working class would have to own the "means of production" (the goods required to produce other goods) collectively or together. Out of this will arise a society totally different to any other. A society where justice, equality and most of all, the greatest wealth will be produced for all.

But, said Marx, the middle classes will not voluntarily surrender power. Power will need to be seized by force by the working class. In other words, almost certainly a civil war will result.

The growth of trade unions to represent workers' economic demands was inevitable in capitalism. But to make revolution, to overthrow the capitalist system would require a revolutionary party of the working class. That, said Marx, was not inevitable but would depend on the resolve and the capacity of the party and the class.

After the working class had seized economic and political power a socialist society would be in place. Once the source of power for the middle classes - the exploitation of labour - would have been removed, the middle classes themselves would cease to exist (as a class). For the first time in human history a classless society would exist. Marx called this form a Communist society.