Karl Marx believed capitalism was run by the wealthy middle class who took advantage and exploited the lower class for their own benefit. In his book, "Why Read Marx Today?", Professor Jonathan Wolff, points out what was wrong in the existing bourgeois society and states how our existing capitalist society will become communist. Wolff refers to Marx as the 'great grandfather of today's anti-capitalist movement'. Marx has little to tell us how to rearrange society today and although we may have no confidence in his solutions, his criticism of capitalism is still highly useful and relevant. .
1. Early Writings.
Marx was born in 1818, in Trier, in Germany Rhineland. In this section of the book Wolff talks about how religion prevents us from leading a 'truly human life'. This occurs due to humans thinking God is Omni-benevolence, omniscient and omnipotent rather than appreciating their qualities for what they are. Marx believes religion is a form of alienation. Marx stated alienation was where a person becomes detached from his or her existence. .
Under capitalism, a worker produces an object but has no control over the future use of the product, so in Marx eyes the worker has been alienated or separated from the product. A further criticism of capitalism includes the de-skilling of workers due to division of labor. This occurs as each individual is forced to specialize and perform a highly repetitive and boring task. Marx states capitalism would eventually lead to a less productive work force as labor become tiresome of the same work.
2. Class, History and Capital.
Under capitalism, Marx argues, society has two classes, bourgeois and proletarian. The bourgeoisie are the wealthy middle class characterized by their ownership of capital and their exploitation of labor. Whereas the proletariat's are one of the lowest economic classes in society, who possess no capital. Marx states in the Communist Manifesto: 'the bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production'.