Over the past century, the very mentioning of communism has immediately implied a negative context in the Western political arena, which had an understandable and sensible reason. Due to the aggressive actions and political crimes that supported the introduction of the Communist agenda into the USSR in the early and mid-20th century, as well as the atrocities committed in Cambodia under the Communist rule of Pol Pot, the notion of Communism has been tarnished in the eyes of the Western world forever (Jiang & Bao, 2020). Nevertheless, it is important to look at the Communist ideology objectively in order to understand what its major flaws were and why it is most likely to fail in the present-day economy despite the fact that Communism represents the epitome of the Left-wing ideology. As “The Communist Manifesto” shows, although it takes the concept of Marxism to its extreme, some of the ideas regarding market regulation and economic crisis management could be applied to the present-day U.S. setting.
Evolution of the Communist Movement
It would be wrong to claim that the Communist movement has always been a monolith and has been defined by the model observed in and applied to the socioeconomic and sociopolitical context of the USSR. Instead, the movement should be viewed as a constellation of ideas that have evolved significantly over time, starting with the late 19th century. Specifically, the current timeline separates the principles of egalitarianism that served as the prerequisites to Marx’s philosophy and the subsequent development of Marxism (Sweezy et al., 2018). Specifically, one could trace the early development of Communist ides in the Roman Stoicism philosophy (Wang, 2018). However, the actual conception of the Communist movement is believed to have occurred at the point when Marx published his “Communist Manifesto,” in which he valued workers to rebel against the capitalist market and promote the idea of equal wealth distribution (Jiang & Bao, 2020). The specified ideas would, later on, be adapted to the Russian and Cuban setting, producing unique brands of dictatorship (Jiang & Bao, 2020). Currently, Communist ideas have been mostly abandoned as inefficient.
Federal Government: Leading or Following?
Considering the Federal government of Germany and its policies regarding the “Communist Manifesto,” one should note that the authorities appear to have been following it rather than leading the change. Specifically, there was a significant misrepresentation of the ideas that the “Communist Manifesto” provided, as well as the absence of a general idea of how its postulates could be translated into the setting of an actual state. Although in the Communist framework, the state would have officially taken charge of the vital socioeconomic and sociopolitical changes within the community, it would have been founded by the ideology that, by definition, cannot grant any party any modicum of freedom. Therefore, the government would have paradoxically assumed both the role of a leader and that one of a follower.
Marx’s Ideas in Modern Economy
While some of Marx’s ideas, including the option of equal opportunities for all, align with the current perception of social justice, most of his principles regarding the management and control of the state economy are likely to fall flat. Specifically, the absence of free market and the reinforcement of the government control over the economic processes and transactions will reduce the efficacy of the market and lead to multiple companies losing their competitive edge (Wang, 2018). Nevertheless, the application of Marx’s ideas might allow producing a change since the current capitalist model has led to major discontent among general audiences, particularly, members of the working class, as well as an increase in inequality.
Where Marx Was Mistaken
However, there are also several essential areas where Marx’s theories have proven to be misconceived, meaning that they would not have survived the environment of the current global economy. Specifically, the idea that theoretical and philosophical issues stem from real-world conditions and that they can only be resolved by making changes to these conditions seems to be confusing the cause-and-effect relationships within the global market. While Marx’s assumptions might have been applicable to the setting of individual economies of specific countries, primarily, Germany, it appears to be quite useless in the environment of the global market, where competition and the reduced governmental control over financial transactions defines the efficacy of companies’ performance and, therefore, the scale of the economic growth within corresponding states (Sweezy et al., 2018). Additionally, the idea of erasing class as a notion and creating the environment where wealth is distributed equally does not seem to work in the context where continuous change ad shifts within social strata must take place so that the global market could evolve.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the foundational principles of Communism are in direct opposition to the socialist concept of freedom, some of the statements introduced in the “Communist Manifesto,” such as the notion of equality, are applicable to the present-day global community. However, due to the incongruences between the Communist perception of economic and class relationships and the current concepts of social justice and individual agency in participating in market relationships, Marx’s ideas do not work. Overall, while these ideas were then, they did not survive the test of time, which is why the idea of Communism as a monolithic philosophy needs to be abandoned.
References
Jiang, S., & Bao, Z. (2020). Study on the Communist Values Thoughts and Contemporary Value of Marx and Engels. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 8(8), 111-117.
Sweezy, P. M., Mage, J., & Foster, J. B. (2018). The Communist Manifesto in the Twenty-First Century. Monthly Review, 70(1), 25-28.
Wang, N. (2018). On the Translation of “Association” in the Manifesto of the Communist Party. Cultura, 15(2), 173-178.