A Discourse on John Stuart Mill and Carl Marx

Philosophers have long wondered the formula for a successful governing system. In doing so, despotism and majoritarian rule have arisen as two possible forms of government. John Stuart Mill in On Liberty refutes the idea of despotic rule, not as a single ruler, but as the majority. The "tyranny of the majority," as Mill describes, is worse than straightforward dictatorship and should be

Mill recognizes reason as necessary to provide legitimacy to a law. The irresponsible absolute power given to a majority prevent the implementation of proficient laws. John Stuart Mill, in “On Liberty”, describes the effect of 'soft despotism' or the 'tyranny of the majority' in relationship to the sovereignty of the individual. Mill thought that the independence of the individual should never be intervened unless the individual harms the rights of another.

Workers in a capitalistic economic system become trapped in a vicious circle: the harder they work, the more resources in the natural world are appropriated for production, the more the owners of menas of productions earns, the more they work, someone else (not they) is profited more than they are. And it leaves fewer resources for the workers to live on, so that they have to pay for their own livelihood out of their wages, to earn which they must work even harder. And he says this circle compulsorily leads them to be "wage slaves."

The basic principles of majoritarian rule is based on the belief of equality of man and a confidence in the capabilities of the collective society. Mill was thinking that only a very small percentage of the population was capable of governing. The small percentage would exercise its influence over the majority, who would remain uninterested to government because they are going to be isolated from involvement. Mill discovered that the 'will of the majority' did not necessarily constitute the true sentiments of an actual majority of the people. Instead, he found that a small but more effective group can take the direction of the government: "the will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people- the majority, of those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority." (Ebenstein, 589) Mill asserts that there is a danger because government is not always conducted by the judgments of the people, but by the decisions of an outspoken minority who are able to influence the rest of society.

The main reason Mill opposes despotism of the majority as compared to a sole dictatorship is the majority obtains more influence and power than any one individual can. Mill observed that most people desire conformity because they are fearful of being viewed as an outsider. "[E]ven in

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