It seems as though many people have their own ideas on how their country, or in some cases other countries, should be run politically and economically. These views usually fall in one of two perspectives, the right-wing perspective which includes ideas such as Mercantilism, and Conservatism. The other perspective is called the left-wing perspective, which includes more radical ideas such as Anarchism, Marxism, Communism and Socialism. From one perspective to the other the ideas change intensely. Generally the right-wing perspectives are the dominant in our North American culture, and the left-wing parties are the ones that are trying for a democratic change. In the following paragraphs and pages I will be describing the differences in three different theoretical perspectives. They include Marxism, Conservatism, and Liberalism. All of these perspectives have a unique structure so I"ll go through each in individually and explain the differences afterwards. .
Marxism is a radical left-wing ideology discovered by nineteenth century German philosopher Karl Marx. Marxism has also been the basis of modern day communism and socialism. .
Marx was extremely opposed to capitalism, and how it functioned in society. In 1848 Karl Marx teamed up with friend Friedrich Engels to create the Communist Manifesto, by many known as one of the most important books ever written. Marx saw capitalism as one big class struggle between the workers, or the proletariat class as he called them, and the bourgeoisie class. In Marx's view, labor under capitalism is exploited because laborer is not paid the full value of the goods or services he or she produces. The capitalist will employ the worker, and get him or her to work as many hours as possible, making sure the output of the worker is greater than the wages being paid, or the input. This is what Marx referred to as a "surplus".
But what did Marx and Engels think of the role of the state? Well, in the Communist Manifesto they stated this:.
