Contemporary Study On Marx's Class Theory

Marx's class theory has come into being in the mid-19th century. In the Marxist theory, the"class"is not a"natural order", but an"economic order"based on"social order". The substance of its theory has given a reasonable explanation to the economic, political structure of the capitalist society, which is the basic point. And to analysis"class theory", understanding, negating and criticizing the"ideological weapon"of capitalism to arm the minds of proletariat, and finally, overthrow the ruling of the bourgeoisie through class struggle, and achieve the liberation of proletariat and mankind. Therefore, basically it has the dual nature of criticism and liberation.Marx, where class and class struggle is not just a"practical"issue, but also a"theoretical"question. The main mission of Marxist class theory is to reveal the problem of oppression and confrontation in the capitalist society, which Marx described as the oppression and domination of the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. The historical mission of the Marxist class theory is on the premise of class analysis through class division, and the establishment of the class consciousness. Then criticize and transform the reality of the class oppression and exploitation of capitalism, ultimately realize the liberation from"class"to"humanity". In Marxism, class struggle was finally concluded as a process of the rebellion of proletariat against the ruling of bourgeoisie. Eventually set up the dictatorship of proletariat, and achieve the liberation of the proletariat and mankind itself. The substance of liberation is no longer the overthrowing of one class to another, nor for class privileges and monopolies, but the elimination of class and class antagonism, eventually achieve the total liberation of all mankind through the implementation of the free development of each person. Marxist class theory provided us with a scientific analysis tool to grasp the basic class structure of capitalist society and a powerful ideological weapon to achieve the liberation of proletariat and mankind. Since this theory has been put forward, a very important influence and effect has been caused theoretically and practically, which greatly facilitate the development and promotion of the revolution and liberation of proletariat all over the world. Theoretically, there has been Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Practically, the revolution and the Chinese new-democratic revolution have achieved great victory. Even today when the global capitalism develops, the"anti-globalization movement"in the European developed capitalist countries still highlights the significance of Marxism-class from the theory and practice two aspects.Since Marx's class theory has come into being, the capitalist world as it's target of opposition and criticism has suffered a lot. Despite the crisis, it has been moving forward, and the collapse of capitalism did not appear as Marx had anticipated. Instead, since the world war two, with the continuous development of social productive force and the contemporary capitalism, productive relations and the superstructures have been adjusted, a series of changes happened in the capitalist society: the socialization and decentralization of the capital, the reduction of manual workers, the significant improvement of the living conditions of the working class, the general adoption of welfare policy in the western developed countries, staff participation in corporate governance, the development of"democratic management"system and so on. Especially with the"dramatic changes in Eastern Europe"and the falling of the Berlin wall, the developed countries representing by the US has shown great vitality. For this reason, some Western scholars of Marxist class theory put forward many challenges. At the main aspect of the class, they believe that the proletariat is no longer the main part of the revolution, and they are replaced by managers and professionals,"non-class of non-workers"as well as the intellectuals. In the class structure, they opposed to the standards to divide class based on economy, and the trend of"duality"class structure. They classified a variety of class composition according to different criteria, for they thought that class structure has a trend of"multi-polar". For the influence of class struggle, it was no longer the main form of conflict, but has given way to peaceful political competition and negotiation, cultural conflict or the contradictions and conflicts among groups, races, or genders. For class functions, they believe that the function of explanation and prediction have been weakened and no longer has an important effect. For class analysis, it has been considered more and more obsolete and it has already been replaced by the"Individual Analysis"and"Identity Analysis".Faced with these challenges, we need to re-evaluate Marxist class theory from three aspects, they are respectively: Marxist"tradition idea","classic text", contemporary"social reality", and make a reasonable response to the challenges.In contemporary capitalist society, there have been indeed some changes in class structure, class relations and class conditions, but however changes, as long as the private ownership of means of production and the labor dissimilation remains, the society is still a class society. Although the new technological revolution and the change of management method have greatly improved people's living standards in western countries, and they have part of the property, this property is the gradual accumulation of wage income which is essentially a means of subsistence, rather than the means of production. In contemporary capitalist society, workers do not hold means of production, in order to maintain their life, they still have to be employed by people, and the capitalist still hold the means of production to exploit workers'labor, and possess the surplus value. Proletariat still have to maintain their livelihood rely on selling their labor, they are still in a position of being exploited and oppressed economically, and being dominated and enslaved politically. They still have the basic characteristics of the proletariat as Marx has described. The historical mission of achieving the liberation of the proletariat has not been completed, so they are still the mainstay of the revolution.Some contemporary western scholars suggest re-dividing class according to the identity, status or income such kind of"non-means of production"factors. And emphasis"multi-polar"so as to reject and replace Marx's standard of"mans of production"and the"class polarization". In fact, according to final analysis,"non-capital goods"will be influenced and decided by"means of production"itself. The essence of contemporary capitalist society is still the exploitation, slavery and oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie through using possession of the means of production. There is still a serious polarization trend between the two classes. Not only the relative poverty, but the absolute poverty is also true. The poor will get poorer, and the rich get richer. With the continuous expanding of the capital globalization, this polarization is not only examined in a country, but is spreading to the globe.With the development of productive forces and restructuring of social management, the class struggle in the developed capitalist countries has eased up to a certain extent, but this does not necessarily mean that the class struggle had disappeared. As long as the large-scale production of capitalist society and private ownership of the means of production which is the root of class struggle exist, class struggle in the capitalist society will not"give way". In fact, every historical progress on capital management techniques is the result of labor confrontation, especially the result of resolving the protest at production sites in capital for the working class. Modern capitalist society has established representative institutions, implemented a wide range of election system, the working class has built a powerful, ever-widening scope of workers union and the business owners alliance and so on, which clearly showed that the class struggle is the driven force of the incidence. Therefore, the class struggle continues to shock the modern capitalism all over the world. Class struggle forced the capitalist to slightly improving the working and living conditions of the workers through a variety of different forms. Each improvement of welfare, the upgrading of wages of the workers is the result of the struggle of the working class.In contemporary capitalist society, although there have some changes on social structure, the relation among people is still one of the most fundamental social relations. A reasonable statement is required from the point of class relations to explain the relationship among people which was covered between materials under the circumstance of capitalism. Gender, race and other factors will not replace class, on the contrary, they have to describe their own existence and role reasonably through class. Marxist class theory is still an effective theoretical weapon to understand and grasp the complex economic, political and cultural situation of the capitalist society. Marx's class theory is closely linked to the reflection and criticism of capitalism. The capitalist private ownership has not end as a complete form of the evolution of the society. Whether it the western capitalist society, or reality of socialist society, as long as the liberation of proletariat and all human kinds still remains to be achieved, Marx's class theory will be enriched and developed continuously with the development of such a cause. In the time of capital globalization, all kinds of changes occurring in the capitalist countries did not really deny the Marxist class theory, it is still a powerful ideological weapon of human liberation. Marx's class theory is still an important impact in the contemporary world. It is of indispensable significance on analyzing and grasping class structure and political order of contemporary capitalist society, and promoting and realizing the real freedom of the people.