MARXIAN ANALYSIS/APPROACH

Marxian approach provides us a theory of social change and scientific philosophy which help to
understand the laws of social development. Its main ideas are found in the 'Communist Manifesto ' and
'Das Capital’, the two monumental work of Karl Marx.
In order to understand the Marxian approach to political science we must to know the liberal
views on politics first, since these two systems poles apart. According to the liberal theorists, the state is
an instrument of public good, that the sovereignty is rested in the people and above all that democracy is
the best form of government. The liberals also believe that the authority of state is based on the general
will and that the aim of the state is to ensure the welfare of the people.
Marx rejects the formal or liberal approach of conventional political analysis and puts forth a
more comprehensive sociological analysis of politics. *According to Marx, the material conditions
determine the ideological super-structure of society and politics is actually conditioned by the economic
system. It holds that economic system determines the classes structure and as there is a change in the
means of production , distribution system and exchange , so there is corresponding change in the
relations of masters and slaves, the feudal lords and the serfs, the capitalists and the workers, the
dominant and the dominated classes.
Marxism holds the view that all phenomena that we experience are material, concrete and
objective. Again it holds that all phenomena are characterised by internal contradictions. The process of
development through internal contradictions is called Dialectical Process. So to understand any
phenomena one must grasp its nature as changing. Human life necessitates the consumption of certain
articles. These articles are really produced by men. The way by which these articles are produced is called
means of production. The relations of production divided men into two basic classes. They are the class
controlling means of production through ownership or otherwise and the class which contribute its
labour power. These classes are opposed to each other because their interests are mutually opposed. This
leads to class conflict or class struggle. The Marxist stands for class war, encourage class consciousness,
and prepare the people for a revolution to alter the existing class dominated capitalist system. According
to Karl Marx the only basis of the subject of politics is power and that to an integration of all powers-
political, economic and ideological. Marx had a quite different attitude towards the individual. He felt that
a man is first a social creature and then only a political creature. His life should be seen through the prism
of society. The dominant class in the society has invented the state to hold on economic power and exploit
the other classes in the society. A man cannot have separate existence.