Marxism and the concepts behind communism have been reflected in many iterations throughout history. Speaking about the fact that Marxism and the ideas of communism are not compatible with human nature, Norberg makes a thunderous and dubious statement (Gasper 26). Even though Marx was frankly wrong about many economic and historical concepts, his social ideas had a reasonable basis. In the later years of his life, Karl Marx increasingly focused on the direct revolution of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. However, this goes against the grain of the early work of the young Marx, who spoke of fairly realistic socio-economic relations. Marx said that socialist and communist societies are interconnected and proceed from existing constructs.
The idea of communes originates in ancient Greece and comes from the philosopher Epicurus. Epicurus suggested that people find happiness through peaceful and friendly cohabitation with loved ones under one roof. People had to live in austerity, communicate and work together to be happy. Epicurean communes existed all along the Mediterranean coast. Later they were transformed into Christian monasteries sharing the same ideas but with a Christian perspective and specifics. Marx takes this experience and tries to extrapolate it to the entire world community (Marx 84). In this case, we see that the monastic and epicurean life of the communes, famous for its tranquility, existed. At the very least, this fact speaks of the inconsistency of the thesis about the impossibility of Marxism due to human nature.
Critics of Marxism naturally look at Marxism’s cannibalistic and perverted representation among the communist Bolsheviks. Bloody, inhuman, and absurd in their cruelty, the communist regimes of the twentieth century did not come from Marxism. The basic communism, as people of the last century saw it, was Leninism, coming from a man who was not familiar with the works of Marx. From this ignorance came the desire for a simple usurpation of power using the ideas of social equality and Marxism as an icon. However, this should not overshadow Marxism’s authentic and straightforward ideas, which Karl Marx wrote.
Work Cited
Gasper, Phil. Marxism, morality, and human nature. International Socialist Review, no. 82, Marx, 2012. Web.
Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (Dover Books on Western Philosophy). Illustrated, Dover Publications, 2007.