The inevitable violent revolution. Since the owners will
never willingly give up the wealth they have in their control, it
will take a violent revolution to overthrow them.
The dictatorship of the proletariat. The workers will take
over the means of production. (Note: The final synthesis occurs
when the owners and the workers are one and the same, and the
conflict ceases).
The withering away o f the state. Since the state is simply a
tool used by the exploiter-owners to dominate the exploited-
workers, when the workers are the owners and the conflict
ceases, the state withers away.
The scenario described above has not come to pass as pre
dicted by Marx. The reasons given for the failure of the predic
tions— organized labor, enlightened capitalism, service indus
tries, educated labor force, may or may not be valid. Let us
however, analyze the major points which are central to his
theory.
Marx contends that all societies up to this point in history have
been in conflict, and the source of that conflict has been based on
the economic disparity that results from the ownership of the
means of production by the few at the expense of the many. The
problem can be solved only by eliminating the cause. Thus the
concept of common ownership, or the abolition of private
property becomes the only viable means to end the conflict.
Capitalism is the logical and necessary step in the historical
process which will lead to the final synthesis, communism. The
process described earlier will lead to the violent overthrow not
only of the capitalists but also of the social and political institu
tions which support them. It is the elimination of those institu
tions which will pave the way for a just society, beginning with
the dictatorship of the proletariat—a small cadre (the Commu
nist party) who will reorganize society— and ending with a
classless society. With the advent of the classless society, the end
of conflict will lead to a just economic order based on the maxim,
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his
needs.”
In order to achieve the society that Marx considers just, ten
measures to achieve the desired social reforms are put forth in
The Communist Manifesto.
