We explain what scientific communism is, what this set of political theories consists of and what its foundations are.
What is scientific communism?
The term scientific communism or scientific socialism is used by Marxist theorists to distinguish the political theories enunciated by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) of the rest of the socialist currents that existed in the 19th century. Its theoretical foundation is the doctrine of historical materialism and its “scientific” character was defended by Marx and Engels themselves to differentiate it from other socialist projects that they considered unviable, which they generically called “utopian socialism.”
The historical materialism proposed by Marx and Engels stated that the reality of Societies were determined by their economic conditions and were a consequence of the eternal struggle between social classes that made it up, that disputed control of the means of production. This conflict, called “class struggle”, mobilized society towards change (it was the “engine of history”) and should ultimately lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat, that is, to the control of the means of production by the proletariat (industrial workers).
Marx and Engels considered that scientific communism It differed from the other socialist currents in that they did not propose a real way to overcome the capitalism but they were content with a critical reading of the system and with some cooperative social experiments. However, Marx and Engels recognized in their work the importance of the “utopian” antecedents represented by figures such as Robert Owen (1771-1858), Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Charles Fourier (1772-1837), and Louis Blanc (1811-1882), as well as the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), among others.
Currently, although many authors continue to use the term “scientific communism”, others consider that the distinction between scientific communism and utopian socialism is inadequate because it arose from the interest of Marx and Engels in giving preponderance to their theory and is, therefore, therefore, a more ideological than scientific differentiation.
Anyway, Marx's work forever changed the critical way of interpreting capitalist society from a socialist point of view. This gave rise to the different aspects of Marxism and left behind many of the previous socialist proposals. For example, the aspect of Marxism that prevailed in the Soviet Union was the interpretation of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, known as Leninism, which in the years after his death was renamed “Marxism-Leninism.”
Key points
- Scientific communism is the set of political theories formulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the second half of the 19th century.
- Its “scientific” character was defended by Marx and Engels to differentiate it from other socialist proposals of the time, which they called “utopian socialism.”
- The theoretical foundation of scientific communism was historical materialism, which stated that economic conditions were reality and that class struggle was the driving force of history.
- The political and economic objective of scientific communism was the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialization of the means of production.
See also: Socialism
Foundations of scientific communism
The fundamental concepts of scientific communism proposed by Marx and Engels can be summarized in the following points:
- The class struggle as the engine of history. Marx understood historical change as a consequence of the tensions inherent to the confrontation between social classes, which at certain times fought for control of the means of production of the time.
- Capitalism as a form of exploitation of man by man. According to Marx, capitalism as an economic system functioned on the basis of the use made by the dominant social class, the industrial bourgeoisie, of the labor force of the proletariat. This was possible thanks to the fact that the bourgeoisie controlled the means of production and, in exchange for a salary, they bought their labor power from the worker to produce marketable goods. In this interpretation, the basis for the reproduction of this system consists of the appropriation by the capitalist of the surplus of the worker's labor (the surplus value), since a worker produces more than he consumes.
- The dictatorship of the proletariat as a political objective. The advent of a classless society, communism, was possible according to Marx only after going through the dictatorship of the proletariat. That is, a revolutionary transition in which the structures of oppression of the bourgeoisie would be destroyed and a workers' government led by a revolutionary party would be formed. This would advance towards communal property, community production and overcoming the inequality derived from capitalism.
- Communism as an economic objective. The purpose of communism according to Marx was the abolition of private property and the replacement of the accumulation principles of capitalism with the socialization of the means of production, which would lead to a more egalitarian and classless society.
See also:
References
- Aragües, JM (2019). Introduction to Marx. Gredos.
- Ball, T. and Dagger, R. (2024). Communism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
- Engels, F. (2021). From utopian socialism to scientific socialism (original edition of 1880). Akal.
