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Marxism Introduction
Karl Marx (1818-1883) saw socialism as the final stage in human development. Marx set out to prove that it was an inevitable stage that we were going to get to no matter what we did.
British Marxist writer, Ralph Miliband, made this comment in a book published shortly after his death in 1994:
A distinction needs to be made between two aspects of Marxís thought. One of them is a vision of socialism and communism, which has never been surpassed, but which is a projection into a far-distant future. The other is the class analysis which is at the core of Marxism. This Marxism remains of incomparable value for the understanding of class societies and their conflicts, notwithstanding the refinements it requires in the light of developments in the world since Marx. (Miliband 1994, 158)
Miliband makes an important distinction between the utopian vision of Marx and his followers and the method of Marxist analysis, class analysis. Marxist ideology, particularly as it relates to social welfare, is built upon this method. Class analysis involves an recognition that that society is divided into classes based on the relationship to production in society. The owners of production, the capitalists, = ìruling classî to a Marxist.
Those who sell their labour, the workers, =the ìworking class.î
As Mullaly points out, Marxists believe that class conflict between these two classes is what leads to fundamental change as the working class rejects its position and moves to overthrow the ruling class.

Marxist ideology
Marxism was the ideology that challenged the establishment, the ruling classes, and the dominant organizational, political, and social order.
-The system could be changed profoundly and that the workers had it in their power to do so. How this was to happen led to the separation between revolutionary socialists (who saw the need for a revolution, possibly violent, to overthrow the ruling classes) and evolutionary socialists (who saw the fundamental change as no less inevitable, but coming about gradually).

Marxists of today, as evolutionary socialists, have many things in common with social democrats, particularly with respect to values like democracy and equality. Where they differ, and the difference is fundamental, is with respect to the market economy.
-They believe that:

Ösocialism entails the coming into being of a socialised economy, in which at least the preponderant part of the means of economic activity, notably the ëcommanding heightsí of the economy, would come under various forms of public or social ownership, control and management.ÖSo long as the means of economic activity are under private ownership and control, so long must the social order be dominated by the drive for private profit, with the people who own and control these means exercising vastly disproportionate power and influence over government and society. (Miliband 1994, 54-55, emphasis original)

If we can grasp this idea, and the Marxist analysis of society as divided into classes based on their relation to the means of production (owner, manager, worker, etc.), we can begin to understand Marxism. With that in mind, we can now begin to look at the elements of a Marxist ideology.

Elements of ideology
1. Concept of society

a. Relationship of the individual to society
society is an extension of its citizens not something that is separate from or over and above them (reified). Thus society is simply ìthe product of manís reciprocal action.î
b. Nature of society
Society is characterized by conflict, especially between the working class and the ruling class. However, following the inevitable change, this conflict will cease.
c. Concept of social change
The fundamental parts of society (values, economic institutions, etc.) must change (qualitative). Although this can be considered as ìrevolutionary,î as indicated above in the introduction to Marxism, most Marxists today see this movement not as the result of violent revolution but of some less-clearly defined evolutionary process.

2. Nature and role of the state

a. The nature of the state
Power in society derives from the nature and ownership of the means of production. In other words, in a capitalist society the class-based relationships of power and domination that characterize the relationships of material production influence the structures and operation of the state.
b. The role of the state in social welfare
Marxists are highly critical of the welfare state. As Mullaly suggests in the text, Marxists recognize the gains made by the working class from a welfare state but also see (as do the liberals, although with greater satisfaction at the outcome) that the welfare state helps to save capitalism or at least prolongs it. It works to prevent the collapse of capitalism and its replacement with a more just and equitable society.
But what would the situation be if the fundamental changes that Marxists desire occured? What would the model of social welfare be? In that case we would have a normative model, one in which society would be organized to see that each personís needs were met. Welfare can be established fully as a regulative and distributive norm only after the means of production have been socialized and the market-based, private property system abolished.

3. Concept of human nature
Human nature is defined as existential, where humans are the active creators of self and of the social-political environment. In this view, a human being is perceived as being conscious of self, rational, responsible, and capable of creativity. Yet humans within a capitalist environment are seen as alienated, separated from their true natures through an exploitative productive system. Here ìalienationî is defined as the separation of the individual from his/her true essence as human beings.

4. Fundamental economic institutions
Marxists provide a critique of the fundamental economic institutions of a capitalist society. Production is organized to meet the needs of society. The traditional order of free-market society in which economic policy dominates social policy is inverted to make economic policy and the economic institutions serve the needs of society rather than the other way around. In traditional Marxist thinking this is achieved by socializing the means of production, that is, terminating the private ownership of the means of production and converting capital into a social product. They propose that the distribution of these goods and services be transformed into a needs-based model directed toward individual needs in which individual needs satisfaction is separated from the work activity of the individual.

5. Fundamental operative values
In a Marxist philosophy the emphasis is on the collective concern for individual human need and the full development of each individualís autonomy and potential.
a. Individualism/collectivism
That the individual only realizes his/her potential in the collective also points to the importance of solidarity. Solidarity implies the setting aside of individualism in a common struggle for the collective good.
b. Equality/inequality
From a Marxist perspective, the concept of equality changes with each stage of economic development. Under socialism, equality is defined in accordance with work: equal pay for equal work regardless of sex, race, or status. Under communism, equality is defined in accordance with needs: ìfrom each according to his ability, to each according to his need.î In this case, all individual needs would be equally entitled to be satisfied, no matter the range and diversity of those needs within society, assuming that society has become affluent enough to meet the requirements of those needs.
c. Freedom and autonomy
In Marxist theory, three conditions are necessary for freedom:

abolition of special privilege;
abolition of dependency of some (i.e., minority rights) on the will of others (i.e., the will of the majority) [a classical liberal idea]; and
abolition of the class-based state that acts on behalf of the ruling or dominant class.

In Marxism the ideal is positive liberty, of autonomy, where individuals are able to realize who they are and what they have to offer. Freedom is nothing more than the autonomous expression of the individualís self as a conscious creative being.

6. Theory of social need
One writer in the area of social welfare policy, Ramesh Mishra, has described the Marxist concept of need in this way:

The Marxist notion of ëto each according to his needsí does not refer to the ëneedsí of society Ö but to those of the individual. ÖWho is to decide what the needs are in any given case? Is it to be a political administrative or professional decision? And what part does the individual himself play in defining need? (Mishra 1974, 78)

For some Marxists needs are defined as relative to the individual, which, in turn, are relative to the economyís productive capacity. For Marx this view is twofold: that each contribute to society according to his power and abilities, and that each be rewarded by society according to his needs.

7. Principle of social justice
The division between classes is a condition associated with capitalism, which by its very nature separates the rich from the poor, the owners of the means of production, (private corporations) from those who sell their labour (employees), and finally the capitalist and full wage earner from both the under-employed and the unemployed. The problem of poverty is not simply due to the poor but is associated with the structural distribution of wealth (i.e., the economic and political structure of capitalism that shapes and determines the nature of employment, private property, and profits).
The principle of social justice is perceived as distributive and is based on individual need, not societyís need, and not on work, merit, or worth. This essentially is based on a humanist understanding that places man at the centre of the universe and is, therefore, considered morally superior to the liberal capitalist value of self-interest.

8. Implied ameliorative action IAA
The ameliorative action for Marxist-socialists is revolutionary to the extent that it calls for a radical transformation of existing economic institutions, the class system, the distribution of goods and services, and the social and political system. However, it should be pointed out that while traditional Marxists believed that society can be transformed only by the revolutionary action of the proletariat (working class), who must seize the means of production, more contemporary Marxists argue that it is possible to affect radical change within the system through the extension of democracy. Socialism, and in particular ìsocialist democracy represents both an extension of capitalist democracy and a transcendence of it.î (Miliband 1994, 69, emphasis original). Marxists of today believe strongly in fundamental social change, but they no longer agree with the revolutionary method that Marx and the early Marxists foresaw.