Marx had studied deeply the conditions of three great countries in Europe. France was one of them, where socialism was the dream for people. Science and class relations were yet to mature, hence socialism remained just utopia. When on April 14, 1789, revolution started with attack on Bastille, the royal fort in Paris, with slogans of equality, liberty and fraternity, it could not attain the goal. Despite the fact that France was soaked in blood, the royalty was guillotined, the time for equality and justice had not matured yet. Marx offered a scientific analysis of these two expressions that were most relevant for human life, yet he said, transition from feudalism to capitalism was not yet complete.

Industrial revolution was guided by bourgeoisie as well as the working class joined by the peasants, but revolutionary situation was yet to mature. Marx analysed the stage of evolution and explained that every concept was understood only through its context. Interpretations differ according to the socio-economic stages that were dependent on the character of the classes, the rulers and the ruled. These classes in turn are based on mode of production. The peasants that led the French revolution were deeply attached to their piece of land, in fact shackled to it. They stood for change, but never wanted to leave the land they slogged on, despite the fact that they did not have its ownership.

It was the property of the king and land lord was the collector of the rent to be paid by the peasant. The bourgeoisie that had joined in the rebelling forces supported the cause, but not to end exploitation, only to get rid of feudal forces. Each one had its own class interest, hence no justice and no liberty from the chains. Equality was out of question. Marx placed the slogans scientifically to trace its class character. He found the society moving on the unity and struggle of two classes. Together they built up the society placing each one according to their position in the class struggle. It was dialectical interpretation that arrived at a conclusion summing up the process in “the rule of the working class”, though dialectics continues and so does the change.

Marx was a critique of French slogans, in fact of all such humanist slogans, because none of these get into explaining the basic class point of view. The demands of equality, liberty and fraternity can be understood only from class point of view. It was Marx who brought this reality into light for the first time in the entire process of class struggle with all its historicity.

While getting into the basics, Marx discovered the cyclic crisis of capitalism also. Production moves through stages. It grows, expands, and then reaches a plateau, after which recession begins, which is downward journey. Then comes recovery, though slowly. Like this, continues the cycle. While getting into the depth of stages, Marx had written about speculation and fictitious capital and he discovered the process of concentration of capital. He also discovered the tendency to make money out of money rather than out of production. Money or capital started going to stock market and speculation which is non -productive. In moments of capitalist crisis, speculation goes up. One example is from the tragic developments during Covid days. Despite the fact that people were perishing under the deadly disease and bodies were strewn in bushes and shores of rivers, speculation was at its peak. According to reports, Ambanis had earned in this period more than thirty six percent of surplus.

Today Marx is more relevant than ever. It is through him that we are struggling for our democratic values, and constitutional rights. We are struggling for our liberty, equality, freedom, as against the vested interest of monopoly capital. It was Marx who had discovered the mode of production as the base for each of the socio-economic formation. He found out that the character of the entire superstructure is decided by the base only. The evolution of the society is based on the evolution of the means of production, and also labour and language that created the humanity.

Before Marx, for all the three elements needed in the production process were raw material, tools and the labour. Labour was mentioned like other factors, not as a living human. It was Marx who for the first time identified the human participation in production. He called them worker and identified them as class. It is the exploitation of the worker that always drives the society further, and it is there in all stages of socio economic formation, though identified only in capitalism.

Marx had identified concentration of capital and the stage for money for money. He had evolved the context for Lenin to identify imperialism, where industrial capital and bank capital merge and prepare context for finance capital. Marx was basically a scientist, his materialist philosophy was based on dialectics. He established the material character of the world and this matter is always in the mode of change. There is nothing final in this material world, except motion itself, that is change. This motion is dialectical, with unity and struggle both.

Marx was the tallest philosopher, scientist and leading thinker who had predicted the coming of a society without class antagonism led by the working class itself. (IPA Service)