We have seen the Indian context of Democracy in the last Essay. As we have seen, democracy is the child of Liberalism which is also the mother of Capitalism. Capitalism is the economic face of Liberalism. Liberalism lacks clear mechanism for the uncontrolled accumulation of wealth. This will lead to the unlimited exploitation and the social divide on economic fronts. Haves and have-nots. Right to property is the molecule of liberalism. John Locke argues strongly for the right to property. In his theory of state of nature, human are sweet. Cool as cucumber. Helping, sacrificing Gandhis.-in the primitive culture when the concept of private property had not evolved. After private property came into being, monetary system was introduced, human started accumulating wealth. But still they were Gandhis.
The Social Contract- as opined by many political scientists is the first government-state. The social contract came into being only on fear. Hobbes, Machiavelli and other classical political thinkers were of this opinion. John Locke differs. Mankind in the primitive culture was sweet. Cool as cucumber. Very funny. His basic assumption on mankind itself is wrong.
Locke’s best contribution to political thinking is the right to rebel. He sanctions the right to upthrow the government in the event of break of promises; ie when the government fails to protect the promised rights. The rights include right to life (in broader sense) and right to life and right to private property (in narrower sense). Because he considers the right to private property as a natural right. It is still practiced in some democracies as we have seen earlier. The recall system exercised by the electorate.
Marxist theory of democracy sounds better than the liberalistic theory of democracy. Marx condemns Liberalism as it promotes capitalism. It divides mankind into cells. Marx opin that right to private property is not a natural right. In the primitive state of nature, everything belonged to everyone. There was no private property. The concept of private property and the monetary system are the culprits for the evolution of the capitalistic world.
First came the barter system. Mutual exchange of goods. They fix the value of the goods and expected goods of equal value on barter. This is still practiced in some tribes of Africa and south America.
After the introduction of monetary system, when men felt uncomfortable in preserving the goods, they sold goods for money and received goods for the money at later time. Commodity-Money-Commodity system. Though the system facilitated their trade and commerce, the capitalist system budded from this point. Hoarding and other malpractices arose in this age.
The division of haves and have-nots came into being. Marx, in his historical materialism, holds that the division also reinforced and evolved in the pages of history as Masters and Slaves, Lord and seifs and now Bourgeoisie and labors. After the industrial revolution, the division had been reinforced like never before. With increased production, bourgeoisie expanded their industrial empire. With their economic power, they could purchase the political power. The labor-class tried to increase their base by increasing their population which further pulled them into the whirl of poverty.
Therefore Marx denies the right to private property. He holds for even abolition of inheritance. Machiavelli would have rolled in his coffin for this.
Marx condemns the liberalistic view of democracy as the rule of minorities on Majorities. He states that in the liberalistic democracy, the political leadership is mere puppet of the economic power. The bourgeoisie can bend the laws according to their needs and further their economic power. But the dictatorship of proletariat is the rule of majority over the minority bourgeoisie.
The dictatorship of proletariat is possible only by violent upthrow of the government, a sudden reversal of government by violence. Soon after the assumption of power, the means of production belonged to bourgeoisie will be liquefied.
There will be hierarchies of bodies, which the lower electing the higher. Every decision will be taken by the highest body in consultation with the bodies and on majority consent within (Modification by V.I.Lenin).
The dictatorship of proletariat is a temporary body-still the concept of state stands. The dictatorship forms the sound base for unification for the state with rest of the world and finally one state will arise. The borders of states will wither away. That is the world state.
Marx is very confident about the majority rule as the basis for democracy. Though Marxian theory is mocked as utopian, the ultimate aim behind his theory is genuine. Rule of Majority. Abolition of private property and so abolition of exploitation. The distribution of means of production is pathetic in India as it is just a directive in the constitution. It is not justifiable. The imbalance of wealth is on the rise after the economic fusion of India in 1991.
We can see the difference between these theories. Right to property is the basis for liberalism where as it is removed in communism. You see- India have removed the ‘right to property’ from fundamental rights and placed under other constitutional rights (From Article 31 to Article 300A) after India having realized its socialist ideals. This constitutional amendment, I am sure, might have angered USA. This amendment shows India’s skews towards socialist camp. Any way, that is history.
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