I must declaim, at the budding phase of this article, that I'm an unabashed admirer of Marx's intellect and his oeuvre, though not of Marxism.
Eugenics vs. Class Consciousness:
Sir. Karl Popper, a great philosopher of science, once said, that the world was brought to the brink of destruction by two nations: USSR (Stalinism (Trotskyism & Leninism are still acceptable to many), based on the philosophy of Karl Marx) and Germany (Nazism, based principally on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (the author of 'Thus Spake Zarasthura' ) and these philosophies were inspired, principally, by Plato's 'The Republic', which extols the virtues of having a nation ruled by philosophers. From Sir Karl's statements arise a sense of abomination for a society where its members are classified into the various codified strata, the criterion/criteria for which is/are only agreed upon by some -- for others. For Sir. Karl, the idea of an individual’s right to life, and life itself, being pruned and preened by the authority was heart-rending. Surprisingly, Marx's most vociferous critic -- The Great John Maynard Keynes, was a proponent of eugenics.
However, Marx spoke and advocated 'Class Consciousness', which differs -- to a subtle (though I would say 'a large') extent -- from eugenics. I say this because if you follow Marx in his footsteps in his act of writing 'Das Kapital', many of his previous writings elucidate what 'Class Consciousness' would/should be about. I make an earnest attempt below to distil the subtle -- but important—difference/s between eugenics & 'Class Consciousness' from what I've read, and perceived.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS061Jg6jA2RAj8lbw2bibHOnhIrFXtPZXGrGdoFT2rkbBB8ixrIf7dNPzeyhJ6LqkaGQYlSFl_WpSzJF1uDlUW2Lf1IhZu2dQUKryxQ1CcI4FkQuyJTs05ZopvZKQlOAPQLlaf0LKubI/s320/Karl.png)
Thus, what Marx mentions is that one must rise above one's apathy of the conditions, one is subjected to, to know one's real plight; and when this happens on a larger scale, the entire class of people -- in his writings 'the proletariat' -- would have realized their value in the society and would have, perhaps, gained the consciousness to govern themselves.
However, I must admit that in the days that followed Marx's death, people altered the term 'Class Consciousness' to mean 'Eugenics' -- in practice. Also, most nations which adopted & practised their flavour of socialism/communism have been parties to the most disreputable kind ‘big-brother’ tactics. I really wonder if Marx had envisioned a ‘North Korea’ kind of utopia; I wonder.
References:
1. The chapter on 'Dialectical Materialism' from Bertrand Russell's 'The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell.'
2. Karl Marx's 'The Critique of Hegel's Philosophy Of Right.
3. Marx's Das Kapital - A Biography by Francis Wheen.
4. Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer.
5. Karl Marx & Friedrich Engel's 'The Communist Manifesto.
This article is written by Abey Mathew. Follow him on Facebook here.