Major Political Theories MODULE - 1

Individual and the State

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MAJOR POLITICAL THEORIES Notes

You will learn, in this lesson, about major political theories : liberalism, Marxism and
Gandhism. Liberalism and Marxism have caught the attention of the people in most parts
of the twentieth century. Liberalism emerged from the Enlightenment, the Glorious revolution
in England, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. It has been
with us as the political philosophy of the capitalist West. Marxism rose as a reaction
against the liberal-capitalist society. With the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, the last
major socialistic/Marxist state, Marxism has lost much of its popularity. Gandhism, while
challenging the ideals of both liberalism and Marxism, presents not only a critique of both
these ideologies, but also provides relevant alternative theories.

Objectives
After studying this lesson you will be able to
l explain the meaning of liberalism and its features;
l identify the basic tenets of Marxism;
l describe the theory of dialectical materialism, historical materialism; theory of surplus
value, theory of class struggle, revolution, dictatorship of proletariat, and the classless
society;
l know contribution of Lenin and Mao to Marxism;
l analyse the relevance of Marxism;
l explain Gandhi’s views on state, decentralization, democracy, swadeshi, trusteeship,
cottage/ small scale industries etc.;
l describe the significance of purity of means to achieve ends;
l highlight Gandhi’s emphasis on Swaraj, Satyagraha, Non-violence; and
l explain Gandhi’s steadfast opposition to discrimination based on race and his life-
long efforts for the upliftment of the Harijans / Dalits.

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 MODULE - 1 Political Science

Individual and the State 4.1 Liberalism

Liberalism is fairly an old political ideology. Its roots can be traced to the days of the
sixteenth century. Since then it has passed through numerous stages. The Western
Enlightenment had refused to accept moral goals as absolute truths; the English Glorious
revolution (1688) had denounced the divine rights of the kings;
The French Revolution gave the cardinal ideas of ‘Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity’ and
Notes the American War of Independence a little earlier (1775-76) laid emphasis on the declaration
of human rights.

4.1.1 Meaning of Liberalism

Harold Laski, an English scholar of Political Science once wrote: “It (liberalism) is not
easy to describe, much less to define, for it is hardly less a habit of mind than a body of
doctrine”. What it means is that liberalism is too dynamic and too flexible a concept to give
it a precise meaning. And yet the scholars have made attempts to define it. Sartori says,
‘Very simply, liberalism is the theory and practice of individual liberty, juridical defense and
the constitutional state.” According to Koerner, “Liberalism begins and ends with the
ideals of individual freedom, individual human rights and individual human happiness”.
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines liberalism “as an idea committed to freedom, as a method
and policy in government, as an organizing principle in society and as a way of life for the
individual and the community.”
Liberalism is a theory of reforms, for it has stood for reforms in economic, social and
political fields. It is a theory of liberty, individual liberty, individual autonomy, for it has
argued in favour of the development of human personality. It is a theory of democracy, for
it has favoured constitutional government, government based on the consent of the people,
rule of law, decentralization, free and fair elections. To conclude, we may highlight three
aspects of liberalism which clearly help us in understanding its meanings: in social sphere,
liberalism stands for secularism and a society that opposes, all kinds of social discrimination;
in economic sphere, it favours a capitalistic economy, individual ownership of the means of
production and maximum profit-earning motive, in political sphere, it stands for a democratic
polity, individual rights and liberties, responsive and responsible government, free and
impartial judiciary and the like.

4.1.2 Features of Liberalism

We may identity certain characteristics of liberalism. These characteristic features are :
(1) Individual Liberty : Liberalism is essentially an ideology of liberty. Its love for individual
liberty is unquestionable. It has become libertarianism. For the liberals, liberty is the very
essence of human personality. It is a means to one’s development.
(2) Individual-centred theory : Liberalism begins and ends with individual. For liberals,
individual is the centre of all activities, the focal point; individual is the end while all other
associations, including the state, are the means, which exist for the individual. individual is
the centre around which all things move.
(3) Capitalistic Economy : Liberalism advocates free-market economy, i.e., the capitalistic
mode of economy. It believes in private property system, regarding property rights as
sacrosanct; maximum profit as the only motive; capitalistic mode of production and

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distribution as the only essence; the market forces as the controlling means of economy. Individual and the State
(4) Limited State : Liberalism advocates the concept of limited state. The liberals view
the state as a means for attaining the good of the individual. They oppose every type of
totalitarian state. They are of the opinion that a more powerful state means a less free
individual. Locke used to say, “because the functions of the state are limited, so are limited
its powers.”
(5) Opposed to Traditions/Superstitions : As liberalism rose as a reaction against
Notes
traditions/superstitions, it is, by its nature, opposed to all reactionary measures. Liberalism,
emerging from Renaissance and Reformation, stood, and actually stands, for reason and
rationalism. As against the feudal model of man as a passive being, liberalism favours a
model of man who is more active and more acquisitive.
(6) Democracy : Liberalism is an exponent of democratic government. It seeks to establish
a government of the people, by the people and for the people; a government that functions
according to the Constitution and constitutionalism; a government that upholds the rule of
law; a government that secures rights and liberties of the people. Liberalism, McGovern
says, is a combination of democracy and individualism.
(7) Welfareism : Liberalism is closely associated with welfarism. Welfarism, as a state
activity, is the idea that state works for the welfare of the people. The liberal concept of
state activity is one where the state serves the people. In other words, the welfare sate is
a ‘social service’ state.

4.1.3 Weaknesses of Liberalism

Liberalism has its own inherent defects. It is a philosophy full of tensions. On the one
hand, it unfurls the flag of liberty, and on the other, it argues for equality. On the one hand,
it works, within the framework of market society, it promises equal opportunities to all. On
the one hand, it asks for unlimited rights to acquire property, and on the other, it seeks to
demand a share of profit for the welfare of those who are unemployed and the needy. On
the one hand, it builds a capitalistic economy, ending up ultimately in inequalities, and on
the other, it endeavours to establish an egalitarian society.

Intext Questions 4.1

Fill in the blank
1. The Enlightenment had refused to accept the moral goals as ................... truths.
2. The French Revolution declared ........................ equality and fraternity as great
political values.
3. The 17th-18th century .......................... was also known as negative liberalism.
4. McGovern said liberalism is composed of two elements: democracy and
................................
5. Liberal economy is............................. economy.
6. The liberal state is a social ..............................state.
7. Liberalism is the political philosophy of the ............................. class.

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Individual and the State

4.2 Marxism
Following the establishment of factories and the capitalistic
mode of production during the 17th-18th centuries West, the
conditions of the workers deteriorated. The workers who
entered the factories were subject to all sorts of exploitation
: long hours of work, life in slums, ill-health etc. The result
was exploitation of the workers, ever-increasing gap between
Notes
the rich and the poor, economic inequalities, degradation and
alienation. Karl Marx and Frederich Engels realised clearly
the adverse effects of capitalism and in the process, brought
out what is called scientific socialism or Marxism (after the
name of Marx). Those who contributed to the Marxian
KarlMarx philosophy after Marx and Engels include, among others, V.I.
(1818 – 1883) Lenin (Russia), and Mao Zedong (China).
Alienation means aloofness, estrangement, apathy, cutting off. Marx finds
alienation in extermination i.e., man finds himself external (alien) to his
activity, his self.

4.2.1 Marxism and its Basic Postulates

Marxism is the political philosophy of the working class as liberalism is the political philosophy
of the capitalist class. It is a theory of social change : why social changes take place and
how do these changes come into effect? The social changes take place because of the
material factors and through a method called ‘dialectical materialistic’ method.
Marxism is based on certain assumptions/postulates. These are :
1) Nothing happens in the world on its own; there is always a cause -effect relationship
in what we see around. The relations of production (i.e., material relations among
the people), as the basis of society, provide the cause while the productive forces
constitute the effect.
2) The real development is always the material development (i.e., the economic
development). The progressive development of productive forces indicates the
progressive level of development.
3) The material (i.e. economic) factor is the dominant factor in both individual life and
social life.
4) Human being is born at a particular stage of social / material development, i.e., born
in a social setting which exists independent of him. But being an active being, human
being makes his own social setting. Marx had said, human beings are born in history,
but they make history.
5) Social classes, especially the opposing classes, through their struggle and following
the process of revolution, move in the forward direction. That is why the Marxists
say that every subsequent society is better than the preceding society.
6) Revolutions mean total and wholesome changes; they are not a negative force, but
are what Marx had called, the locomotives of history. When launched and successful,
revolutions take the society to a higher stage of development.

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7) The state, being the result of a class society, is a class institution. It is neither impartial Individual and the State
nor just; it is a class institution. It is a partisan, oppressive and exploitative institution;
it exists to serve the dominant class of which it is an instrument. In the capitalist
society, the capitalist state protects and promotes the interests of the capitalists while
in the socialist society, it protects and promotes the interests of the working class. By
the time the socialist society becomes fully communistic, the state would, by then,
have withered away.
Withering away of the state, according to the Marxists, means disappearing Notes
of the state, i.e., slowly and gradually the state apparatus would go the whole
way.
Thus, Marxism advocates communism as the highest form of society where men would
work as they wish and would get what they want : “from each according to his ability to
each according to his needs.”

4.2.2 Highlights of Marxism

Marxism revolves around the following theoretical propositions.
Dialectical materialism is the sum-total of the general principles which explain as to
why and how social changes take place. The social changes take place because of the
material factors and through the dialectical materialistic method. The dialectical materialistic
method is a triple method. According to Marx,
Relations of Productions constitute the basis of the society at any given point of time.
What are called the social relations among the people are, for the Marxists, the relations of
production.
Productive Forces constitute those elements which originate from the relations of
production, but which, though opposite to the latter, promise more production through newer
methods/devices.
In very simple words, the Marxian theory states that all development takes place through
struggle between opposites and because of factors which are economic.
New Mode of Production is the result of the struggle between the relations of
production and productive forces at a matured stage of their development. The new
mode of production has the merits of both the relations of production and productive
forces; hence a higher stage of economic development.
Historical Materialism is also called the economic/materialistic/ deterministic
interpretation of history. The Marxian explanation of history is that it is a record of the
self-development of productive forces; that the society keeps marching on its path of
economic/ material development; that each stage of development indicates the level of
development attained; that history is the history of numerous socio- economic formations:
primitive communistic, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and thereafter the transitional socialist
followed by the communist society; that each succeeding society is an improvement over
the preceeding one; that the socialist society, after the abolition of the capitalist society
would be a classless society but with a state in the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat;
the communist society, which follows the socialists society, would be both classless society
and stateless society.
Theory of Surplus Value is another characteristic of Marxism. Marx says that it is the

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Individual and the State worker who creates value in the commodity when he produces it. But he does not get
what he produces, he gets only the wages: over and above the wages is what goes to the
employer. That is the surplus value. The surplus value is the difference between what the
value a labourer produces and what he gets in the form of wages. In simple words, the
labourer gets the wages; the employer, the profit. This surplus value makes the rich, richer
and the poor, poorer. It is through surplus value that capitalists thrive.
Theory of Class Struggle is another tenet of Marxism. In the Marxian view, all hitherto
Notes history has been the history of class struggle between opposing classes. Class struggle is
the characteristic of class societies. In the classless societies, there is no class struggle
because there are, in such societies, no opposing/ antagonistic classes. Class struggle, in
class societies, (i.e., in slave-owning society, the feudal society, the capitalist society) is of
mainly three types: economic, ideological, political.
Marxism advocates revolution. Revolutions, the Marxists say, are locomotives of history.
Revolutions occur when the relations of production come into conflict with the productive
forces, leading, thus, to a new mode of production. They bring about a complete
transformation of society, without violence if possible, and with it, if necessary. Revolutions,
indicate changes: wholesome changes, changes in the very character of a given society.
They signify the coming up of a higher stage of social development. Accordingly, the
Marxists regard revolution as a positive phenomenon.
Dictatorship of the proletariat means the rule of the working class. It is a state of the
workers in the socialist society which follows the capitalist society. It is the dictatorship of
the workers in the socialist society in the sense there is the dictatorship of the capitalists in
the capitalist society. There capitalists rule the way they want; now the workers’ rule in
the socialist society the way the workers want. Nevertheless, Marx makes it clear that the
dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the workers’ state, is an interim or a transitional
arrangement which functions between the capitalist society and the communist society.
Once the socialist society is completely established, the workers state will not be needed,
i.e., it will wither away (disappear slowly). Lenin insists that the dictatorship of the proletariat
is better than the bourgeois state, both quantitatively and qualitatively (at it looks after the
interests and welfare of the whole multitude of the workers rather than handful of capitalists).
The socialist society that follows the capitalist society after its abolition is a classless
society. It is a classless society in the sense that all are workers wheresoever they work,
in the office, in the factory or on the fields: each gets job according to one’s ability (‘from
each according to his abilities to each according to his work’). The communist society
which follows the socialist society, will be both the classless society and the stateless
society.

4.2.3 Relevance of Marxism

Marxism, both as a philosophy and also as a practice, has attained a position unparallelled
in social and political thought. Its appeal crosses all boundaries, and in fact, all limits. Its
adversaries are as much convinced of its strength as are its admirers. And yet its
shortcomings are obvious.
Changes do not occur simply because of the clashes between the opposing classes. History
is indebted to class cooperation as well for its development. Material factor, though important
and dominating it may be, is not the sole factor in explaining the whole complex of society’s
intricacies. Indeed, man does not live by bread alone, but it is also true that he can not live

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