inual conflict; moreover, it is the class struggle which provides a "motor" for historical development (Giddens & Held 3).
From his writings, it is obvious that Marx did not think highly of capitalism. He envisioned it as a class system based on the relationship between capital and wage labor. Marx's "capitalists" were people that own factories and land. In contrast, the "wage workers" were the propertyless laborers who had been alienated from their means of production. This group sells their labor power to the capitalists, but relinquishes control over the labor process (Giddens & Held 4). Such circumstances give capital the ability to exploit wage labor. Surplus value, or profit, arises when total labor production exceeds the cost of a worker's wages. Because the primary purpose of capitalist enterprises is the generation of profit, capitalism must--according to Marx--be inherently exploitative (Giddens & Held 5).
In fact, Marx perceived a lack of legitimacy in "bourgeoisie" government. He believed that such states were created merely to serve common bourgeois needs. The nations were not true democracies, but instead served merely as hypocritical instruments of oppression.
Marx prophesied that such hypocrisy, compounded by worker alienation, would inevitably lead to the rise of labor movements. These organizations would represent an attempt by workers to achieve "defensive control" over their means of production. Moreover, as local labor unions emerged and began to cooperate, they should give rise to national labor movements. These, Marx believed, would have significant political influence. A "proletarian revolution" could then occur when labor challenged and gained control over the dominant bourgeois order (Giddens & Held 6-7).
Clearly, Marxist doctrine had a great influence on Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In 1916, Lenin wrote "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism." He believed that, by the begin...