' Despite the demise of the Soviet bloc, Marxism is still a useful theory for understanding politics in contemporary

societies '. Discuss.

Word count: 987 Abstract Marxism as a theory was born in the end of 19th century. Karl Marx father of Marxism summarized it with one simple sentence 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need'. In his opinion, society should be divided into two ruling ( capitalist ) and working (proletariat) classes and economic development should be based on materialism since economy, in his view, influences other social expressions. Marxism theory not only gave a big inspiration to different fields of science such as politic,literature or archeology but also was a start for new ideologies such as communism to emerge. Although Marxism collapsed together with USSR, its' heritage can be found nowadays. This essay will show that Marxism is not irrelevant in todays societies by exploring its' impact and giving examples of the Marxism traces in nowadays USA. Introduction According to Leon Trotsky, Russian Marxist and the head of the Red Army, the end of communism was obvious and inevitable. He foresaw its collapse already in 1930 by stating that 'a nationalized planned economy needs democracy as the human body requires oxygen'. And, indeed, he was right. After its demise, Marx theories experienced failure. It was believed that it was time for new chapter of world history to be turned. As Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book The End of History (1992) - ' the passing of Marxism-Leninism first from China and then from the Soviet Union will mean its death as a living ideology of world historical significance'. However, it is not possible for all important past events to be vanished from the memory of world history, including Marxism. There are evidences that Marxists ideas and works have an influence on todays societies.

Since Marxism was concentrated on economy and composition of the class, it helps better to understand why nowadays prosperous people continue to hold a great part of economic power. Contemporary Marxists believe, that values and intensions to get as much benefit as it is possible - of todays owners remained the same as in Marxism era. Moreover, they claim that although it was tried to decrease the power of capitalist class by nationalisation, private property of capitalist has not been affected or they did get large compensations. They even believe that private sector is going to be sponsored by nationalized sector since the later had employed the possessors of private property. Furthermore, todays Marxists do not see a significant changes in capitalist class since wealth was realloctaed between rich families not affecting poor people which has not reduced the power of the rich. According to Ralph Miliband, the inequality between rich and poor is going to continue, because there are no difficulties for ' Bourgeoisie' to transfer their economic power to their next generation ( children). He also claims, that State institutions, such as local and central government, the police, military and others are commanded by Elites, which put priorities first to their interests and then to ordinary people. Looking from the perspective of education, children of the elite have more opportunities to attend prestigious universities and schools and remain in the upper class, while children from the working class have to fight to get there. So it is obvious that Marxism theory of classes structure is relevant in todays society and that power of economy is still divided among classes. Marxism has also an influence on todays United States society. First it had an effect on principal revoliution of women deliverance in America in 19th century, which encouraged women to stand up and fight against the discrimination of men. As Marxism ideology claims, staying at home and looking after children is not essential women duty. With such an inspiring speech, marxists wanted to create a society without classes, where all working class people would be equal and equality nowadays is the thing women movements are fighting for. The best quote, reflecting the aim of this idea belongs to Nikolai Lenin - ' The success of a revolution depends upon the degree of participation by woman '. Secondly, according to Father John A. Hardson, Marxism has affected the religious side in USA, starting with education. As V. Lenin said ' Marxism is materialism' and ' as such, it is as relentlessly hostile to religion as the materialism of the encyclopaedists of the eighteenth century or the materialism of Feuerbach'. Hardson believes, that such philosophy was adapted in USA since in 1976

a National Education Association was inspired by writer William Foster, Marxist politician, who stated that academic system should be ' revolutionized, cleansed of religious, patriotic and other features of the bourgeois ideology The students will be taught on the basis of Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism, and general ethics of the new Socialist society'. This ideology resulted in closure of Catholic schools and parents no longer could educate their children at home. Those who did not followed this commandment felt pressure from State and Church as well. Father Hardson explains that that is why nowadays religion is removed from schools by American law and Catholic schools do not get any support from state. As John Dewey, philosopher and academic reformer, concludes Church in USA is governable to State. The proof that Marx theories are not forgotten can be supported by some evident facts. All over the world the process of nationalisation is still running. In 2011, venesuelan president Hugo Chavez gave an announcment about the nationalization of gold industry in order to protect it against dormant economic crisis and to increase the government position over its production. And it is not the first time gold mines are being nationalized in Venesuela the same pattern occurred in 1965 and again in 1977. Three years earlier, in 2008, the same Chavez started negotiations with Spanish banking multinational Grupo Santander to nationalize Banco of Venezuela. He explained that by claiming that Bolivars in the bank belong to 'the Venezuelan people and also the Venezuelan government'. In 2010, there was a debate in South Africa whether to nationalize the mines. Julius Malema was for its nationalization and he tried to strenghten his position by refering to 1955 Freedom Charter which states that ' The wealth of the country shall be shared among all who live in it!'. Conclusion Athough Marxism era has ended, Marx ideas are still in action. It educates and gives inspiration to new generations and class fighters all over the world and helps to understand certain laws which are based on this theory. Moreover, influence of big corporations and bourgeoisie is still growing, which reminds about ruling capitalists class in Marxism period. Besides, governments aspiration to gain more and more power by nationalization can also refer to Marx theory about power in the hands of ruling class. So, it is obvious that Marxism as a theory is not irrelevant in todays world.

References Father John A. Hardson, S.J. Archives, Communism, 'The Influence of Marxism in the United States Today' ; Francis Fukuyama 'The End of History' ; Alan Woods, Ted Grant 'The Relevance of Marxism Today' ; Phil Mitchinson 'The Living Ideas of Karl Marx' ; Gary Browning, Abigail Halcli, Frank Webster 'Understanding Contemporary Society. Theories of the Present' ; http://polsci101.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/karl-marx-today/ ; http://www.marxist.com/science-old/alienationandthefuture.html#Marx and Alienation ; http://www.earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/Marxism%20and %20Contemporary%20Society.html ; http://www.marxist.com/nationalisation-banco-de-venezuela.htm ANC YL Discussion DocumentFebruary 2010 TOWARDS THE TRANSFER OF MINERAL WEALTH TO THE OWNERSHIP OF THE PEOPLE AS A WHOLE: a perspective on nationalisation of Mines.