What are the driving forces of history according to Marx? And how does he differ to Hegel?

In this essay I am going to describe how the historians Marx and Hegel each determined the driving forces of history, and then compare them both to discover their differences and similarities.

Marx recognises there has always been the existence of some form of classes from the beginning of man to the present, giving the impression that man is driving his own history based on the individual’s aims and struggles.  Marx sums his theory of driving forces up by writing ‘The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles’. Marx further goes on to describe his theory by using different stages to show how history is driven forward, the first of which is the production of material. This is then followed by electing a person or group of people to allot other people particular working roles to produce more of the material, and so leads to a division of class.  

Hegel explained his theories by using an example of the aims and struggle of ideas between a master and slave. With the division of class Marx describes the struggles in a similar way to this Hegelian theory by giving the impression there is a constant cycle to fight for freedom from the struggling class, and this is continued by the need for the ruling class to retain power over them.[4] Hegel recognises the Master eventually becomes dependent on the Slave, whereas the slave realises they can unite with other slaves and will eventually be liberated, and so the master-slave relationship is never a stable one.

Speaking of class separation and consciousness, Marx states ‘It is not the consciousness of man that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness’, and so creates the idea that history is being driven by man, however, it is their social class that determines the history they drive. It also suggests the class an individual belongs to will determine their mindset and thoughts.

Marx believed capitalism to be a huge factor in the driving forces of history, because of the vast amount of industrial advances, and so in this respect he was in favour of capitalism. However, Marx also recognised capitalism was eventually going to destroy itself because its workers were gradually no longer needed due to the boost of machinery. For this reason, the theory of capitalism was as delicate and unstable as the master-slave theory previously discussed. Marx saw that workers would rise against this and seek the notion of a classless society to gain freedom from the ruling class, known as a communist society, where they would not be subjected to exploitation from the ruling class.

Hegel’s main beliefs were that dialectics were pushing the progression of man and history forward. He states ‘Wherever there is movement, wherever there is life, wherever anything is carried into effect in the actual world, there Dialectic is at work. It is also the soul of all knowledge which is truly scientific’. This suggests Dialectic has the ability to form, become, and entwine with every event across the globe, also suggesting it is an unseen force which cannot be avoided and will always be present. His writings also describe dialectics as the process of two oppositions clashing to create the outcome of a third compromise.

In his later works, Hegel elaborates his earlier theories and states it is spirit or Geist driving history forward. Geist is described as always potentially there as with Dialectic, it unfolds over time. Hegel states ‘Just as the seed bears in itself the whole nature of the tree, including the taste and form of its fruit, so do the first traces of Geist virtually contain the whole of its own history’. He then goes on to separate Geist into three basic stages, beginning with the Oriental world, followed by the Classical world, and ending with the Germanic world, and within these stages he speaks of freedom, particularly with the Germanic stage. Here he declares ‘The Germanic nations under the influence of Christianity, were the first to attain the consciousness that Man, as Man, is free, that is the freedom of Geist, which constitutes Geists essence’.

Marx and Hegel both show similarities and differences. Marx, known as a left-Hegelian, shows many similarities with Hegel, however, he has used his theories differently to create another way of explaining what he considered to be the driving forces of history, and in effect, what he thought was best for the future. Both describe their theories based around a master and slave concept which is then linked to different levels of aspirations of emancipation of some sort and exploitation from the ruling classes, and each discusses what they describe as the level of consciousness of particular people within societies. Both recognise that history is and always has been driven by a certain degree of struggle.

Bibliography

Core Reading 1 for seminar E- Herder

Core Reading 2a for seminar E- Hegel

Core Reading 2b for seminar E- Hegel

Core Reading 3 for seminar E- Marx

Adamson, Walter. L, ‘Marxism and Historical Thought’ in Kramer & Maza (eds.), A Companion to Western Historical Thought (Blackwell Publishing: Oxford, 2002) pp. 205- 221

Ball, Terence, ‘History: Critique and Irony’ in Terrell Carver (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Marx (Cambridge: 1991) pp. 124-142

Hobsbawm, E. J. E, ‘Marx, Karl Heinrich (1818-1883)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39021

Mah, Harold, ‘German Historical Thought in the Age of Herder, Kant, and Hegel’ in Kramer & Maza (eds.), A Companion to Western Historical Thought (Blackwell Publishing: Oxford, 2002) pp. 143- 162

Singer, Peter, ‘Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich’, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford Reference Online (Oxford University Press: 2005) http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t116.e1089   

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