Differences Between Du Bois And Marx (Essay Sample)

Karl Marx and W.E.B Dubois both saw and lived in injustice times. Though born and lived through different timelines, they both realized an inequality amongst the people. Marx and Du Bois both wrote pieces explaining the conditions they are forced to live in, both authors then continued to offer their ideal solutions to the problem. Marx argued against Capitalism and thought companies were exploiting their workers. While Dubois argued against racism after the Emancipation Proclamation and made a stand for the black community. The theorists fought for completely different reasons, but they had one common goal which was to live in a society where everyone was equal.

Karl Marx wrote several pieces on the tyranny of capitalism and how it exploited its workers. In The Marx-Engels Reader, Marx argues that capitalism has created a hierarchy between the working class and the capitalist. Workers put in hours of labor to provide for their families, while the rich get richer from other people's labor. The capitalist sees the profit made from their big companies as a reward but Marx considers this exploitation as an act of stealing the employee’s talent and hard work (Marx, Page 217). As a result of the hierarchy, people are put against each other instead of trying to live together in a community (Marx, Page 392). Citizens had to fight against each other because modern work is unstable and families need to be provided for. Capitalism took people away from their lives by pushing them to work in a competitive and exhausting economy to survive while the rich took advantage of their labor (Marx, Page 209). And because modern work is unstable, you don’t know when you are going to get fired. There could be situations where the products excel the needs of products. Having excessive products causes the value to decrease, this then affects the company because they are losing money and can't afford to pay their employees (Marx, Page 212). Marx explains that as humans, we are terrified of being abandoned, therefore, living in a society where we are constantly terrified of being abandoned is no way to live. Additionally, Marx realized that our production systems are so efficient that we could give everyone a house and a car, access to a hospital, etc. Instead, we fight with one another to provide for ourselves and our families (Marx, Page 356). This infuriates Marx because if we lived in a different political system then everyone can have access to essential supplies without competing against each other (Marx, Page 217). Although capitalism was a tyrannical system, Marx agrees capitalism brought good things to the economy, he recognized how efficient and productive the factories were and how much we could get done. And because of how efficient the society became, he was hopeful for a future without capitalism (Marx, Page 634) Marx identifies how capitalism forces the workers to alienate themselves from their work. Marx uses the word alienated several times in his passage, Estranged Labor (Marx, Page 72). He uses alienation to describe how the workers under capitalism are getting employed for their labor. He explains that by working in a capitalist society, citizens separate themselves from their valuable attributes and power, which in the end leads to citizens being hostile toward themselves (Marx, Page 72). Marx believes that a worker should be able to see themselves in their work (Marx, Page 72). By living in a capitalist society, workers are forced to work in factories creating products that dont mean anything to them. A separation between inner ourselves is created, between who we feel we are versus what we do all day (Marx, Page 207). Marx characterizes this as alienation between the worker and their work. He believed that alienated labor is the opposite of what labor should be, and labor should be a freeing activity in exchange for something of equal value in return (Marx, Page 74). Marx thought the idea of production of wealth meant that someone could dictate labor to others which were unfair to those who work under it. He believed that everyone should be equal, so one person should not have the power to enforce cruel labor on another person (Marx, Page 217 ). Marx concludes that capitalism teaches us how to be anxious, competitive, and politically complacent (Marx, Page 181).

W. E. B. Du Bois wrote a book with stories African Americans witnessed and call attention to the severe racism toward the black community. In The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois emphasizes the everyday lives of both black and white he sees, he compares stories about how and why their lives differed so drastically in post-slavery America. (Dubois, Page 8). Du Bois was born after post-slavery, although the 14th amendment was put in place to give African Americans equal rights, African Americans were still treated poorly and were still segregated based on their skin color. There are two competing identities as a black American, the first one being a citizen of America and the other is living as a black person while living in white-centric America.  This is what Du Bois called double-consciousness, living as a member of a non-dominant race, he said, creates a fracture in your sense of identity within that society (Dubois, Page 8).  One issue Dubois recognized was that the African Americans did not have access to education and other opportunities that white Americans were offered. He concluded that much of the issues within Black communities came from their inferior access to things like education and more high-paying jobs (Dubois, page 27). The black community had lower literacy rates, higher rates of poverty and crime, mortality rates were higher, as was the frequency of illness, and a higher concentration of workers in the service industry than in manufacturing or trade. Du Bois explains that the reason that the black population had higher rates of death and illness was because of occupational hazards, poverty, and less access to health care (Dubois, Page 27). Black workers weren't allowed to work in trade, most of them had to work in the service jobs area, and because of limited job opportunities, poverty and crime increased in the community (Dubois, Page 28). White Americans then used the increase in crime and poverty as a justification to not allow the black community any good jobs (Dubois, Page 29). Dubois continued to research how prejudice, segregation, and lack of access to education and jobs were holding back African Americans and put that research into stories and protests.  He soon clashed with another leading black intellectual of the time, Booker T. Washington, who advocated compromise with the predominantly white political system. Washington believes that African Americans should improve their education and economy to end segregation (Dubois, Page 40). This will then prove to the white majority that the Black community should receive their respect and get better job opportunities. This frustrated Dubois because he argues that the white majority should correct their racial injustice and should protest unjust treatment and demand equal rights (Dubois, Page 40). DuBois later turned to direct activism and political writing to make a change.

It is hard to say which solution, proposed by theories Karl Marx and W.E.B. Dubois, is preferred. Both theorists wanted to see a society where everyone is living in harmony with one another. Everyone should have access to proper education, the same job opportunities, and access to essential living supplies. Though they both fought for equality for the people, the reasoning for why they are fighting is remarkably different. Marx fought to end the exploitation of workers while Dubois fought to end the segregation against the black community. And because the issues are incredibly different, the solutions they proposed do not make sense to compare. Marx concluded that he would want to distribute the wealth of large companies, the rich, to help the poor. Marx wants the idea of no private property or any inherited wealth. By taking away the idea of no private property, the hierarchy would cease to exist. This creates equality amongst all the people because no one would have the right to own anything, which means that the people will live their life without the need to compete to survive. Dubois wanted the black community to earn their rightful place in society, by doing so Dubois took matters into his hand and he then wrote a book with stories African Americans witnessed and call attention to the severe racism towards the black community. As one of the founders of the NAACP, the organization fought against lynching, segregation of schools, voting disenfranchisement, and much more. It used journalism as one of its most powerful tools, publishing the records of thousands of lynchings over thirty years.

Marx and Dubois heavily influence history, Marx’s ideas about     Capitalism has changed many people's perspective on what an ideal government should be. As for Du Bois, he inspired many other African American activists and has changed African American history through his stories and by the NAACP.  Though Marx and Dubois fought for completely different reasons, they both fought for the equality of the people. Both theorists wanted the people in their society to live in harmony with a certain group having more power than the other.....