Marxist History and the Future According to Marx

QUESTION: Marxist History – The Future According to Marx

ANSWER:

The Marxist view of history fails to address two potentialities. First, if classes act as the catalyst for the dialectic, then what becomes of the dialectic when classes cease to exist? Under communism all class distinctions will be abolished. But without classes, what will act as the thesis and the antithesis to drive the dialectic toward a clash and ultimately to a new synthesis? What will keep the wheels of history turning?

Marxist History – A New Synthesis
Second, theoretically the dialectic has improved our economic structures (and consequently, our societies and ideas) throughout history, but as soon as the dialectic forces the whole world to communism, the ultimate mode of production and exchange will have been achieved and the need for the dialectic will be erased. How can the dialectic lead us beyond communism? No better economic structure (and therefore, no better basis for society and ideas) exists.

Notes:

Rendered with permission from the book,Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews(Rev. 2^nd ed), David Noebel, Summit Press, 2006. Compliments of John Stonestreet, David Noebel, and the Christian Worldview Ministry at Summit Ministries. All rights reserved in the original.