Session 16: Will Marxism really win over Capitalism?

In “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System”,  Immanuel Wallerstein talks about Marxist ideology and how certain problems in the capitalist system will ultimately lead to its fall. Considering this paper was written in 1974 while the largest of communist countries, the USSR saw its demise in 1989 at the end of the cold war gives insight into how the conclusion of two clashing “world-systems” was unpredictable. Marxist ideology is a means of analysing societies, focusing on class distinction and social conflict whereas; communism is the applied form of this idea.

However, the author believes that there are three stages of development before a country can reach the idealist communist structure of government. These include a post-revolutionary government, a socialist state and ultimately, communism. Therefore, some scholars are of the opinion that USSR was never really an ideal form of communism but could be seen as a country striving under Marxist ideology which lends some veracity to the content of this paper, especially with the rise of China into the International power dynamics.

Currently, China is not only economically sound but, it is also building up its military in order to compete with major world powers such as the US. Hence, there is great apprehension throughout the world, among democratic nations in particular about the rise in power of a communist state. This leaves open the possibility of “future demise of the world capitalist system” as even capitalist systems are not flawless.

However, the author also points out that the struggle for Marxism “will never end”. Does this mean that it is not really possible to attain a government or economy run by Marx’s principles? Furthermore, his emphasis is on the economic aspect of both systems under discussion while the political system has not been discussed as much, both of which are greatly intertwined.