Page:Karl Marx The Man and His Work.pdf/106

104 Upon this massive and imposing foundation the system of Socialist, or, to be more exact, Marxian Economics is erected. The Economics of Marx are nothing else but a key for the proper understanding of the origin, nature and culmination of the capitalist system of production. Marxian Economics furnish to the student a complete analysis of the laws underlying present-day production; they point out the causes of the various industrial manifestations and also expose and formulate the tendencies inherent in these economic potentialities. Thus the genesis of profit, interest, rent, unemployment, panics, competition and wars is easily ascertained with the aid of the Marxian system of economic research. For a scientific conception of Capitalism, therefore, the study of Socialist Economics is indispensable. And without a sound knowledge of capitalist production, no effective, Socialist activity, economic or political, is possible.

The Materialist Conception of History and Marxian Economics, i.e., "the Socialist conception of historic development plus the Socialist analysis of capitalist production, these two theoretical systems are the intellectual pillars upon which the Socialist movement rests—they symbolize the bedrock of Socialist science. In proportion as the Socialist movement organizes and develops in accord with the dictates flowing from a proper assimilation of these principles, in that proportion will it become a Socialist movement and possess the revolutionary and constructive vitalities so peculiar to a class-conscious movement, and vice versa. Therefore the strength of the Socialist movement is necessarily to be found in a sound and comprehensive understanding of its principles and aims by the rank and file. Without this understanding no intelligent action is possible, and no responsible opinion can be rendered or decision arrived at. Consequently, familiarity with the fundamentals of the Socialist philosophy is an imperative prerequisite for a competent conception of party problems, and also for the proper understanding of Socialist tactics.