Marxism or Marxist theory states about the importance of economy and economic equality in society. Based on economic regards Marx stated his famous theory about the class system i.e. the struggle between the have’s and have’s not. Based on economic power the classes are divided into the upper class, middle class, and lower class. Karl Marx talks of capitalism which according to him is a system that is exploitative towards the have’s not class or the middle/lower class and thus suggests an alternative system i.e. communism.
It is absolutely true that economic differences increase injustice in our society. There can be many reasons to justify this comment and some of them are as follow; Capitalism, according to Marx, is a system that supports the well-established and elite class because it is made by the elite class. Since the elite class has all the means to production that is why they are the ones who end up having more than the working class.
In capitalism, Karl Marx stated that if you are from a well-established class such as the elite class then the person is entitled to have everything. While if someone belongs to the lower working class then the person will automatically be exempted from certain rights, for example, education is a fundamental right for everybody but the elite class gets a high standard of education while the lower working class gets a cheap standard of education. It can be seen in today’s world too that student from poor families takes loans to complete their higher studies and for their entire lives keeps paying the interest of the loan. So in every means it is an injustice to the working class.
Further, Marx states that the capitalists exploit labor by paying them less money and making them end up a hand to mouth. The elite class thinks only about themselves and earns more profits while they give fewer wages to laborers and do injustice to the laborers, this difference in classes i.e. the capitalists who are earning more profit by exploiting laborers and the working class that is earning very less gets into a vicious cycle i.e. the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer. This gap in economic earnings keeps increasing with time.
Though, Karl Marx said that the working class will bring a revolutionary form to abolish the capitalist society but it seems near to impossible in this 21 century because in previous centuries the means of production were on the one hand but in this era, the resources or means of production are distributed in more than one hands and many multinational corporations have been set up that are increasing their economic power every day. That is why according to Marx, Capitalists will never enable Communism because then there will be such a difference in the class system and also socialism that the means of production will be in the hand of the public, and everyone will be rich and make more profit which means less profit for the capitalists.
However, Marxist scholars, in my humble opinion, would definitely be critical regarding our legal system. Because our legal system is not inclusive or participatory, it is rather based on exclusive policies i.e. only a few people get to decide what is done and in what manner. In Pakistan one can see a clear distinction between the haves and has not classes, for example, in every sector one can see the difference in private and public schooling and the health care system. However, there is a cultural and social issues that may get change in the future. Moreover, economic justice also isn’t practiced in Pakistan as the women’s participation of women in the economy and politics is next to nothing because they are not given space.
It would not be wrong to state that in have not the crime rates increased such as in the case of Safia Bibi an 18 years old blind girl who was raped by the landlord and his son in 1983 at that time hudood laws are in enforcement, the set standard of proof of Zina-bil-jabr as well as for zina was high and she was unable to prove that and after that, she will be accused of Zina. So in that situation, it was total injustice to Safia because she was helpless and from the lower class and the other party was from the upper or elite class, therefore the other party won the case. This example shows very clearly due to economic disparity injustice is at the peak of our society. Further, the court could help the victim and could interpret the law in the best way, and could have investigated much deeper in the case for if a bad example is being made then it is the duty of the judges to correct it, or of the lawmakers as they are sovereign to do so. As the Dworkin interpretive theory say that judge interpret the law but do our judges interpret their cases in that manner? No, they are not interpreting in that manner, for example, article 3 states regarding the elimination of exploitation, same as article 38 which talks of the Promotion of social and economic well-being of the people.
Hence in my opinion the Pakistan constitution is not interpreted by judges properly, especially when they have the power to interpret it for the betterment of society. Nevertheless, in Pakistan, many laws changed during that unfortunate time but it was too late. All the theories are good talks but when they come to apply they do not go well for the public. Maybe because of the public being uncivilized or because the capitalist abusing their economic power. In my opinion, the elite class or capitalism will not end, it has become a trend or tradition now because even if the poor class is given power they will exploit the rich too. Hence there is a need for balance in our society.
