Citation: Bello, M., & Jimoh, Y. A. (2026). Marxism: Essence towards the development of Nigeria’s twenty-first century. Journal of Social Review and Development, 5(3), 52–57. https://doi.org/10.64171/JSRD.5.3.52-57
MARXISM:
ESSENCE TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA'S TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
By
Mas'ud
Bello, Ph.D.
Department
of History and International Studies
Federal
University of Gusau, Zamfara State
08080960466
&
Yusuf
A. Jimoh
Department
of History and International Studies
Federal
University Gusau, Zamfara State
070-64291971
jamudayusuf@fugusau.edu.ng
Abstract
Marxism is not a religion, but a
socio-economic thesis of collectivization, a bedrock of progress for human
social formations in the contemporary epoch of Nigerian history. The idea of
Karl Marx economic theory of history can be found in his work "The
Communist Manifesto" (1848). It makes sense and meaning that no human
society can develop without material wealth. The economic factor, or the
materialistic well-being of that society, is the basis of development.
According to Walt Whitman Rostow in his theory of development, pinned down the
five stages of the progress of every social formation is tied to the economy,
which is the base of a society's progress. Theorists of underdevelopment such
as Celso Furtado, Andre Gunder Frank, Paul Baran, Peter Jalee, Rosa Luxemburg,
Marion J. Levy, Samir Amin, Joseph Emmanuel Stiglitz, Walter Rodney, etc.,
blamed the "core” satellite social circle for the underdevelopment of the
social "peripheral" divides. These theorists regarded the material
wealth as significant to the development of “backward” societies today. To
crown it all, Adam Smith reflected on relevance of the economic structure,
hence his work on "The Wealth of Nations". It is in the light of the
above that this paper examined the place of Marxism vis-Ã -vis its essence in
the socioeconomic development of Nigeria in the twenty-first century
millennium. The pedagogy applied is the use of textbooks, journal articles,
conference papers, Internet sources, etc. The recommendations are exhaustively
examined before the conclusion.
Index Terms: Historical Materialism, Social Revolution, Class Struggle, Dialectical Materialism, Economic Determinism, Communism, Capitalism.
Introduction
The origin of Communism, a Marxist theory of a form of political
economy, did not just sprang up overnight. The practice of political economy
can be traced to the Medieval period between the 11th and 13th centuries in
Europe. This period witnessed Feudalism as land ownership controlled by a
feudal lord in charge of fiefs (feuds), where serfs (slaves) worked for the
feudal sovereignty. It was a master–land–slave mode of production in the
period’s political economy. There was no individual ownership of property
except the feudal lord (Fadeyi, 1976). By 1750, Britain became the
first workshop of the world. That was the ushering in of the Industrial
Revolution. Industrialization led to the demise of the feudal system. It
was replaced by the capitalist system with its attendant mode of production
involving the entrepreneurial bourgeois class and the proletariat in its mode
of production, comprising the forces of production and the relations of
production. As Robert Brenner ( 1989) puts it:
For political Marxists, capitalism
can be said to have emerged only when the direct producers and appropriators
have lost non-market access to their means of subsistence and production, and
became entirely dependent on the market for their self-reproduction. Market
dependency and the non-concomitant separation of the “economic” and “political”
are thereby taken as the sine qua non of capitalism.
Capitalism was a system of exploiters and the exploited. Capitalism
involved and encouraged ownership of the means of production and ownership of
property by individuals.
The year 1848 ushered into limelight
another system of political economy called Communism. This was theorized by
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their book, The Communist Manifesto (1848).
This system of economic advancement condemned capitalism. Communism, or
Marxism, believed that capitalism would collapse, that a collectivization
principle - communism would take over in the world of political economy of a
classless society. This communist ideology is yet to gain ground worldwide, its
impact is felt on the historical sands of time among world political
communities. It is as a result of this that Francis Fukuyama wrote in his book,
‘The End of History and the Last Man’, to counteract Marxism. But Marxism is
more than an ideology and political economy (Barrow 1956). Today, its essence
can be felt and seen in societies, with this write-up focusing on its influence
in Nigeria in the twenty-first century (Sabine & Thorson,1973).
Conceptual
Clarifications
It is significant in a write-up of this nature to delve into an
examination synoptically on some concepts.
Communism; Communism is a political economy, political and economic ideology
that advocates for a classless society with communal ownership of the means of
production, where material resources are distributed based on need. The
community, through common ownership, collectively hegemonizes all the means of
production of goods and services, exchange and distribution. There is the
abolition of class oppression and exploitation of the proletariat by the
bourgeoisie. The foundation of the society is laid on the common
possession of the means of production and the equal distribution of goods. Marx
averred that Communism can be achieved if the state, conceived as an instrument
of coercion and repression ceases to exist. The slogan of the Communists is:
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".
Historical Materialism: The
foundation of the physical sciences (physics and chemistry) as well as the
biological sciences are ladden at the base with material conditions. These
calls for the survival of these sciences. Under the stimulus of Feuerbach's
materialist interpretation of Hegel, Marx later adopted such materialism to
social studies, just as it was in the Darwinian Theory of Evolution in 1859.
Karl Marx's Historical Materialism is viewed as the economic
interpretation of history, or the materialist conception of history. It is an
economic theory of history which rests on the principle that the major causes
of any historical occurrence are to be found in the conditions of material
existence. All changes in history are due solely to material wealth the
economic factor. Marx and Engels believed that the base of society, or the
infrastructure of human society, is entirely material or economic, and that
other elements like law, arts, culture, political constitutions, philosophy,
religion, and a host of others are no more than the superstructure of quite
secondary importance to the base, because they all depend entirely on and
derive from the economic base (Brenner, 1989).
Social Revolution:
This is a transitional period that a society passes through from one stage to
another. It is a form of social metamorphosis of the human species from a
particular social standing and condition to another. An adaptation could be
applied here to the social revolution of the Stone Age peoples from the
Paleozoic to the Mesozoic and Neozoic epochs of human evolution a social
revolution indeed. Marx argued that:
Europe had passed through three
different stages. Greece and the Roman Empire first passed through the ancient
society, which was based on slavery. The second is the feudal society of
medieval Europe, which was based on serfdom and the guild system. The third is
the capitalist system, which was based on wage labour.
According to Robin Law:
Since different forms of society
were based on different modes of production, changes from one form of society
to another derived from changes in the mode of production or, more
specifically, from the progressive development of the "forces of production".
Marx and Engels used the term "social revolution" to refer to the
period during which the transition from one form of society to another was
Marx still believed that social revolution did not stop at the
capitalist stage; that the capitalist society of his day will evolve into
socialist society, which would be based on communal ownership.
Class Struggle: Every
human society is a class, each class holistically is one that is structured in
class subdivisions or echelons—the Upper, Middle and Lower classes. Even in
ancient societies class divisions were explicit. Existence of classes leads to
conflict among human species or organism for the sake of progress based on
survival of the fittest, but the weak can also become the fittest depending on
conditions. Class antagonism is bound to explode with time on the
part of the proletariat overthrowing the capitalist bourgeoisie, thus leading
to a classless society surviving on a collectivization mode of production
communally (Vladimir1916).
Dialectical Materialism: Marx’s
first statement of dialectical materialism were made in a group of works
written between 1844 and 1848 under the stimulus of Feuerbach’s material
interpretation of Hegel and as incidents in Marx's career as a revolutionist
socialist. The interpretation here is that materialist or
materialism conditions could be found in every aspect of matter physics,
chemistry, Darwin’s organic evolution and even in human society, which Karl
Marx applied to Economic Theory of History. Marx and Hegel theorized the
dialectic as a law of logic. The base of the society and its existence is
materialistic as it is in the physical sciences, social sciences and social
studies. Without these material basis, no significant development can be made
society will remain static. The real motive forces in the history of a society
are in the material conditions. Today the material conditions serve
as the basis and moving forces towards nation-building in Nigeria.
Proletarian Revolution:
Marx’s social philosophy depended upon and first clearly brought into the
forces of attention a social change of absolutely first-rate importance which
occurred in the nineteenth century, the rise to political self consciousness
and finally to political power of an industrial working class. This became
responsible for changing the course of liberal thought, but Marx perceived its
importance far sooner than the liberals. Especially in the historical studies
which formed an integral part of his philosophy, he presented capitalism for
the first time in what might be called its human aspect, as an institution that
had produced and was continually enlarging a class of men who must live wholly
from wages and who were therefore related to their employers only by a
cash-nexus. The relationship of employer and employee in industry
tends thus to be stripped of human significance and moral obligation and
becomes simply one of power. With power and the means of production
controlled by the bourgeois class as exploiters, exploiting the proletariat.
Economic Determinism The advancement of every human
society depends on its material wealth – the economy. Adam Smith regarded this
in his book "The Wealth of Nations". The economic growth of society
serves as the converging and pivotal point that catapults such a society to
economic growth and development in all its entities. The wealth of every
society is the bedrock of its economy. It is on this note that Karl Marx
stressed:
..that it is in the economic realm that all states of affairs must
be finally understood. This is the economic interpretation of history or economic
determinism. Karl Marx’s economic theory of history rests on the principle that
the major causes of any historical occurrence are to be found in the conditions
of material existence. Karl Marx and his closest friend, Friedrich
Engels, were of the opinion that all changes in history are due solely to
material wealth the economic factor. Both Marx and Engels believed that the
base of society, or the infrastructure of human society, is entirely material
or economic, and that other elements like law, arts and culture, political
constitutions, religion and philosophy, and a host of others, are no more than
the superstructure of quite secondary importance to the base, because they all
depend entirely on and derive from the economic base.
The diagram below is a synopsis of Economic Determinism as
theorized by Marxism.
Political
Constitution Source: Emphasis mine - Yusuf A. Jimoh 16/05/2026.
Furthermore, on economic determinism, Feuerbach claimed that:
...the motive forces in social
history are material meant for Marx, these forces are economic. The economic
meant for him the method of economic production, for he was concerned that any
system of production carries with it a corresponding way of distributing the
social product, the way which alone will keep the system operating, and in turn
the distribution creates a structure of social classes, each of which is
determined by its position in the system. This method by which a society
utilizes natural resources and produces the goods by which it lives is
therefore, for Marx, its mainspring of existence.25 Its mode of
production at any given time explains its political and indeed its whole
cultural condition at that time, and changes in the system of production
explains the corresponding changes that occur in its politics and culture.
This, in bare outline, is Marx’s theory of economic determinism, which is the
concrete social and political meaning that he attached to dialectical
materialism.
This economic theory of history provided Karl Marx with a programme
or base for a proletarian revolution, which is to abolish social inequality and
finally to create a socialist and classless society. Nigeria has material
wealth such as petroleum, gold, columbite, tin, coal, aluminium and many other
natural resources that can be tapped and harnessed to improve the well-being of
the citizens. The dominant ideologies can also be improved upon to better the
lot of man in the Nigerian society on an equal basis. The lack of this has led
currently to armed banditry, religious terrorism, kidnappings and other social
crises.
Capitalism: The
1750 Industrial Revolution in Britain came and ended the feudal society in
Britain. The capitalist system, or capitalism, came into focus with its
attendant mode of production involving the entrepreneurial bourgeois class and
the proletariat, in which the forces of production and relations of production
interplayed with each other amalgamatively. Capitalism involved and encouraged
ownership of the means of production and ownership of property by individuals.
The Industrial Revolution came with imperialism, which is “the highest stage of
capitalist development” and a transitional stage leading to a higher communist
economy and society. Vladimir Lenin averred:
Imperialism emerged as the
development and direct continuation of the fundamental attributes of capitalism
in general. But capitalism only became capitalist imperialism at a definite and
very high stage of its development when certain of its fundamental attributes
began to be transformed into their opposites, when the features of a period of
transition from capitalism to a higher social and economic system began to take
shape and reveal themselves all along the line.
Capitalism has grown to be a system encompassing the exploiters
(bourgeois class) and the exploited class (the proletariat) who only survive on
wage labour. Capitalism is an economic theory in which the bourgeois capitalist
hegemonized the means of production using proletarian labour from time to time,
depending on wage labour to survive (Marx, 1848).
Marxist
Ideology: A Trajectory Towards Ni eria’s Development in the 21st Century
Millennium
Having identified and examined the theoretical foundations of
Marxism, it is significant here to examine certain dominant ideologies of Marx
in terms of interpretability, applicability and usability to the current-day
Nigerian development.
The
Nigerian Nation and Class Consciousness
Marxism
has created class consciousness not only in the current Nigerian
dispensation but throughout Continental Africa. Kwame Nkrumah
(1972) averred:
In many of the African independent
states, the absence of large-scale industry and the relatively low skill and
educational standards of the workers regard class consciousness; they are often
non-revolutionary and have a petty bourgeois mentality. Yet in Senegal, for
example, the working class is larger than in many African states and where
there is 95 percent literacy among men and 99 percent among women, there is a
vigorously working class movement.
Marxist class consciousness ideology has gone down into the psyche
of the working class, educational elites, religionists and illiterates alike,
in spite of their low level of education. Today, Marxism has engulfed the
masses of Nigerian society in a holistic class consciousness in all segments of
society, vis-Ã -vis the political, economic, social, cultural, religious and
educational scale levels of the political community. The academics are engaged
in strikes due to class consciousness. Labour unions and other associated
groups are not left out in this race. The generation gap due to class
consciousness has made armed bandits, kidnappers and terrorists are hovering
all over the place in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Niger State, and of
recent Nasarawa and Kwarra States of Nigeria, leading to class conflicts. The
role of globalization has also contributed to this awareness. The “clash of
civilization” based on Huntington’s theory of globalization has opened the
gateway to arms proliferation into Nigeria, thus increasing the dimension of
class consciousness based on the frustration–aggression theory. Class
consciousness is well proselytized among the religious landmarks of the
Nigerian society, with specific reference to Boko Haramism since 2009, the Islamic
State for West African Province (ISWAP), Shi'a movements, the existence of
Tijaniyyah and Qadiriyyah Islamic creeds, and EndSARS riots, is part of class
consciousness and the 1987 Structural Adjustment Programme and the “12 June
1993” annulment of the presidential election riots are felt aspects of class
awareness. These riots reared their heads to marshal in a positive manner
social transformation and positive change in the Nigerian society. In the
Christian terrain, class consciousness has led to the birth and rebirth, or
religious renaissance, of Christian religious creeds in variety today in
Nigerian society due to class consciousness.
The
Nigerian nation and class struggle
The Nigerian nation is not divorced from the ambit of the class
struggle, but amalgamated to it. This amalgamation of the Nigerian society
scenario is one that has an architectural metaphor to that of Karl Marx
(1818–1883). Endre Sik, who wrote The History of Black Africa (1966) and A
History of Africa, 1918–1967 (1968), produced by a team of scholars, both works
interpret African history in terms of the “class struggle” following the
analysis of Karl Marx. Kwame Nkrumah (1972) stressed on the issue in his work
Class Struggle in Africa (1972). Marxism has not removed the Nigerian nation
from the core dimensions and principles of class struggle. Borrowing from
Marxist morphology, Nkrumah said:
At the core of the problem is the
class struggle. For too long social and political commentators have talked and
written as though Africa lies outside the mainstream of historical development a
separate entity to which the social, economic and political patterns of the
world do not apply…... Class divisions in modern African society became blurred
to some extent during the pre-independence period, when it seemed there was
national unity and all classes joined forces to eject the colonial powers.
This led some to proclaim that there were no class divisions in
Africa and that the communalism and egalitarianism of traditional African
society made any notion of class struggle out of the question. But
the exposure of this fallacy followed after independence, when class cleavages,
which had been temporarily submerged in the struggle to win political freedom,
reappeared, often with increased intensity, particularly in those states where
newly independent governments embarked on socialist policies.
This idea of Marxists socialist-communism reared its transparent
head in Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzania under Julius Nyerere with his
African Socialism, and in Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo's socialism inclinations,
Aminu Kano and his People's Redemption Party (PRP), Balarabe Musa, was a
socialist to the core. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida as a military democrat
founded the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Redemption Party
(NRP). The historic role of political parties in Nigeria mentioned above
depends on which classes such as revolutionary, progressive, conservative, reactionary,
counter-revolutionary they represent in Nigerian social life. Marxism has
touched the lives of the workers' movement in Nigeria, such as the Nigeria
Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian
University Commission (NUC). These movements have become a factor of major
importance in the struggle to secure the workers' interests.
Nkrumah (1972: 10–18) stressed:
Class struggle is a fundamental
theme of recorded history. In every nonsocialist society there are two main
categories of class, the ruling class or classes, and the subject class or
classes. The ruling class possesses the major instruments of economic production
and distribution, and the means of establishing its political dominance, while
the subject class serves the interest of the ruling class, and is politically,
economically and socially dominated by it.
In Nigeria contemporarily, the ruling class(es) are the capitalist
bourgeois class, controlling the major instruments of economic production in
transportation, agriculture, industry, manufacturing, and petroleum sectors of
the economy. The proletariat are just wage-earners being dominated by the
ruling class.
CLASS STRUGGLE
To epitomize, class struggle is fundamental in its analysis. It is
not feasible and possible to develop and build socialism in Nigeria, as part of
the developing world, in isolation from the world socialist system.
Karl
Marx, the Nigerian Nation and Education
Education as a phenomenon has been defined by scholars in various
ways. Adeyinka (1990) defined the concept as the transmission of culture from
one generation to another. Adenunmi saw the concept as the imbibing of habits,
attitudes and skills in a learner to make him an acceptable member of the
society. It is seen as the transmission of life by the living to the living.
Bloom (1956), in his Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, stated
that education should develop in the learner the cognitive, the affective, and
psychomotor domains in his career to be well-fit to face the challenges of
life. Karl Marx (1818–1883), a German social, economic and ideological
philosopher, emphasized on education thus: "The ruling class fears
education because it makes obedience impossible".
Marx's idea on education captures in altruism that education does
not create obedient people but independent thinkers. They have a right to know,
to ponder on issues of prime significance. The lettered fight to achieve their
goals, aspirations, desirabilities, needs and fight for great expectations from
the ruling class. It is a tool for total emancipation in all aspects of life
(Vajda, 1986).
Education in Nigeria since independence in 1960, based on Marx's
paradigm, does not create obedient followers but emancipated thinkers whose
philosophical acumen is very logical, aesthetic, axiological, existential,
pragmatic, epistemological and metaphysical in philosophical dimensions, to
pound on how to ensure nation building in Nigeria. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, with
his Marxist inclinations, believed in free education. Hence, in the then
Western Nigeria, he introduced the Universal Primary Education in the 1960s,
and in 1975 the UPE scheme idea was introduced all over Nigeria.
Gani Fawehinmi, based on Marxist lines, has severally challenged
the various injustices committed by both civilian and military governments
against the poor masses of Nigeria. Gani Fawehinmi (2013:66) said:
“No government can satisfy me if it
does not address food poverty of Nigerians, the health poverty of Nigerians,
education poverty of Nigerians, the infrastructure poverty of Nigerians, the
energy poverty of Nigerians. This is what we have been fighting against in the
country, double standard in the application of the law.
Gani was the people's lawyer, the man of the poor masses who at all
times criticized governments as the intelligentsia (civil and the military
class) per adventure their injustices to the electorate. This was as a result
of his exposure to education and the rule of law of A. V. Dicey. Social critic,
and T. Solarin, who established the Mayflower School in Ogun State, condemned
the various injustices of the ruling class in Nigeria. A space was created in
the Nigerian Tribune where he expressed “The State of the Nation,” a forum to
fight for the poor Nigerian masses. Also, Chief Emeka Anyaoku was the third
Commonwealth Secretary-General. Ben C. A. (2013:16–17) reflected on one of
Anyaoku's speeches thus:
Education plays a pivotal role in the inculcation of values in our
young people. Of course, it is at home, from parents, that a child first begins
to learn what is wrong and what is right. But it is in educational institutions
at primary, secondary and post-secondary levels that values are cemented in the
consciousness and being of individuals.
The influence of Karl Marx on Nigerians in terms of educational
advancement cannot be over-emphasized. His theory on education paved a
trajectory to learning consciousness among millions of Nigerian elites who
encouraged their wards and young ones to acquire knowledge as a source of power
and light for their future freedoms from all sorts of degradation,
discrimination, oppression and suppression from the ruling class of the
intelligentsia civil and military class.
Conclusion
Manfred Halper's state of affairs of "frontier states" in
the Middle East is equally affecting Nigeria today as a country. Marxism as a
social, economic and political ideology can be applied in appropriate terms to
transform the Nigerian nation in such a way that citizens will live a better
life. The level of class consciousness is at its lowest ebb, can only
materialize within the ambit of Marxism elixir to propel the Nigerian nation
forward in terms of social and economic realms the forces of production and
relations of production must be marshalled using the national bourgeoisie and
not the comprador bourgeoisie for a 'mode of production' that would benefit the
citizens.
This paper then posits that Marxism should be applied ideologically
to ensure the success of the Nigerian superstructure's dominant ideologies to
move the nation forward using Nigeria's economic structure, instead of amassing
the wealth in the hands of the political class or ruling class. If this
situation continues, the country shall know no peace a panacea to sustainable
development in all endeavours of life.
Bibliography
Anievas, A. and Nisancioglu, K. (2015). How the West Came to Rule:
The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism, London: Pluto Press
Heywood, A. (2002).
Politics, New York: Palgrave Macmillan Found
Jermakova, A. and Ratnikov, V. (1986). About
Social and Political Knowledge: What Are Classes and the Class Struggle?
Linkprint of Soviet Socialist Republics, Progress Publishers
Adeyinka, A.A. (1990). Lecture
Notes on Philosophy of Education. Department of Educational Foundations, University
of Ilorin
Benji, C. A.
(2013), Greatest Speeches of Historic Black Leaders. Abuja: Mindex Publishing Company
Limited
Brenner, R.
"Bourgeois Revolution and Transition to Capitalism." In A. L. Beier,
D. Cannadine, & J. M. Rosenheim (Eds.), The First Modern Society,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
Bloom’s
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956).
Fadeyi, D.
(1986). Historiography and the Methods of Teaching History, Ibadan: Oyo State, Conscience
Books
Sabine, G. H. and
Thorson, T.L. (1973). A History of Political Theory, New Delhi, Oxford and IBH Publishing
Co. Pvt. Ltd.
Barrow, G. W. S. (1956). Feudal Britain: The Completion of the
Medieval Kingdoms, London,
Jimoh, J.J. (1986). Emphasis Mine Based on
Readings from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Thesis.
Marx, K. (1848).
The Communist Manifesto, Beijing: Foreign Language Press Ltd.
Nkrumah, K.
(1971). Class Struggle in Africa, London, Panaf Books Ltd.
Brenner, R. (1986). “Bourgeois Revolution and the Transition to
Capitalism,” in A. T. Beier, D.
Fadeyi,
T.D. (1976). Historiography and Methods of Teaching History, Ilesa, Oyo State:
Conscience Books
Vajda,
M. (1986). The State and Socialism: Political Essays. London: Allison &
Busby Ltd.,
Vladimir L.
(1916). Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Collected Works, Vol.
XIX,
Yermakova,
A., & Patnikov, V. (1986). ABC of Social and Political Knowledge: What Are
Classes and the Class Struggle? Moscow: Progress Publishers
0 Comments