Like any other philosophers or literary artists, the works of Carl Marx are heavily dependent of imagery and metaphorical expressions. Imagery is important in art. Imagery not only brings out the emotions and the personality of the artist but also correlates the particular work of art with the artists own environment and circumstances that define this environment. In his works on colonialism and capitalism, Marx uses rather scary images of blood-sucking vampires, monsters and zombies to drive his point home. Looking at the content that Marx is presenting and his use of these images, it is clear that this imagery goes far beyond just a literary style like any other. Thus, this paper explores why Carl Marx chose this rather scary imagery to represent his views on colonialism and capitalism.
First, Marx uses his images to try to reveal the real roots of colonialism and capitalism. Marx argues that colonialism is, in essence, a form of capitalism that came up as a result of exaggerated capitalist mindsets in the European bourgeoisie of the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. As Kornbluh (2010) reveals, Marx appreciates that capitalism is a rather recent mindset, as humans were initially known to live in small social communist groups.
Marx argues that capitalism resulted because of conflict due to remote sins. In the traditional communist groups, dissatisfactions arose as some people thought they were working more than others did. The need for independence from the communist groups is what brought up capitalism. This, therefore, means that the origins of capitalism were not as peaceful and natural as it may seem now (McNally, 2011). The inception of capitalism was a brutal move where the hardworking individuals in society were punishing the ancestral sins of the lazy people of society. Full-blown capitalism set in when those whose ancestors were lazy did not have anything to sell and lacked the capacity to buy and the only thing that they had to sell was, therefore, their bodies’ ability to work hence the value of labor in capitalism.
Marx, therefore, uses the scary images of blood sucking-vampires, to represent the rather harsh origin of capitalism. For capitalism to be set in motion, a certain set of individuals had to be deprived of all material belongings that they possessed, for them to remain like zombies who can easily be controlled by the bourgeoisie (McNally, 2011). The bourgeoisie wants the labor that these materially deprived people have; however, they can only get it by force and oppression. This brutal inception of capitalism and its results like colonialism and capitalism can be equated to blood sucking vampires who keep growing at the expense of the middle class.
Secondly, Marx uses the scary imagery of blood sucking vampires and monsters to demonstrate the nature of capitalism and its results. The dynamics of capitalism demand that the individual with most capital, the bourgeoisie and the landowning classes of medieval Europe, work the least but earn the most (Smith, 2012). Conversely, the working class who lack material things to sell or the financial capacity to buy material things are coerced by circumstances to sell their labor (Smith, 2012). The working class, therefore, work the most but earn the least. The bourgeoisie is thus seen to act like a blood sucking vampire, which in its dead state does not do any work, which consistently sucks the blood out of the middle class (Neocleous, 2003). The vampire leaves its victims too weak to run but strong enough to produce more blood for it to continue sucking.
Colonialism, a result of capitalism, is no different. Colonialists, like blood-sucking vampires, took as much as they could from their subjects but still demanded more (Derrickson, 2002). In fear of the wrath and brutality of the colonialists, their subjects availed themselves as labor to continue making more for the vampire. Slavery, another result of capitalism, is even worse. Linebaugh and Rediker (2012) depict slavery as a situation where vulnerable individuals were taken by the bourgeoisie and denied their freedom for them to provide labor just for their survival; once their working ability was extinguished, their owner would dump them just as a blood-sucking vampire would do to a victim who can no longer produce blood to be sucked. Even long after the departure of colonialists, capitalism still reaps the life out of poor people in third world countries as they are terrorized by corrupt and rich politicians who ran the economy (Afolayan & Ibitoye, 2011). This confirms the sentiments by Marx that once set in motion, the insatiable nature of capitalism cannot allow it to stop unless a massive revolution happens.
The scramble and partition of Africa among European heads of state in the nineteenth century is a dark moment in history that gives perspective to Marx’s monsters. European heads of states, like monsters, were tearing a victim, Africa, into pieces for each of them. The victim was to be exploited for material resources and for labor. The victim being torn was not aware of the events, though – they were only surprised by the invasion of Europeans who arrived claiming that the African’s land belonged to them.
Moreover, Moretti, in the dialectic of fear, presents Dracula as a monster who delights in possession more than satisfaction (Moretti, 1982). Dracula’s desires are, therefore, unending and insatiable (Moretti, 1982). This is the real nature of capitalism, the bourgeoisie does not seek wealth for their own personal satisfaction; rather, these people accumulate more and more wealth just for the sake of it. Considering that wealth as a universal resource is limited, Dracula’s insatiable desires tend to strip the weak and poor man of whatever they own hence the metaphor of a blood-sucking vampire who won’t release their victims.
The third reason as to why Karl Marx uses the scary imagery to represent his views on capitalism and its effects is deeply entangled in his own view of the world. Marx’s view of the world is summarized in the philosophy of Marxism. Marxism is majorly thought of as a pro-socialist theory (Harman, 2010). Marxism advances that the intensifying conflict between the rapidly rising working class and the bourgeoisie will eventually culminate in a social revolution that will promote the establishment of a socialistic society.
As a pro-socialist, Marx uses metaphorical language to expose the evil and oppressive nature of capitalism (Heinrich & Locascio, 2012). Actually, Marx critiques the brutality that defines the nature of capitalism. He uses his metaphors to expose the inhuman nature of capitalist actions and to influence his followers to subscribe to the opinion that capitalism is something that should end. Moretti’s dialectic of fear exposes capitalism as even more dangerous to the whole existence of humanity. In fact, as Moretti (1982) puts it, even the creators of capitalism are afraid of their creation. We can, therefore, conclude that Marx used the metaphors to emphasize why capitalism should be replaced by socialism.
Moreover, the ugly results of capitalism and colonialism such as gender inequality and racism prompt Marx to use the scary imagery he used to depict capitalism and colonialism. Capitalism, as a self-propagating insatiable vampire, is always looking to make more and to accumulate more wealth (Neocleous, 2003). This accumulation also means sucking of more blood from its victims. This nature of capitalism is what led to policies that looked to enhance productivity like increase of working hours. Every capitalist had to increase their productivity for them to remain competitive in the market. This competitiveness and increased labor demands did not in any way favor women (Federici, 2004). Women were thought to be too weak for the labor market at the time. This led to the alienation of women in the labor market and later in the education sector (Federici, 2004). The fact that most of the bourgeoisie and the land owners of the then Europe were men even worsened this gender inequality. As Harrison (1990) puts it, the value of labor and the labor demands of the time put men in a pole position. This lead to rapid degradation of society and overdependence on male wage earners.
Colonialism also did its part in extending the ugly reality of gender inequality to the colonies. The work demands of the colonialists did not favor women. The colonialists, therefore, alienated women in job and education opportunities (Derrickson, 2002). In essence, capitalism heightened the plight of a woman. Like a blood-sucking vampire, capitalism sucked the life out of women and left them are child-bearers and commodities of sex that could be commercialized. Indeed, though prostitution is a vice that is almost as old as the very existence of man, capitalism played its part in enhancing this vice. As Keet (2002) puts it, this is more visible in developing countries which were colonized by Europe.
Racism is another result of capitalism and colonialism (Linebaugh & Rediker, 2012). Racism acts to divide the working class; disunity of the working class benefits the bourgeoisie. As Marx puts it, for capitalism to end, the working class must unite and revolt against the bourgeoisie for there to be the equal distribution of available resources. Anything which divides the working class thus promotes capitalism. As earlier alluded to, once set in motion, capitalism is able to propagate itself. Capitalism, through colonialism, set up racism and propagated it to capitalism’s own advantage. Racism originally came in as an ideology that justified slavery of the inferior blacks (Linebaugh & Rediker, 2012). As the blacks gained political power to join the working class, the bourgeoisie fuelled more racism to create disunity among workers hence reducing their political power – all to the benefit of the employer just as Rosa Luxemburg argued in the writings by Schmidt (2014).
Further, the conflict theory, a result of neo marxism, reveals the dormant hostility in capitalist societies that could have prompted Marx to use scary images of monsters and vampires to depict capitalism. Monsters and vampires are scary and mostly invisible things. This is the same in a capitalist society; there is rage, fury, malice, and hostility that have been masked by the system – eruption of this emotions could be compared to the awakening of destructive monster (Keet, 2002). The working class is unhappy with the unequal distribution of resources and the way that they are exploited by the bourgeoisie. The working class are bitter with their employers but cannot express their bitterness because of fear of losing their jobs. Since the working class lack neither capital nor commodities to sell, rejection of their labor leave them with no other source of income. The working class, therefore, have suppressed bitterness and anger. This dependency is the same as what Keet (2002) describes as a dependency of developing countries to the developed ones. Developed countries exploit the developing world for limited resources by luring them with loans and grants.
Moreover, capitalism and the capitalist promote mechanization as it would definitely increase productivity. The working class, however, are afraid of mechanization as it would mean that they have no employment (Kornbluh, 2010). This is depicted perfectly in eighteenth-century Europe where workers would sneak into cotton factories at night and burn cotton mills that threatened their jobs. As Kornbluh (2010) puts it mechanization, therefore, is like a monster causes extreme fear in the working class.
The bourgeoisie on the other side are malicious; their goal is to make as much profit as possible. Heavier exploitation of the working class can help the bourgeoisie in achieving this goal. However, the bourgeoisie is forced to conceal their malice and to thwart any efforts of unification among the working class lest they risk the loss of the most valuable resource they have – labor (Kornbluh, 2010). This concealed malice and bitterness in a capitalist system is not any different from an invisible and sleepy blood-sucking vampire.
Sixth, Karl Marx is trying to predict the painful end to capitalism by comparing capitalism to monsters and vampires. Monsters and vampires are not good things and they ultimately cause the death of its victims. Marx uses them to predict that capitalism like a blood-sucking vampire will lead to the extinction of humanity if not controlled soon (Harman, 2010). The current economic crises and wars over natural resources are an indicator to the far much painful ultimate end of capitalism. The malice and bitterness that capitalism bores do not aid humanity in any way, rather, like a looming monster, it threatens the very existence of man.
Finally, as McNally puts it, use of this imagery is the best shot that Marx had in his attempt to reveal the bad side of cruelty and brutality of capitalism. McNally asserts that the theoretical languages that existed at the time Marx was making his dialectic, philosophy and political economy, could not depict his views on capitalism correctly (Sernatinger & Echeverria, 1970). Marx, therefore, resolved to use a literary style that based on the circumstances surrounding him to express his opinions on capitalism.
Marx’s use of language is exemplary and highly successful. As seen in the paper, there are many reasons as to why Marx could have opted to use scary imagery of blood, monsters, and vampires to depict capitalism and its results. One thing worth noting is that in all perspectives, the imagery was highly successful and exposed what various writers think Marx wanted to expose perfectly.
References
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