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Outline Marx's criticisms of Classical Political Economy Essay

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2. Outline Marx's criticisms of Classical Political Economy. What, if any, distinctions did Marx draw between early (Smith) and later 'Classics' (Malthus; Say), and was he accurate and fair in his depictions? Finally, explain some differences between Ricardo and Marx.

To understand Marx's criticisms of classical political economy you can turn to either Marx himself (look at his Theories of Surplus Value but also Marx & Engels' Communist Manifesto) or draw on Rubin's chapters on Malthus, Say, James Mill, Sismondi and John Stewart Mill. An important issue will be how Marx defines his concept of 'vulgar economics', especially with regards to assessing his treatment of Smith (see Rubin on this topic) and Malthus (see Winch on the latter). Meanwhile, Ricardo is another significant figure who influence Marx. This essay can be divided into three subsections if you wish, thereby tackling the three core questions separately.

Relevant Course Documents:
McGrail, B. (2020a) '5.1 Classical Political Economy after Smith', part of LLL2 Markets & Crises: The Study of Political Economy, CAHSS International Foundation Programme, The University of Edinburgh.
McGrail, B. (2020b) '5.2 Ricardo’s Reworking of Labour Value', part of LLL2 Markets & Crises: The Study of Political Economy, CAHSS International Foundation Programme, The University of Edinburgh.
McGrail, B. (2020c) '6.1 Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography', part of LLL2 Markets & Crises: The Study of Political Economy, CAHSS International Foundation Programme, The University of Edinburgh.
McGrail, B. (2020d) '7.1 Marx’s Labour Theory of Value', part of LLL2 Markets & Crises: The Study of Political Economy, CAHSS International Foundation Programme, The University of Edinburgh.

Further / Original Reading:
Backhouse, R. E., 2002, Chapter 7: ‘Classical Political Economy’, in The Penguin History of Economics. London: Penguin.
Marx, K., 1969, Theories of Surplus Value. Volume I. Translated by Emile Burns. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Marx, K., 1973, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. London: Penguin Classics.
Rubin, I., 1979 [1929], A History of Economic Thought, London: Pluto Press.
Smith, A., 1776 [1999], The Wealth of Nations. Books I-III. London: Penguin Classics.
Winch, D., 2013, Malthus: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Outline Marx's Criticisms of Classical Political Economy
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Outline Marx's Criticisms of Classical Political Economy
Classical political economy refers to a school of thought in economics, which was developed in the 19th century. The school was developed by various economic thinkers such as Adam Smith, Robert Malthus and John Stuart Mill. These economists also came up with theories of marketing economies that involved self-regulating systems. The development of the political economy involved various decisive stages (Backhouse, 2002, p. 68). These stages tried to determine and understand the economic frameworks that were used to define the basis of society. However, Marx did not agree with most of the theories that were applied in the classical political economy (McGrail, 2020d, p. 11). Thus, he criticized most of the economist arguments. Marx believed in communism and most of his critiques aimed at advocating communism as the main expression, which could be used to define the basis of the society
In his first critique, Marx argued that the political economy ignored the existing relationship between human estrangement and exploitation. Additionally, he believed that the political economy caused inequalities in society, which contributed to high poverty levels. The political economy assumed that all the classes that existed in the society worked toward one commercial purpose (Marx, 1969b, p, 89). However, Marx argued that these theories that surrounded the political economy defining the economic classes did not recognize the significance of the economic purpose of the working-class people. But, instead, they segregated people depending on their class. This resulted in the separation of classes where some became minorities.
Moreover, he believed that the economy did not recognize the experienced struggles that society was going through. Therefore Marx concluded that the political economy had failed in the discretion of the nature of humanity from superficial paradigm economic class system. Additionally, Marx argued that the economy was advocating the ignorance of the proletarian class and focused on the bourgeois class in society (McGrail, 2020c, p. 15). The classical economy termed human suffering and irrationality as natural occurrences which were beyond social control. However, Marx disagreed with the classical theory, as he believed it was the leading cause of the absurdity and inhumanity.
He argued that the development of the bourgeois and proletarian economic classes were the leading causes of the suffering. Furthermore, the classical economy led to the development of capitalism, which caused the pain of society due to the growth of different classes. Marx criticized the development of these classes as he believed they were the leading causes of class antagonism in labour-power (Rubin and Colliot-Thélène, 1989, p. 48). He also argued that the development of capitalism resulted in class struggles, which forced people to sell their labour to achieve capital for survival. This lead to the exploitation of labourers in different companies. "Capital is dead labour, which, vampire-like, lives only by suck...
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