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Friday, August 9, 2019

Can the theories in Machiavelli's THE PRINCE be used to justify the Essay

Can the theories in Machiavelli's THE PRINCE be used to justify the totalitarian actions and theories of Marx, Lenin and Stalin - Essay Example The totalitarian actions of several great world leaders have walked on the path he laid causing indestructible loss to the humanity as well as morals. Machiavelli's theories do justify the actions of the leaders, who sculpted the history of the human kind, but history had proved again and again total control over any community, unleashed through chameleonic actions, fear and attacking first will only fail sooner or later. Act According to the Situation Machiavelli always argued the leaders should be ready to act in a chameleonic way to preserve their power. According to him it is completely just to lure the people using various philosophies like patriotism, capitalism etc. They should never regret to change it as and when necessary, if there is a threat for their power. He says every leader should be ready to take the help of the evil to sustain power if they are compelled to do so. "...he (the leader of the state) must stick to the good so long as he can, but, being compelled be nec essity, he must be ready to take the way of the evil."(Machiavelli, 63) Both Karl Marx and Machiavelli did agree that there is an existing tension prevailing between the nobles and the common men for centuries. Both challenged the primitive believes of the previous generations. They put forward new ideas to change the world. Marx saw people as social beings whose total history is merely a class struggle. Each struggle leads to some sort of development. Machiavelli actually defines the rules and regulations for these struggles. Machiavellianism seen as a satire helps Marxists understand the evils of bourgeoisie much better. But, Karl Marx’s actions were influenced by the ideologies in the book to a great extent. While Marx and Machiavelli were two different poles when it came to society’s freedom and development, both shared similar views on acquiring power. Machiavelli has personally experienced all the brutalities like Strapeddo and confinement within a short area whi ch Marx struggled to remove from the society. He penned down the Prince with the aim of impressing his Lorenzo di Medici, the then Italian prince who had the capability to reduce his sentence (Wooton, 1994). The struggling did shape Machiavelli’s mind and gave him the capability to analyze the reason behind such issues. Machiavelli clearly described no man is good and there is no point in resolving only good means to fight or rule him. Similarly Karl Marx also agreed every man in a political animal and they need iron hands to rule them until humanity evolves into better state. Karl Marx struggled to establish a communal government where the poorest of the poor who were suppressed in every possible way would get some sort of freedom and justice. He believed it would be possible only through complete power change. His â€Å"Dictatorship of Proletariat† is the best example of how power will be shifted from one class to the other. This is what Machiavelli describes as taki ng the help of evil. Marxism actually lures people into believing everybody will be treated fair, with equality and mercy. But, the means to acquire power to materialize the same will be brutal, crushing everybody possible. In simple word Marxists can take the help of the evil to establish goodness in the world. They can kill the very mob they guaranteed freedom to achieve power. Karl Marx did have close contacts with many elite, rich

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