As per the Germany ideology, Marx’s stages of development start with tribal ownership (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). It is a simple stage of production were individuals do simple economic activities like animal keeping, fishing, or hunting and gathering. Large resources like land are underutilized. Division of labor is based on simple social settings like family and mainly aimed at exploiting more of the available natural resources. People only relate within clans, family or the community and the need for external connection only comes with the need to trade or in times of war. The second stage is communal, or State ownership, implemented after a number of communal factions unite either by shared covenants or after defeating other factions (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). The stage is characterized by the development of property that is owned collectively by the community. The property can be fixed or flexible to mobility. People are tied to the rules of owning property as a community and labor is division is more developed. Fights exist between states, towns, or countries due to conflicting interests. The other stage of ownership is run via the feudal system (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). The feudal system basically develops as a result of war among states with conflicting interests. The system is community-based but under a faction that holds production and is antagonistic to the community needs. As soon as the feudal system is fully formulated, conflicts in ownership structure more so those involving land occur. The feudal system is thus more of an alliance against producers even though the relationship with immediate producers may be different as a result of varying production frameworks. Finally, within towns, there exists corporative property ownership that is almost similar to the feudal system of ownership (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). Unlike the feudal system, property under the corporative system is owned individually. People would work and collect wealth, which determines their influence. It is unlike in the rural areas where influence on the general population is based on alliances and property ownership associations.
Marx’s theory on origin of the state is based on materialism and idealism, struggle and class formation. With materialism and idealism, Marx argues that a state starts with the obvious need to keep on living through activities like finding food and building homes for shelter (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). Marx thus links economic activities that lead to material possession with the kind of political environment that will be experienced within specific geographical locations. Activities that men carry out with the need to survive determine the amount of power they exert over other people (Edles & Appelrouth, 2005). The other theory concept is that of class struggle, which results from different and unequal production among different factions of people. Production is mainly controlled by minority factions and by virtue of such control, they hold more power and influence in society. Under the idea of class and state formation, Marx argues that unequal exposure to wealth forces people to form classes with the rich holding key power (Edles& Appelrouth, 2005). Divisions occur in labor with the rich taking up positions that make them to bring sanity and civilization in society. Ultimately, the least influential people end up looking up to the most influential ones to guide society, hence the formation of a state.
Canada’s political system is characterized by three main parties; the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, and the New Democratic Party (NDP). Being a constitutional monarch, it means that power had been historically held by the most influential people in society and only the first two parties were in action initially. However, a rise in other influential groups resulted in the formation of the third party. Political parties in Canada were formed through Marx’s theory of the origin of the state based on influence held by different factions.
- Edles, L. D., & Appelrouth, S. (2005). Sociological theory in the classical era: Text and readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
