Marxism: Essence towards the development of Nigeria's twenty-first century

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-à-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.