What Is The Difference Between Tocqueville And Marx

Tocqueville and Marx both held vigorous beliefs on what the new systems of government and economy of the time could or will inevitable lead to. On one hand Marx saw the history of the world through the lense of class struggle, leading to his conclusion that the ever growing capitalist system was no more than another edition to the eternal conflict between the oppressor and the oppressed. “The Modern Bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes and New conditions of oppression.” On the contrary Tocqueville did not view the newly emerging systems (Mostly democracy) as the problem but the abuse of said systems. He concluded that in all of its manifestations
In all stories a hero is the one to solve/defeat the problem at hand. For Marx this “hero” is the Proletariat (working class), he describes the oppression of the Proletariat by the Bourgeoisie as a evil that must be destroyed through the socialization of the means of production. “By their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletariat have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win” By this the ending lines of the manifesto he means it is the duty of each working class citizen around the world to rise up as heroes against the immoral system of capitalism and install a better society grounded fundamentally in pure equality. Different from Marx, the first of Tocqueville’s “Hero” doesn't consist of people necessarily but institutions that should be brought up to prevent the mutilation of democracy by the majority. Such as a large but separate judicial system and a small legislative branch. The second of tocqueville's “hero’s” would be the people themselves. Understanding the power of enlightened thought to aid in the preservation of a free republic. “Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.” Here he points out that Americans are so tied up with the notion of equality they forget what truly is at the core of the belief in Democracy,