Marxian

Marxian theory is theory which intends to follow and expand upon Karl Marx's political philosophy, or at least from parts of it. To some, it is distinct from Marxism in that it does not lean entirely upon the orthodox canon of Marx's own work, but may draw from a range of Marxist and non-Marxist sources. However, for others, the distinction between "Marxist" and "Marxian" is totally academic, not to mention non-mnemonic. According to some readings by members of the laissez faire and "individualist" schools, the principles shared by modern big governments across the developed world can be understood as "Marxian." Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto detailed a list of crude targets that would be expected before the emancipation of the working man: many of these appear to have been implemented in the form of Keynesianism, new liberalism, and other changes in capitalist democracies. Some see the coincidence of Marx and Engels making proposals and some of them being instituted by new liberals as a sign that the liberals are (or were) "secret Marxists." Others see the new-liberal reforms as harbingers of the future coming of communism. To Marxians, on the other hand, these reforms represent responses to political pressures from working-class political parties and unions, themselves responding to perceived abuses of the capitalist system. Further, in this view, many of these reforms reflect efforts to "save" or "improve" capitalism (without abolishing it) by dealing with market failures, i.e., inefficiencies of the system. Most importantly, Marx did not favor "big government" as much as the "withering away of the state," i.e., the democratic subordination of the government to the people.