Marxist theory has both informed community development and provided one of the most resonant critiques of it. Discuss

Over the years Marxist theory has not only informed community development but it has also provided one of the most resonant critiques of it. To Marxism, the biggest critique of community development is that it is a mechanism for control to keep the working class in their place and in reserve for when their labour is needed. I will discuss the Marxist theories of alienation and struggles over mode of production and resource allocation, as well as how Western Marxism has shaped community development. In this essay I will also discuss how Marxist theory has identified that the working class are to be exploited by the bourgeoisie and the only way to improve society is to dismantle the capitalist society and install a socialist society.
Marxist theory is based on Karl Marx’s theory of the struggle of the working class people selling their labour to the bourgeoisie – the capitalists – and their oppression by the welfare system. Marx believed that the rich bourgeoisie exploited the working class and the only way to stop this exploitation was to overthrow the capitalist system with socialism. The only real difference between capitalism and socialism is that private property rights and voluntary exchange define capitalism, whereas socialism is based around collective ownership of the means of production, which is owned by the state (Butgereit and Carden 2011, p41). Marx took this theory further, with the hope that once the capitalist system was overthrown, the socialist society would be based on a classless, stateless, moneyless society heading into low-level communism.
Community development is the development and utilisation of a set of ongoing structures that allow the community to meet its own needs (McArdle 1993, p2). It is about empowering