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
democracy can be overtaken by a tyrannical force, Most likely by the will of the majority. A second thought of Tocqueville’s is that the populus could become aggravated due to conflicting laws, followed by a complete abandonment of democracy for a stable but none the less tyrannical form of government. Tocqueville seemed to favor liberty as the cornerstone to a better world while Marx believed total equality was the only way for people to break the chains of an oppressive system.

Both stories of the world around us described by Tocqueville and Marx involve an obstacle that must be overcome.
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,
Liberty.

I believe that they both are correct in different ways and in varying degrees. Marx is correct in the way that there were and are solutions needed to be found for problems with the lower classes. I also agree that the world is the oppressor vs the oppressed but it is not fixed, It is fluent everyone can and will be an oppressor and an oppressed victim. One can move with ease or great struggle from one side to the other, for better or worse but none the less can advance across the line. Tocqueville I think has better and more realistic ideas. I agree with him mostly that democracy if uncared for can result in tyranny and a rejection of the system itself. We can already see this happening in our current political climate with a overpowered federal government, disenfranchised voters, and radical groups such as Antifa that reject the system completely.