Why Marx Was Right: Third World Edition

Two specters are haunting the Third World—the specter of massive poverty and the specter of vast income inequality. All the forces of the unjust social (dis)order—First World capitalists and their Third World partners, reactionary landlords, media moguls, undemocratic politicians—have entered into an unholy alliance to let these specters remain unchanged. Guided by Marxism and dependency theory, this article will provide evidence on the existence of the specter of Third World poverty and income inequality, and hence prove that Karl Marx was right in calling for the transformation of the global economic system. Ideas from manifestos of social movements to literary texts, news reports and researches, United Nations (UN) Human Development Report data, and papal encyclicals will be utilized and synthesized to present out-of-the-box approaches to resolve poverty and income inequality. Taking cue from Terry Eagleton’s eloquent defense of Marxism, this article asserts that a new world order is necessary and only a Marxistic critique and action plan can genuinely save the Third World from the current global crises of poverty and income inequality.