Marx in Soho is a unique play that showcases Karl Marx’s life and ideas with a twenty first century application . Marx in Soho illustrates the flaws in capitalism that have continued into the twenty first century such as overproduction and the disparity in wealth between classes leading to massive social and economic problems in the future for society.
In modern day America, the overproduction of goods is a major problem, discussed by Marx. This materialistic idea hurts the proletariat because an increase in production reduces the wages of the workers in order to keep the capitalists (Bourgeoisie) gaining a profit. This has lead to a growing gap between the classes which some think as insurmountable. Capitalism is fair to the bourgeoisie who control the flow of capital, and refuse to share their wealth evenly for the benefit of society. Hoarding wealth causes poverty and a decline in education. These problems do not affect the rich capitalists who generate their profits from the poor proletariat.
The statistic that 49 percent of the United States wealth is controlled by 1 percent of the population is evidence Marx’s was right about capitalism. Capitalism has the bad habit of prioritizing profit over the well being of workers. When this profit is held by few, it creates problems for the rest of the country and economy. Much of this wealth is not cycled through the nation, and prevents the growth of: schools, businesses, and the economy. This creates a gap between the bourgeoisie and proletariat while shrinking the middle class down to almost nothing. When the middle class shrinks, the consumer base shrinks while the rich are unable to create the capital needed to sustain their business model. In the United States these problems are evident by the idea of falling into a depression or recession, because the rich 1 percent have few restrictions on their trade and business.
Marx in Soho’s main goal was to paint the picture of the twenty first century in terms of Marx ideas. He intended to create a dialogue of the current and past problems of capitalism.