In bid to explain the fundamentals of Marxism, we are starting a new series called ReMarx, where we break down the ideas of Marxism for everyone to understand.
When Marxists say “the ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class,” we do not mean every rich person has the same opinion, or that ordinary people are incapable of thinking for themselves. We mean that the class which dominates wealth and the state has disproportionate power to make its worldview seem like “common sense.”
Marx and Engels put it this way:
that the class that controls the material conditions of society also tends to control its intellectual life.
Those who own or influence major businesses, banks, land, media, schools, churches and political parties have greater power to circulate their ideas.
In Nigeria, the ruling class is not simply “the politicians” but also office-holders, top officials, big contractors, bankers, oil and gas interests, importers, major property owners and the foreign capital linked to them. These different factions can fight fiercely, but they broadly benefit from the same order, i.e., capitalism, where a small minority owns the wealth while the majority must work, hustle, trade or borrow to survive.
One ruling idea in our society that we are forced to believe is that there is no alternative to the market. We are told fuel prices must rise, wages must be restrained, services must be cut and the naira must face “market forces.” But “the market” is not a force of nature. It is a social arrangement that protects property and profit.
When we are told to accept hardship “for the economy,” we should ask: whose economy? A worker feels inflation as hunger and rent arrears, while those with dollars, assets and contracts protect and even expand their wealth.
Another ruling idea is that poverty is mainly caused by corruption.
Corruption matters, but treating it as the whole explanation hides the deeper question: Why is political office such a reliable route to wealth in the first place?
Because the state is structured as a site of accumulation, where oil revenue, land, licences and contracts are redirected upward to the connected few. This is why anti-corruption without changing property and power reaches a limit.
Another ruling idea is that Nigeria is fundamentally divided along ethnic or religious lines. These differences do exist, but ruling-class politics uses them to stop Nigerians from recognising their common enemy.
The workers, farmers, traders, fishermen and unemployed youths do not have the same interests as the billionaires and godfathers who claim their ethnicity or religion. This is why statements like “our son must be president” are a trap, because a president from one ethnic group does not automatically lower food prices, build hospitals or end police brutality.
Representation without class transformation simply gives the ruling class a new face.
Religion can also become a ruling idea when hardship is explained as destiny, a test of faith, witchcraft, personal failure or insufficient prayer. Faith can sustain people through suffering, but when it teaches them to endure injustice rather than organise against it, it serves those who benefit from that injustice.
The ruling class also tells us that democracy begins and ends at elections.
But voting every four years is not enough if a tiny minority controls economic life, finances parties, owns media platforms, buys influence and decides what policies are “realistic.”
POLITICAL DEMOCRACY WITHOUT ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY REMAINS NOTHING.
So when Marxists speak of ruling ideas, we ask:
Who benefits when privatisation is called reform?
Who benefits when poverty is blamed on individuals?
Who benefits when workers are divided by tribe and religion?
Who benefits when austerity is called sacrifice?
The answer is usually the same: those who already own wealth or control the state.
Marxism is not here to replace one elite with a cleaner one. It’s about helping ordinary working people understand how society actually works, in order to change it. Nigeria’s wealth should serve the majority who create it, under real democratic control. And the real divide in this country? It’s not ethnic, religious, or regional. It’s class.
Workers of all countries, unite.