Marxism

History is the judge —

its executioner, the proletarian.

– Marx, Speech at Anniversary of The People’s

Paper (1856)

What comes to mind when you think of

Communism?

Why did the Industrial Revolution

face Critics?• What were some of the problems associated with the IR?

Capitalism?

• Marx and Engels are particularly appalled at the development

of industrialization and capitalism and the social, economic,

and political changes it produced.

• It is in their engagement

with and thinking about

this new capitalist and

industrial world that

drives the development

of Marxist ideology.

Who was Friederich Engels?

• 1820 – 1895

• German

• Self-educated in philosophy

• Worked in England for his

father’s textile firm where

he personally observed the

working conditions of

industrial English workers

• Financially supported Marx throughout his career

Marx and Engels

Who was Karl Marx?• 1818-1883

• German

• Attended the University of Berlin and earned a doctorate in Philosophy.

• While in university he joined a radical leftist group called the Young Hegelians.

• After graduation he earned a reputation as a radical and was exiled to London.

• Spent most of his career living in poverty while writing his famous works.

Marxism• Together, Marx and Engels are the founder of

Marxism

– Set of political, economic, historical, and sociological

ideas put forth by Karl Marx and Friederich Engels.

• Key Texts:

– Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844

(1844)

– The German Ideology (1845)

– The Communist Manifesto (1848)

– Das Capital (1867)

Core Ideas of Marxism We Must Consider

1. Class Conflict

2. Bourgeoisie and Proletariat

3. Alienation

4. Class Consciousness, False

Consciousness, and the Communist Revolution

1. Class Conflict

• What are classes?– Economic groups defined in terms of their

relationship to the means of production

• In any given society, there have always been two groups: • Oppressing Class

• Those that own the means of production

• Oppressed Class• Those that do not own the means of production

• But use the means of production for the benefit

of the oppressing class

Class Conflict Drives History• In any given society when those

two opposing classes come into

conflict it propels history forward

into a new stage of history and

new classes emerge.

• Ultimately these new classes will

also come into conflict until

history reaches its end point: the

classless society Marx and Engels call communism.

Communist Revolution

Stages of History and Class Conflict at

Each Stage

Stage

Oppressing

Class

Oppressed

Class

Primitive

Communism

No classes = No Conflict

Slavery Slave Owners Slaves

Feudalism Landowners Serfs

Capitalism Bourgeoisie Proletariat

Socialism State Managers Workers

Communism No Classes = No Conflict

Communism is Inevitable

• Marx believes this evolution of history is

inevitable.

• Communism is inevitable

– Because capitalism contains within it the seeds of its own destruction.

Stop! Take Our Pulse…

• How does Marx define class?

• What are the two major economic classes

of the industrial era?

• What is the function of class conflict?

2. Two Social Classes in the Industrial

Age: Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat

• Marx argued that the emergence of capitalism had ushered in a

new stage of history in which there were two new opposing social

classes.

– Bourgeoisie (Oppressing Class):

• Own the means of production

• Factory owners, bankers

– Proletariat (Oppressed Class):

• Sell their labor and do not own the means of production

• Factory workers

Exploitation

• In a capitalist system, bourgeoisie exploit

the proletariat by using their labor to make

goods that are sold for more than the

proletariat is paid.

• This taking of “surplus value” is the source of exploitation in capitalist society.

3. Alienation

• Proletariat not only suffer because of

exploitation, but also because the

capitalist system causes them to

experience three types of alienation:

1. Alienation from Species-Being

2. Alienation from their Product

3. Alienation from Fellow Worker

4. Class Consciousness

• However, the revolution can only occur

once the proletariat develop class

consciousness.

• Class consciousness:

– Collective

realization that they are

being exploited and that

this must stop.

4. False Consciousness

• In the absence of class consciousness, workers suffer from false consciousness in which they cannot recognize their own oppression.

• Religion actually facilitates false consciousness.

• “Religion is the opiate

of the people.”

What does this mean?

4. Class Conflict in the Modern Age

(Or the Coming of the Communist Revolution)

1. Individual members of the

proletariat become angry and may clash

with individual members of the

bourgeoisie or may destroy the means

of production

2. Proletariat develop class

consciousness and come together as a class to realize their

shared interest in overthrowing

capitalism

3. Proletariat overthrow the

bourgeoisie in a violent and

inevitable revolution leading the creation

of a communist society.

Attainment of Communism

• But before long, the workers would learn to

share everything equally – “from each according

to his abilities, to each according to his needs” -

and live in government-less society. Karl Marx

called this Communism, or the Ultimate

Classless Society.

Attainment of Communism

• After the workers rise up and revolt violently (and overthrow the capitalists), they establish a temporary Dictatorship of the Proletariat.

• At first, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat would need absolute powers to make sure Reactionaries didn’t bring back capitalism.

Stop! Take Our Pulse

• Who are the Bourgeoisie? The Proletariat?

• What are the three types of alienation?

• What is the relationship between class consciousness, false consciousness, and the communist revolution?

• What does a communist economic system look like?