Marxism Flashcards
Dialectical Materialism: Marks theory of history
Proletarian rule and development of a democratic, communistic utopia.
(Era of Capitalism)
Proletariat
Conflict
Bourgeois Democracy
(Era of Feudalism)
Bourgeoisie
Conflict
Landed Aristocracy
(Era of Slavery)
Barbarians
Conflict
Empire
(Era of Primitive Communism)
Unorganized Society
Division of Labor, Private Property, and Tribalism
Conflict
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831)
developed a philosophy based on freedom within a wider philosophical system offering novel views on topics ranging from property and punishment to morality and the state
History (Hegel)
-the development of word spirt to its perfect state through the vehicle of mankind
-Dialectic as the (Secret) Motor of this History
“Spirit does not toss itself about in the external play of chance occurrences; on the contrary, it is that which determines history absolutely, and it stands firm against the chance occurrences which it dominates and exploits for its own purpose.” - Hegel, Philosophy of World History
something to know
THESIS
gives rise to
ANTITHESIS
tension is created
and resolved through
SYNTHESIS
Class War
conflict between different social classes, especially (in Marxist ideology) the conflict of interests between the workers and the ruling class in a capitalist society, regarded as inevitably violent.
Marx & Engels
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. … Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” (Marx & Engels)
logic of capitalism
-maximization of profit (bourgeoise)
-value of work produced from disconnected from wage paid for work
-this profit/surplus value is taken by bourgeois
-tremendous but unequal growth of industrial era
-worst life for proletariat
-eventual shift from victims to actors
-despite religion “the opiate of the masses”
- violet conflict/ revolution
“theory of surplus value”
logic of capitalism
: The surplus produced over and above what is required to survive, which is translated into profit in capitalism. Since the capitalist pays a laborer for his/her labor, the capitalist claims to own the means of production, the worker’s labor-power, and even the product that is thus produced.
logic of capitalism
“While the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser.” (Marx)
“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives more labor king lis aaor, and lives the more, the
“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives more labor king lis aaor, and lives the more, the
“What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave diggers.” (M & E)
class conciousness
the awareness that the members of a class (generally the working class) have of their ‘objective’ class interests and aspirations
dictatorship of the proletariat
-power to workers
-evolves naturally
-plans economy for good of all
-distributes income equality
-“The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence:
Abolish all private property.”
Marx
-re-educates society to remove taint of capitalism
the state withers away
-economic= established
-social classes gradually disappear
-people work for social good rather than personal gain (power of education)
-“In a higher phase of communist society… only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” (Marx)
the state withers away…
BUTTT
the revolution does not come to pass
conditions for workers begin to improve
decades pass…
1. softening of communist stance
2. hardening of communist stance
Eduard Bernstein
(1850-1932)
sceptical of marx, dialectic materialism
Bernstein rejected reactionary bourgeois nationalism and called instead for a cosmopolitan-libertarian nationalism. He recognized the historical role of the national factor and said that the proletariat must support their country against external dangers.
“The final goal, no matter what it is, is nothing. The movement is everything.” - Bernstein
links to large organized labour movement- american federation of labour 1886
Evolutionary Socialism:
work within existing frameworks (govt., society) to achieve goals - improving life for workers
