2014 marxism powerpoint

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

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?

2014 marxism powerpoint

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Editor's Notes