Powerpoint Notes
What is Communism
Marxist Theory of Stages
Materialist Conception of History
Dialectical Materialism
Plenary
The Communist Manifesto
Questions + Answers
http://islandschoolhistory.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/6/14967012/spalding.__2000_._the_communist_manifesto_article_and_questions.pdf_
1. When and where was Karl Marx born?
Karl Marx was born in 1818 and came from the Rhineland.
2. Using examples, explain what Georg Hegel’s (1770-1831) theory of history is.
Hegel, formed a theory of history that explained change. Hegelianism can be interpreted in two different ways, the Prussian state believed that Hegel argued that Prussia represented an ideal state at the end of history. However, German radicals or 'Young Hegelians' thought that Hegel's philosophy meant that the Prussian state was one on-going stage in history.
3. What job did Marx take after University in 1841?
A job in journalism.
4. How did that job change Marx’s belief in Hegelian idealism?
Marx's began to question whether or not Hegel's philosophy was valid and stressed the importance of idealism.
5. When did Marx go to Paris and why?
Marx when to Paris in 1844 to edit the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. Paris was also the centre of revolutionary tradition and enabled him to meet French Socialists.
6. How did Marx’s ideas change in Paris?
Marx rejected Idealism whilst in Paris and realised States were shaped by material interests of the dominant groups in society.
7. How did Marx and Engels meet?
They met in Paris after Engels wrote an article for the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. Marx agreed with what Engels had written and they formed a life-long partnership.
8. What were the main points of the ‘Communist Manifesto?’
There are three main points
9. What is the opening statement of the Communist Manifesto?
‘The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle’.
10. What is meant by ‘class struggle’?
In feudal societies - the struggle between those who owned land and those who worked on it. Marx thought the class struggle was between the bourgeoise.
11. According to Marx, how did the ‘bourgeoisie’ emerge?
These were people who left agriculture to concentrate on manufacturing and commerce.
12. Which ‘class’ did the bourgeoise struggle with and why?
The bourgeoise struggled with proletariat.
13. How did class conflict continue in bourgeoise society?
The was bourgeoise conflict between the bourgeoise and who owned the means of production. Therefore, they fought the industrial factories and its workers.
14. Who owned the ‘means of production’ in bourgeois society?
The working class.
15. How did Capitalism change human relationships?
Relationships became revolved around how skilled a worker was and how little you could pay them.
16. How and why was bourgeois Capitalism unfair to the working class?
The bourgeoise were looking for the most unskilled workers so that they could keep the highest about of money for themselves and gain a larger profit by paying their workers' less.
17. According to Marx, what other problems did Capitalism suffer from?
The crisis of over-production.
18. What is Marx’s view of history?
A materialistic version of Hegelian dialectic where the conflict is between the social classes no ideas.
19. According to Marx, how would the ‘end of history’ be achieved and what would it be like?
The end of history is formed by the proletarian revolution that will eventually overthrow the bourgeoise.
20. Why did the Communist Manifesto survive and thrive?
The growing number of industrial workers' across Europe and in the US. The manifesto also conveyed how Capitalism rose and discussed how class struggle would create a proletariat victory.
21. Why is the Communist Manifesto so historically significant?
All socialist parties all express the manifesto within their own leadership and how they ruled.
- Fascism - A class of political ideologies (and historical political regimes) that takes its name from the movement led by Benito Mussolini that took power in Italy in 1922. They are characterised by: militant nationalism, charismatic leaders, national unity, anti-Communism, contempt for democracy, glorification of physical strength, propaganda and a aggressive foreign policy
- Nationalism - An ideology, or rather a whole category of similar ideologies, based on the premise that each nation (or at least the ideologist's own nation) constitutes a natural political community whose members should all live together under the authority of "their own" independent nation state
- Socialism - A class of ideologies favouring an economic system in which all or most productive resources are the property of the government, in which the production and distribution of goods and services are administered primarily by the government rather than by private enterprise, and in which any remaining private production and distribution is heavily regulated by the government rather than by market processes.
- Stalinism - The method of rule, or policies, of Joseph Stalin, Soviet Communist Party and state leader from 1929 until his death in 1953. Stalinism is associated with a regime of terror aA Marxist ideology based on the theory of permanent revolution first expounded by Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), one of the leading theoreticians of the Russian Bolshevik Party and a leader in the Russian Revolution totalitarian rule. Based on Marxist-Leninist principles, it came to represent whatever ideology Stalin wished it to represent.
- Totalitarianism - A State dominated by a single, like-minded governing elite of all organised political, economic, social and cultural activities in a country by means of a single-party monopoly of power, police repression not only of all forms of dissent and opposition but also of all forms of independent private organisations as such, rigorous censorship of the mass media, centralised state planning and administration of the economy, and pervasive propaganda to inculcate the principles of the obligatory official ideology.
- Marxist-Leninism - A variant of socialism which emphasises that a truly communist society can be achieved only through the violent overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" that is to prepare the way for the future idealised society of communism under the authoritarian guidance of a hierarchical and disciplined Communist Party.
- Maoism - A doctrine composed of the ideology and methodology for revolution developed by Mao Zedong and his associates in the Chinese Communist Party from the 1920s until Mao’s death in 1976. It has clearly represented a revolutionary method based on a distinct revolutionary outlook not necessarily dependent on a Chinese or Marxist-Leninist context
- Leninism - A set of Marxist principles expounded by Vladimir I. Lenin, who was the preeminent figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Whether these concepts represented a contribution to or a corruption of Marxist thought has been debated, but their influence on the subsequent development of communism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere has been of fundamental importance
- Capitalism - A form of economic order characterised by private ownership of the means of production and freedom of private owners to use, buy and sell their property or services on the free market at voluntarily agreed prices and terms, with only minimal interference in transactions by the state or anyone else
- Imperialism - The state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas
- Communism - Any ideology based on the communal ownership of all property and a classless social structure, with economic production and distribution to be directed and regulated by means of an authoritative economic plan that supposedly embodies the interests of the community as a whole
- Trotskyism - A Marxist ideology based on the theory of permanent revolution first expounded by Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), one of the leading theoreticians of the Russian Bolshevik Party and a leader in the Russian Revolution
- Dictatorship - Government by a single person (or group) whose discretion in using the powers and resources of the state is unrestrained by any fixed legal or constitutional rules and who is (are) in no effective way held responsible to the general population or their elected representatives
- Authoritarianism - Is a form of government which is characterised by the principle of blind submission to authority, as opposed to individual freedom of thought and action. In government, it denotes any political system that concentrates power in the hands of a leader or a small elite that is not constitutionally responsible to the body of the people
What is Communism
- The principles of Communism were developed by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in two books called the 'Communist Manifesto' (1847) and 'Das Kapital' (1876)
- Marx's writing was based on the materialist conception of history that he developed on his theory that human history was determined by the 'history of class struggles' between the ruling and oppressed classes
- Marx thought that us workers' could overthrow capitalism that they then would be able to form a socialist society ruled by the working class
- Marx believed in the goal of one communist society
- The society he created would be classless and would be based on the economic advantages of industrial capitalism
- Marx never wrote about what a Communist government would look like
Marxist Theory of Stages
- Marx believed in the idea of 'permanent revolution' or 'uninterrupted revolution' - Continuous revolutionary stages which meant that when one stage was achieved they would immediately being to struggle for the next
- Marx didn't believe in 'progression' through the stages and that it could move back
- Marx also thought that societies could jump stages if aided by other countries.
Materialist Conception of History
- Marx's theory of history in the book 'Critique of Political Economy' (1859) argues that economic structure based on the relations of production is the real foundation of society
- This builds the legal, political and intellectual superstructures of society
- Social existence mainly determines peoples' consciousness
- So changing the ownership of production could change history
Dialectical Materialism
- Marx's philosophy of history was influenced by German idealist philosophy and the ideas of French socialists and British economists
- Dialectical Materialism emerged from Marx's criticisms of Hegel's ideas - Social relations were made up of opposite forces
- Class struggle between would eventually lead to a new mode of production and a new stage in history
Plenary
- Marx's theory of dialectical materialism argued that economic systems create social beliefs and political structures
- The economic systems changed over time from feudal, to capitalist, to socialist and then to communist
- This change is inevitable and it will take place over a long period of time, the change is also sometimes pain because the existing ruling class will try to hold onto their power
- That's why the communists want to destroy the ruling class
The Communist Manifesto
Questions + Answers
http://islandschoolhistory.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/6/14967012/spalding.__2000_._the_communist_manifesto_article_and_questions.pdf_
1. When and where was Karl Marx born?
Karl Marx was born in 1818 and came from the Rhineland.
2. Using examples, explain what Georg Hegel’s (1770-1831) theory of history is.
Hegel, formed a theory of history that explained change. Hegelianism can be interpreted in two different ways, the Prussian state believed that Hegel argued that Prussia represented an ideal state at the end of history. However, German radicals or 'Young Hegelians' thought that Hegel's philosophy meant that the Prussian state was one on-going stage in history.
3. What job did Marx take after University in 1841?
A job in journalism.
4. How did that job change Marx’s belief in Hegelian idealism?
Marx's began to question whether or not Hegel's philosophy was valid and stressed the importance of idealism.
5. When did Marx go to Paris and why?
Marx when to Paris in 1844 to edit the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. Paris was also the centre of revolutionary tradition and enabled him to meet French Socialists.
6. How did Marx’s ideas change in Paris?
Marx rejected Idealism whilst in Paris and realised States were shaped by material interests of the dominant groups in society.
7. How did Marx and Engels meet?
They met in Paris after Engels wrote an article for the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. Marx agreed with what Engels had written and they formed a life-long partnership.
8. What were the main points of the ‘Communist Manifesto?’
There are three main points
- 'The existence of classes is only bound up with particular, historic phases in the development of production'
- 'That the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat'
- 'That the dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to classless society'
9. What is the opening statement of the Communist Manifesto?
‘The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle’.
10. What is meant by ‘class struggle’?
In feudal societies - the struggle between those who owned land and those who worked on it. Marx thought the class struggle was between the bourgeoise.
11. According to Marx, how did the ‘bourgeoisie’ emerge?
These were people who left agriculture to concentrate on manufacturing and commerce.
12. Which ‘class’ did the bourgeoise struggle with and why?
The bourgeoise struggled with proletariat.
13. How did class conflict continue in bourgeoise society?
The was bourgeoise conflict between the bourgeoise and who owned the means of production. Therefore, they fought the industrial factories and its workers.
14. Who owned the ‘means of production’ in bourgeois society?
The working class.
15. How did Capitalism change human relationships?
Relationships became revolved around how skilled a worker was and how little you could pay them.
16. How and why was bourgeois Capitalism unfair to the working class?
The bourgeoise were looking for the most unskilled workers so that they could keep the highest about of money for themselves and gain a larger profit by paying their workers' less.
17. According to Marx, what other problems did Capitalism suffer from?
The crisis of over-production.
18. What is Marx’s view of history?
A materialistic version of Hegelian dialectic where the conflict is between the social classes no ideas.
19. According to Marx, how would the ‘end of history’ be achieved and what would it be like?
The end of history is formed by the proletarian revolution that will eventually overthrow the bourgeoise.
20. Why did the Communist Manifesto survive and thrive?
The growing number of industrial workers' across Europe and in the US. The manifesto also conveyed how Capitalism rose and discussed how class struggle would create a proletariat victory.
21. Why is the Communist Manifesto so historically significant?
All socialist parties all express the manifesto within their own leadership and how they ruled.