1. KARL MARX

2. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY Prussia, comfortable, middle class, Jewish
Co- Author Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto
Moved to Paris (1843) – exiled (1844)
Brussels, London
Journalist, philosopher, social scientist, historian, revolutionary, poet, father, husband
University of Berlin, lawyer
Influenced by George Hegel

3. GEORGE HEGEL German Philosopher Historical Evolution
Dialectical Process
Nothing in history is accidental or arbitrary Each era = set of ideas + opposing ideas = synthesis
Stages
Asiatic – absolute monarchy
Greco-Roman – individual freedom
Germanic European – synthesis of freedom with a strong state

4. DIALECTIC PROCESS
THESIS
SYNTHESIS
VOLKGIEST
ANTITHESIS

5. DIALECTIC PROCESS THESIS – Set of Ideas - established order
ANTITHESIS – Conflict of ideas that challenge to the established order
SYNTHESIS – solution emerged that was a step ahead of the old system

6. INFLUENCE ON MARX Hegel – conflict of ideas???? NOT IDEAS / $$$
Hegel too idealistic too mystical
Marx conflict of economic class struggle
“turned Hegel on his head”
Applied Hegelianism to society and economics
“Scientific Socialism” – philosophy grounded in empirical historical, sociological, and economic data
Happiness come through the erasure of false class consciousness

7. MARXISM
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it” – MARX
Communism – each should contribute according to their ability and receive according to their need
"the nature of individuals depends on the material conditions determining their production."

8. PARIS October 1843 Home of many revolutionaries
Relationship with Friedrich Engels – Son of a wealthy factory owner, Communist & Atheist
Marxist ideology a reaction to the conditions of the day – one of many
Industrial Revolution

9. COMMUNIST MANIFESTO 1848 Co-authored Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)
History is the record of humankind’s coming to grips with the physical nature to produce goods necessary for survival
Historical process determined the structures, values, and ideas of society – rooted in class struggle

10. FIVE STAGES OF HISTORY Primitive Slave Owning Feudal Capitalist
Communist
“Capitalism will destroy itself, because it contains the seed of its own destruction” - Marx

11. FIVE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MARXISM
Dialectical Materialism
Class Struggle
The Theory of Surplus Value
The Inevitability of Communism
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat

12. DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
Human history based on wealth of ownership and means of production
Modes of production determine the rest of the social structure
Marx – conflict of material conditions (economics)
Owners of Production – bourgeoisie
Workers – Proletariat
Industrial Revolution – inequity between the “haves” and “have nots”
Changes in material condition will change the whole nature of society

13. SUPER STRUCTURE BASE What are the means of production?
IDEALS OF SOCIETY
Laws, morals, ethics, religion
Justification, rationale, ideology, for who controls means of production
BASE
What are the means of production?
How wealth, or capital, is produced and divided?
Who owns the means of production?
= CLASS STRUGGLE

14. SURPLUS VALUE $ Labor is the source of all value
$ Capitalist got more labor than he paid for
$ According to Marx, the capitalist stole from the worker
$ Amount charge over the amount to produce = “PROFIT”

15. DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT
History - involved conflict b/w classes that owned the means of production and the classes that worked for them
VIOLENT REVOLUTION OF THE PROLETARIAT
Property-less and classless Communist society
“State withers away”
Transitional period b/w Capitalism and Communism
Socialism inevitable – wealth distributed equally

16. FLAWS Divided society into two giant hostile groups
Did not take into account the power of Nationalism, Religion
Predicted Revolution would occur in Capitalist nations first
? Russia, agricultural, China
More and More people did not suffer from Industrial society – benefited
Workers lose their incentive to work and progress
Gov’t – difficulty managing complex economic system, will become a dictatorship, place needs of the state ahead of the needs of the people

17. REVISIONISM Late nineteenth century Re-evaluate Marxism
Eduard Bernstein ( )
Evolutionary Socialism (1889)
Capitalism showed no signs of collapse, conditions of workers improved through LEGISLATION
REFORM within existing order rather than revolution
Achievements through the Democratic political process (Social Democrats)

18. RESULTS
Marxism was just another ideology that existed and criticize the emerging industrial capitalist society
Marx theory was largely ignored by scholars during his lifetime
After his death – his social, political, and economic philosophy gained acceptance and was altered
Until recently (1989) – almost half of the world’s population claimed to be Communist

19. APPLICATION OF MARXISM
First applied 1917 Bolshevik Revolution
Marxism-Leninism
Lenin altered Marx ideology - 70 years later
Marx in its pure philosophy was never applied
Marx waited for history Lenin made it
Lenin 1st to alter Marx

20. MARXISM - LENINISM
Revolution possible in an agricultural country (Marx – industrial nation first)
“Revolution from above” – elite intellectual revolutionaries not below (workers)
Revolution determined by human leadership not historical laws

21. MAOISM Mao Zedong version of Marxism
Leader the Chinese Communist Revolution
1949 – 1976
“Great Leap Forward”
“Cultural Revolution”

22. COMMUNIST SYSTEMS TODAY
NORTH KOREA
VIETNAM
CUBA
LAOS
CHINA

24. “WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS”