1. SHORT COURSE ON MARXISM
FIRST SESSION
Ideas esenciales del marxismo 1

2. a. The key phrases of The Communist Manifesto
PROGRAM
1. WHAT IS MARXISM?
a. The key phrases of The Communist Manifesto
b. The essence of Capital
c. The key ideas of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
d. What is the essence of Marxist thought?
2. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR MISTAKES OF MARXISM?
3. IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE TO MARXIST THOUGHT?
Ideas esenciales del marxismo 2

3. INTRODUCTION
Ideas esenciales del marxismo 3

4. ECONOMIC CRISIS AND MARXISM
The economic crisis has revived the debate on what ideology should be applied in the economic system.
The attacks on "the markets" and on the whole of the capitalist market system seem to suggest that, from the economic point of view, an alternative should be sought.
Marxism, which seemed defeated after the fall of the Berlin Wall, reappears as an alternative theory to the current system.
It is alleged that "communism was not the communism that Marx advocated, but a tragic caricature of what it should have been"
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

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6. It is therefore necessary to analyze if Marxism is still alive today and if it has a future in the 21st century.
Regarding the first question, it can be affirmed that YES, that Marxism is still ALIVE:
1. In some countries, as a CENTRAL POLITICAL THEORY (China, North Korea, Cuba)
2. In others, as an IMPORTANT POLITICAL THEORY (Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela)
3. In Western societies, Marxism, as an UNCONSCIOUS PHILOSOPHY, which manifests itself, to a greater or lesser extent, masked behind the "fair price" formulas, or the radical union-employer conflicts, irrational animosity to capitalism, etc.
BUT WHAT IS MARXISM?
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8. WHAT IS MARXISM?
The Marxism elaborated by Marx, with the valuable contribution of Engels, is basically reflected in three key books:
- The Communist Manifesto
- The Capital
- The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
Its center is an analysis of the functioning of the economy, in which it concludes that private capital, by its mere existence, always leads to exploitation of the worker.
But Marxism not only explains the theoretical functioning of the capitalist economy, but offers a comprehensive philosophical vision, which addresses all the key issues of being and of human society.
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9. WHAT IS MARXISM? Marxism also contributes with:
1º An ontological vision of the world:
               The world and its beings are mere matter
2º A vision of the material and social development that would be based on a dialectical process of confrontation (Thesis and antithesis are destroyed and the synthesis arises)
3º A vision of human history, which would be the result of the constant application of that dialectic of confrontation between the relations of production and private property.
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10. Influences on the development of Marx's thought
MARXISM
Influences on the development of Marx's thought
Key ideas
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

11. Karl Marx 1818-1883 Friedrich Engels 1820-1895
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

12. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
1: Family conflict with religious roots
2: Personal break with God
3: The philosophical (radical) ideas of his time
4: The Industrial Revolution underway
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

13. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
1: Family conflict with religious roots
Rabbinic Jewish Family
Father Heinrich Marx ( )
Mother Henrietta Marx ( )
1816 Marx's father converts to Christianity
1824 Marx's father converts all his children to Christianity
1825 His wife accepts to also convert to Christianity
1838 Marx's father dies and the wife returns to Judaism
Karl Marx ( )
discriminated by the Prussian Christian society for being a convert and by the Jewish community for being an apostate.
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

14. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
2: Personal break with God
a) In high school he was a fervent Christian
"... man is the only being of creation that is not worthy of the God who created him. But that benign creator could not hate his work and sent his Son who proclaimed before us: Now you are clean by the Word that I have spoken to you ... "
b) Later something happens and Marx in a poem writes about someone who "lost heaven as I know. My soul faithful to God was marked for hell "
And in another poem, it is understandable that Marx felt cursed for eternity : “God has taken everything from me in the curse and the torment of destiny. All your worlds belong to the past. I have nothing left but revenge”
(Karl Marx y F. Engels. Collected Works. Progress Publishers. Moscow 1975 tomo 1. Pags.563, 637 y 638)
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

15. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
3: The philosophical (radical) ideas of his time
Hegel
Bruno Bauer
Ludwig Feuerbach
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

16. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
3. 1. HEGEL ( )
God = Absolut spirit
What is history really?
The Spirit manifests
The Spirit alienates
The Spirit rediscovers itself through the rational man.
What is the goal of History?
The freedom that is achieved through dialectic.
Hegel in "Philosophy of Law"
"The rational is real and the real is rational"
Hegelians of the Left "The rational is real" = Reform or revolution
Hegelians of the Right "The real is rational" = Statu quo
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

17. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
3. 2. BRUNO BAUER ( )
College professor
Initially he was very conservative criticizing the "Life of Jesus" of David Strauss, and underlining the indisputable authority of the revelation.
In 1838 he changed radically and affirmed that the Gospels are not historically exact but a fantasy related to the emotional needs of man.
He collaborates with Marx in the edition of a newspaper called "The Archive of Atheism”
In 1842 he was suspended in his chair for his critical ideas with traditional religious thought.
Lately, Marx will disagree with him, considering him not enough radical
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

18. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
3. 3. LUDWIG FEUERBACH ( )
His basic idea: It is not God who created man but man who created God
"The divine being is not more than the human being"
"Religion is the separation of man from himself"
He was an Atheist and Materialist but he believed in the goodness of man as a positive force for change.
For this reason, Marx, initially very in agreement with the theses of Feuerbach, ended criticizing it and saying of him:
"It does not understand the importance of the revolutionary action”
Marx considered that there is no waiting for change as a result of the goodness of the human being but as a consequence of the elimination of private property.
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

19. INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX THOUGHT
3. 4. PROUDHON ( )
"The capital / labor relationship is an exploitation of man by man"
"The property is a robbery"
Marx agreed with him but disagreed with the method.
Proudhon said:
"After having demolished all the a priori dogmas, let us not also think about indoctrinating the people, let us maintain a good and loyal polemic.
Let us give the world the example of a wise and far-sighted tolerance, but, given that we are at the head of the movement, let us not become leaders of a new intolerance, let us not place ourselves as apostles of a new religion, even if this is the religion of the logic".
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

20. MARXISM
Key ideas
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

21. THE MARXIST THOUGHT ENGELS CONTRIBUTIONS (1820-1895)
He met Marx in Then they collaborated closely from that moment and published many works together, including "The Communist Manifesto" (1848).
Works only by Engels
“The role of work in the transformation of the monkey into man”
“From utopian socialism to scientific socialism”
“The origin of the family, private property and the state”
Work is God: WORK is the origin of man:
Ape + Work = Use of tools + Language + Reason =
Work has created Man
Marx: Work is the main characteristic of the human species
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

22. THE MARXIST THOUGHT MARX CONTRIBUTIONS
The human species is alienated because:
• The worker is alienated from the product of his work = the merchandise does not belong to him
• The worker is alienated from his work = the capitalists buy their labor force
• The worker is alienated from his human nature
• The worker is alienated from the other members of his species since he has no human nature.
The guilt of everything: the private property of the means of production.
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

23. THE MARXIST THOUGHT MARX CONTRIBUTIONS
"It is not the conscience of man that determines his social being, but his social being that determines his conscience"
"By changing the economic structure, the immense superstructure that is built on it is transformed, more or less quickly"
(Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy)
Solution: Eliminate private ownership of the means of production.
How: It can not be that it derives from human kindness.
We have to act through THE CLASS STRUGGLE + THE VIOLENT REVOLUTION.
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

24. The Communist Manifesto
Next session
The Communist Manifesto
1848
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

25. Extract key ideas of the Communist Manifesto
HUMAN HISTORY AS A HISTORY OF CLASS FIGHT
THE BURGERY AS A NATURALLY REVOLUTIONARY STAGE
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROLETARIAT
THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION
IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE: FINISH PRIVATE PROPERTY
THE EMPLOYED WORKER IN THE BURGUESA SOCIETY
ABOLITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
ABOLITION OF BURGOS CULTURE
ABOLITION OF THE FAMILY
ABOLITION OF FAMILY-CENTERED EDUCATION
COLLECTIVIZATION OF WOMEN
ABOLITION OF THE COUNTRY.
ABOLITION OF ETERNAL TRUTHS
HOW TO GET TO POWER AND WHAT TO DO
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE STATE
RADICAL CRITICISM TO UTOPIC SOCIALISM
SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION PARTIES TO DEMOLISH THE BURGUESA SOCIETY.
VIOLENT REVOLUTION ASAP
Ideas esenciales del marxismo

26. THANKS
Ideas esenciales del marxismo