Marx- The Key Ideas
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It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single unconscionable freedom – Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.
Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.
It has been objected that upon the abolition of private property, all work will cease, and universal laziness will overtake us.
According to this, bourgeois society ought long ago to have gone to the dogs through sheer idleness.
The socialistic bourgeois want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarily resulting therefrom. They desire the existing state of society, minus its revolutionary and disintegrating elements. They wish for a bourgeois without a proletariat.
And here it becomes evident that the bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an overriding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him.
Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its existence is no longer compatible with society.
PROLETARIAT
The proletariat, the modern working class, developed a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce.
The modern labourer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the process of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth.
But with the development of industry, the proletariat not only increases in number; it becomes concentrated in greater masses, its strength grows and it feels that strength more.
This organisation of the proletarians into a class, and, consequently into a political party, is continually being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier.
Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is the genuinely revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.
UTOPIAN SOCIALISTS
They reject all political, and especially all revolutionary action; they wish to attain their ends by peaceful means, necessarily doomed to failure, and by the force of example, to pave the way for the new social gospel.
Such fantastic pictures of future society, painted at a time when the proletariat is still in a very underdeveloped state and has but a fantastic conception of its own position, correspond with the first instinctive yearnings of that class for a general reconstruction of society.
INDUSTRIALIZATION
Steam and machinery revolutionised industrial production. The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, MODERN INDUSTRY.
Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence industry and commerce seem to be destroyed. And why? Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce.
Owing to the extensive use of machinery, and to the division of labour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage to the machine.
IMPERIALISM
The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.
It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into its midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.
WOMEN
The less the skill and exertion of strength implied in manual labour, in other words, the more modern industry becomes developed, the more is the labour of men superseded by that of women. Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social validity for the working class. All are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use, according to their age and sex.
The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production. He hears that the instruments of production are to be exploited in common, and, naturally can come to no other conclusion than the lot of being common will likewise fall to the woman.
He has not even a suspicion that the real point aimed at is to do away with the status of women as mere instruments of production.
Our bourgeois, not content with having wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each others’ wives.
Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common …
FAMILY
The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.
By the action of modern industry, all the family ties among the proletariat are torn asunder, and their children are turned into simple articles of commerce and instruments of labour.
REVOLUTION
But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons – the modern working class – the proletarians.
The immediate aim of the communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat.
The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Working men of all countries unite!
Further reading
BOOKS
Works by karl marx
Penguin Classics have nine volumes of his works in paperback editions. These include all the major and more important works. The most important works for the beginner to read are The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, Volume 1.
Lawrence and Wishart began publishing the Collected Works of Marx and Engels in 1975. Eventually there will be 50 volumes, divided into four sections: Early philosophical works, General works, Economic works, and Letters. The major and more important works have already been published.
A selection of Marx’s writings is available in The Marx Engels Reader, ed. Robert C. Tucker, W. W. Norton, 1978; Karl Marx A Reader, ed. Jon Elster, Cambridge University Press, 1986 and in Karl Marx Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan. Oxford University Press, 1977.
Works on Marx and Marxism
Berlin, Isaiah, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, Fontana (1995). Originally published in 1939, this is a well-known, readable account of Marx.
Bottomore, T. (ed.), The Dictionary of Marxist Thought, Blackwell (1992).
Callanicos, Alex, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist Critique, Palgrave Macmillan (1990). Interesting look at postmodernism from a Marxist slant.
Cohen, G. Karl Marx’s Theory of History, Princeton University Press (2001). A reprinted classic of modern Marxism.
Elster, Jon, Making Sense of Marx, Cam
bridge University Press (1985). A large systematic study.
Fine, Ben, and Saad-Filho, Alfrido, Marx’s Capital, Pluto Press (2004). Marxian economics.
McLellan, David, Karl Marx – his life and thought, Macmillan (1973). A comprehensive guide.
Ollman, Bertell, Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in a Capitalist Society, Cambridge University Press (1977). A readable account of the theory of alienation.
Stern, Geoffrey, Communism: An illustrated history from 1848 to the present day, C. Letts (1991). A summary of the way in which the ideas of Marx were spread around the world in the various forms of communism. It contains many fascinating maps and illustrations.
Wheen, Francis, Karl Marx, Fourth Estate (1999). A very readable account of Marx as a person.
Wood, Allen, Karl Marx, Routledge (2004). Philosophical views on Marx.
WEBSITES
Marxists Internet Archive
www.marxists.org
Probably the best online resource, containing nearly all of Marx’s and Engels’ writings, information and links.
Libertarian Communist
www.libcom.org
Has a very good library section.
Marxism Mailing List
www.marxmail.org
A moderated forum for activists and scholars. Also plenty of links.
In Defence Of Marxism
www.marxist.com
Website of International Marxist Tendency: discussion, calls to action and has some useful links.
Marxist.net
www.marxist.net
Website of Committee for a Workers’ International. Useful links.
Victorian Web
www.victorianweb.org
Interesting resource showing the historical perspective of the times Marx lived in.
The Cold War International Archive
www.cwihp.org
Lots of original documents.
Index
alienation, 97–104, 137–8, 143–4, 184–5, 188
Althusser, Louis, 167, 174–5
anarchists, 54–6, 119, 188
Bakunin, Mikhail, 15, 38, 55–6
Baudrillard, Jean, 176
Bauer, Bruno, 9–11, 13, 17, 60
Blanqui, Louis Auguste, 17, 54
Bolsheviks, 132, 152–4, 188
bourgeoisie, 18, 70, 110–12, 131–2, 188, 208–10
Burns, Mary, 16, 30, 118, 139
capital, 82–3, 95, 188
capitalism, 135, 141–3
cycles of, 78–9, 82–6
development, 69–70, 91–3, 107–10
economic theories of, 71–7, 81–2, 95–103, 184–5, 189–91, 195
exploitation, 101–4, 107, 109, 125, 144, 184–5
paradox of, 79–80
and religion, 136–8
and revolution, 93–4
workers, role in, 16, 18, 70–1, 110–12
centralization, 83–4
Chartism, 17, 30, 117–18
Chicago School of Economics, 84, 188
China, 156–8, 162, 194
class, 2–3, 13, 36–7, 116–17, 179, 207–8
abolition of, 131–3
defining, 106–7, 109–10, 169–70
proletariat vs. bourgeoisie, 110–12
role of, 114–17, 180, 183–4
Cohen, George A. 174
Cold War, 158–61, 189
colonialism, 89–93, 189
commodities, 71–4, 81–2, 95–7, 103, 189–91, 195
Communards, The, 38–9, 131
communism, 14–15, 55–6, 130, 135, 189, 207
see also China; Russia
evolutionary, 149, 190
primitive, 36–7, 70, 107–8, 193
and religion, 136–8
revolutionary, 149, 194
rise and fall of, 148–50, 161–2
structure of, 129–30, 135–6, 139–42
Western fear of, 158–61
Communist League, 17–18, 33, 119, 134
Communist Manifesto, The 18–20, 37, 63, 108, 110–12, 119, 122–4, 135, 139–42, 205
competition, 67, 77–8, 82
critical theory, 172, 189
Cuba, 159, 162–3
Cultural Revolution, 157–8, 189
Das Kapital, 3–35, 56, 63, 65–7, 85, 102, 148, 206
Deleuze, Gilles, 177
Demuth, Helene (“Lenchen”), 25, 41
Derrida, Jacques, 176, 179, 182
Descartes, René 48
dialectical materialism, 58–9, 68–9, 108–10, 188, 190, 195
Doctor’s Club, 9, 11, 13
domino theory, 160, 190
economics, 67–8, 190
as base of society, 112–16, 190
economic determinism, 168–9, 190
Marxian economics, 166
political economists, 61–2, 65
Engels, Friedrich, 16–18, 30–1, 139, 190
friendship with Marx, 25, 27, 29–32, 62–3
work of, 29–32, 31, 35, 63, 134, 139–40, 147–9, 148
exploitation, 101–4, 109, 125, 191
Fabian Society, 151, 191
false consciousness, 98, 115, 191
Fascism, 151, 191
feminism, 141–2
fetishism, 94–101, 103, 191
feudalism, 70–2, 80–1, 109, 191
Feuerbach, Ludwig Andreas, 43, 60–1, 98–9, 137, 167
Fourier, Charles, 49, 51–3, 139
Frankfurt School, 171–3, 177, 191
Fukuyama, Francis, 177–8
German-French Annals, The, 14–16
German Workers Education Society, 32–3
Gramsci, Antonio, 168–71, 174, 176
Habermas, Jürgen, 173, 179
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 6–7, 44, 46–7, 54, 56–61, 191
influence on Marx, 60–1, 68–9, 98, 137
hegemony, concept of, 169–71, 174–5, 179, 191
Heine, Heinrich, 14–15
historical materialism, 61, 67, 99
Hobbes, Thomas, 48
Horkheimer, Max, 170–3
ideology, 169–70, 174–5, 192
imperialism, 89–92, 192, 212
Industrial Revolution, 1–2, 16, 53, 61, 69–70, 121, 192
industrialization, 155–6, 211
International Workingmen’s Association, 35–9, 120–3, 148, 150
Keynes, John Maynard, 79–80
Korea, 159–60, 162
labour, 99–101, 189, 192
division of, 77–9, 144
power of, 75–6, 192
social, 80–2, 188, 194
surplus, 77, 135
value, theory of, 62, 71, 73–4, 84–5
Labour Party, 151
Laclau, Ernesto, 178–9
League of the Just, 17
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 56, 90, 131–2, 152–5, 167, 192
Locke, John, 48
Lyotard, Jean-Francois, 176–7
Mao Zedong, 157–8, 192
Marcuse, Herbert, 173
Marx, Eleanor (“Tussy”) 28, 31, 40–1, 148–50
Marx, Jenny (“Jennychen”) 14, 24, 40–1
Marx, Jenny (wife) 8–9, 12–14, 19, 24–9, 40
Marx, Karl Heinrich
life, 197–203
parents and childhood, 1–5, 6, 9
university life, 5–10, 43
marriage, 8–9, 12–14
children, 14, 16, 24–9, 31, 40–1, 148–50
character, 5–6, 9–10
health, 5, 8, 27, 41
influences on, 3, 4–5, 13, 43–56
see also (Feuerbach; Hegel)
journalism career, 8, 10–16, 31–3, 35
arrests and exiles, 6, 19–20, 25–7
in Cologne, 11–13, 20–1
in Paris, 13–17, 21
in Belgium, 17–19
in London, 23–41
death, 23, 41
views/theories of, 83–4, 166
(see also Marxism)
accuracy of, 69–70, 84–6, 181–6<
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Communist League, 17–18, 33, 119, 134
development of, 14–16, 167–8
Doctor’s Club, 9, 11, 13
historical materialism, 61, 67, 99
International Workingmen’s Association, 35–9, 120–3
on labour, 62, 71, 77–82, 84–5, 144
on religion, 3, 61, 136
on socialism, 40, 130–1
on surplus value, 66, 72–7, 101, 135, 195, 206
on wages and profits, 67, 79–80, 85
on women and family, 139–42, 212–13
works, 10, 14, 16–17, 39, 43, 63, 66–7, 182–3, 204–6
Communist Manifesto, The, 18–20, 37, 63, 108, 110–12, 119, 122–4, 135, 139–42, 205
Critique of the Gotha Programme, 131, 136, 144, 206
Das Kapital, 31–5, 56, 65–7, 85, 102, 206
Economic and philosophical manuscripts, 16, 97–8, 100, 167, 172, 204
German ideology, The, 17, 60, 63, 66, 99–100, 104, 167–8, 204–5
Grundrisse, 65–6, 92, 103, 135–6, 205
Theses on Feuerbach, 8, 60, 117, 204
Marxism
Analytical, 174
Classical, 166–8
Cultural, 172, 189
development/spread of, 146–50, 165–6
Marxist-Leninist, 155–7
and philosophy, 184–5
Post-Marxism, 178–9
postmodern theory, 165, 193
relevance today, 181–6
Structural, 167–8, 174–5, 194
Western, 171–3, 196
money, 6, 67, 75, 94–5, 103
Morris, William, 149–50
Mouffe, Chantal, 178–9
Neue Rheinische Zeitung, 20, 32, 131
New American Cyclopaedia, 31–2
New York Tribune, 31–2, 91–2
overproduction, 78, 83
Owen, Robert, 49–51, 53
philanthropy, 125, 193
philosophy, 45–8
idealist/materialist, 44, 136, 192–3