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Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)

Outline of lectures on Marx & Engels


From the 18th Century to the 19th Century Their lives and works Marxs other theories The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts
Alienation

The Critique of Political Economy


Historical materialism

The Communist Manifesto


Theory & policy of revolution

From the 1700s to the 1800s New era, new attitudes


Industrial revolution; beginnings of modern capitalism (1750?-1850?)
Appearance of crowded factories, harsh working conditions, child labor, etc.

Revolutions in 1776, 1789 Napoleonic wars 1795-1815 Restructuring of European politics, 1815 Abortive revolutions in 1835, 1848

Karl Marx (1818-1883)


Born in Germany; wrote in German From a middle class background, but became interested in radical politics Trained in philosophy but worked as a journalist Lived in various countries (partly because of his politics) 1850-1883: lived in London
Now supported by Engels Wrote some of his most important works

Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)


Born in Germany From an upper class family Went to England to manage family industry; shocked by the conditions of the working class; and so turns to radical politics Eventually settled in England where he continued to be an upper class industrialist while writing about radical politics and supporting Marx.

Their major works


Marx: The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) Engels: The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) Marx & Engels: The German Ideology (1846) Marx & Engels: The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) Marx: Capital, Volume I (1867)
Volumes 2, 3, & 4 published posthumously

Marx, the economist Theory of exploitation Business cycle theory Crisis of capitalism Marx, the sociologist Theory of social class Theory of alienation Marx, the historian Historical determination

Marx the Communist movement


Many different movements in early-to-mid 1800s Asked by one group to write manifesto Manifesto and Capital become classics of the movement Thought of as founder Revolutions in his name long after his death Were these revolutions true to Marx?

The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 [published 1932]

Theory of alienation
The estrangement from our common humanity experience by people in the modern world Self expression and self direction are lost as individuals must sell themselves as a commodity to survive

Causes of alienation
In the modern economy, the worker sinks to the level of a commodity. Must sell themselves to survive.

Distinctions disappear
Between landowners & capitalists Between farmers and factory workers Convergence to the two classesthe property owners and the propertyless workers.

Workers are alienated from


from the products of their labor from the act of production from most of his daily activities
Himself only in animal functions Reduced to merely staying alive

from their own needs from each other

Solutions?
Increase in wages better payment for the slave Equality of wages only equalizes the level of alienation The solution that will work is to eliminate property (in capital) estranged labor is the direct cause of private property. The downfall of one must involve the downfall of the other.

A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness.

It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.

The Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)

A specter is haunting Europe: the specter of communism

Its enemies acknowledge its power.

History is the history of class struggle. Class struggle converges on two classes
Bourgeoisie (owners of property) Proletariat (propertyless workers)

Causes of the crisis

Causes continued
All relationships become wage relationships Forced globalization Manufactured wants Dehumanization of industrialization

Enlargement and immiseration of the proletariat


This causes the power of the proletariat to increase Proletarian will lead revolution
First revolution of the majority

The development of modern industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundations on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore produces, above all, is its own gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.

Effects of revolution
Abolition of private property (bourgeois property, not personal property)
9/10s of people have no property now

Disappearance of bourgeois family No nationalism Centralized production in the hands of the state

Ten policies of the communist party:


1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of childrens factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production

Power loses its political character after the revolution


Political power is merely the organized power of one class for oppression another.

Let the ruling class tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

*WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE+

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