During the nineteenth century, in the midst of increased industrialization, worker exploitation, and growing gaps in wealth, Karl Marx formulated a political theory which would go on to remodel global politics in an unprecedented manner. Marxism, as it would later be known, or more generally, Communism, was destined to guide countless nations’ paths to “liberation.” Two countries in particular, the USSR and the People’s Republic of China, can trace their rapid escapes from “backwardness” into industrial powerhouses, and international superpower and rising superpower, respectively, to their adoption, as well as their exclusive interpretations, of Marxism. However, such flexible and broad adaptations of Marxism to these nations’ …show more content…
The aforementioned information is detailed within The Marxian Revolution Chapters 1 and 3. So where did Lenin and Mao diverge from and align with the ideas of Marx? From the start, Lenin was working with a Russia that did not yet meet the criteria of a conscious proletariat, indicating readiness for revolution. As such, he amended Marxism to better suit the circumstances of the Russian population. The first manner in which Lenin contrasts with Marx is through his utilization of a peasant uprising, rather than a worker uprising. At that point in Russia’s history, Russia was still in a feudal phase, where industry has not yet taken off, and the vast majority of the population was peasants, whom were controlled by landlords as well as the Tsarist Government. Lenin justified the propriety of revolution by asserting that Russia was in a state of capitalism. Lenin further diverged from Marx in the fact that Marx believed that the revolution should be lead by the self aware proletariat, rather than merely consisting of proletarian participants. However, lacking both a proletariat majority, as well as a conscious class, Lenin determined that the revolution must be lead by an elite base. As mentioned in Comrades!, Marx greatly feared a preemptive revolution, and it is plausible that such a faulty foundation of Communism in Russia is what eventually lead to the USSR’s downfall. Nonetheless, Lenin proceeded with his Bolshevik Revolution and disbanded with
Marxism is a critical perspective based off of the ideas of Karl Marx, with Marx’s most famous work being the Communist Manifesto. This book illustrates
One of the honors for ‘greatest theories’ in contemporary civilization has to be awarded to Marxism. Invented in late 19th century by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Marxism has had great influences on the development of modern society. Despite its eventual failure, Marxism once led to numerous revolutions that working classes raised against the ruling parties in different countries. Consequently, it paved the way for the erection of the Berlin Wall, the formation of the Warsaw Treaties—communist camp confronting NATO, and the establishment of a world super power, the Soviet Union at the dawn of this century. Even decades later, after all those Marxist milestones
Different textual mediums have the effect of exploring various representations of political personalities and situations and their impact on individuals and society. This is apparent in Aldous Huxley’s satirical novel Brave New World (BNW) (1932) and Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi (1982) where both composers use their mediums to showcase different perceptions of politics and people for a range of audiences. Huxley’s BNW creates social critique on how the growing trend of consumerism, totalitarianism and science may impinge on the lives of citizens. Gandhi recreates the events of a historical figure to represent the impact of colonisation on society. Both texts present control as well as freedom through commenting on political personalities,
AQA AS/A SOCIOLOGY ESSAY: CRITICALLY EXAMINE MARXIST PERSPECTIVES ON TODAY’S SOCIETY Classical Marxism is a conflict structural theory which argues that, rather than society being based on value consensus as functionalists would contend, there is a conflict of interest between different groups (social classes) because of the unequal distribution of power and wealth. Marxists are also interested in the way in which social change can occur, particularly in sudden and revolutionary ways. However, there are differences between Marxists especially over the way which social change can come about. For example, humanistic Marxists like Gramsci give a greater role to the conscious decisions and actions of human beings than do structural Marxists
The Communist Manifesto left a tremendous impact on a society that was rapidly becoming industrialized, and its effects can even be seen on the dominating economic system of the twenty-first century. In the later nineteenth century, however, industrial capitalism was on the brink of ruin. “On many occasions during the past century, Marxists have thought that capitalism was down for the count . . . Yet it has always come back with renewed strength.” Industrial capitalism succeeded in the face of communism, despite numerous economic disasters. As the capitalist economists hopefully noted at the time, these economic earthquakes, temporary in character, soon cured themselves and left capitalism unscathed. Karl Marx sought to create
Marxism is often cited as being irrelevant within contemporary society due to the fact that Marx had critiqued an almost incomparable society. McDonald & Brownlee (2001) argue
As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.
Marxism has had a profound influence on Russia, China, and many countries in Africa such as Ethiopia, Angola, Kenya and Senegal. In recent years, however, Marx’s influence has weakened and will continue to weaken as a result of the decline of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe.
The ideology of Marxism, established by German philosopher Karl Marx, is a collectively known set of assumptions of a political ideology, which focuses especially on analysis of materialist interpretation of historical development, or on class struggle within the society. The primarily approach of Marxism, nonetheless, was the critique of capitalism. The strength of his inquiry lies in belief of inevitable shift from capitalism and he aims to advocate the new form of ideology and economy, the socialism. The title of this essay is provocative as in today´s world, there exist many proponents who claim, the core of Marx conception of ideology is still relevant in the 21st globalised world. However, Marxism is relevant to the extent to which
In the written piece composed by Hongjie Wang, “Hot Peppers, Sichuan Cuisine and the Revolutions in Modern China” a variety of elements inclusive of the correlation between the spicy predilection and innovative characters present in the Chinese culture are discussed with consideration of the key elements of big history. In “Hot Peppers, Sichuan Cuisine and the Revolutions in Modern China”, Hongjie Wang discusses the Big History of the Sichuan cuisine. In this discussion, the argues that the cuisine isn’t that hot, indicating this as a myth, as the spice was abandoned after the 16th century and then replaced by newly introduced peppers until today. Wang notes when the hot peppers made Sichuan cuisine spicy through giving an overview of the trade
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the
In 1848 when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the first edition of the book that would define their worldview, they saw an issue with the fragmentation of the communist beliefs and were commissioned to put the beliefs of the communists into a clear document to demonstrate what they stood for. Many of their ideas are now outdated, and some have been implemented in current society with unsuccessful results. Marx advocates the violent overthrow of governments to equalize the people of the country, rationalizing it as a way to overthrow the regime of the bourgeoisie. As seen in history, this can often lead to a state where the country is plunged into civil war or genocide, with an equally oppressive or more tyrannical leader than before. The attempt of leaders of many nation-states to adapt Marx’s ideas of nationalizing the agricultural process has resulted in increased costs for the consumers of the nations, and preventing them from negotiating trade contracts. The spread of globalization has increased, but contrary to the beliefs of Marx, there has not been a push to remove the borders of nation-states because of the similarities of the nation’s workforces. Any attempt to annex
Communism is a system of government, a political ideology that rejects private ownership and promotes a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of all property and the means of production, where by all work is shared and all proceeds are commonly owned. Communism is practised in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. However most of the world’s communist governments have been disbanded since the end of World War II. Soon after the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, Communist forces began a war against the Kuomintang in China. The Communists gradually gained control of the country and on the 1st October, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the victory of the Communist party and the establishment of the People's
Leninism is used to describe the strategy, devised by Lenin (and others), that insisted that a revolution would not come about through the collapse of capitalism under the stress of its own contradictions, and instead, should be brought about by a 'vanguard party' of intellectuals acting on behalf of a proletariat that had not (and might not ever) achieve consciousness. So, it's a major revision of the most austere parts of Marx's prognosis of capitalism, and a theory about how to acquire and retain control of the state. Marxism-Leninism was the term used by apparatchiks and intellectuals in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to describe the ideology they followed. Of course, this ideology changed all the time, so it was an elastic term. At separate times, different policies would comprise Marxism-Leninism. It wasn't one idea or approach.
Though Marx’s theories were first conceived over 150 years ago, his work continues to be tremendously influential and is perhaps the most well known scholarship within the sociological canon. Despite their prominence, some of Marx’s most famous ideas have yet to be proven by the course of history. Neo-Marxists may insist that the revolution is coming, but the fact remains that the overthrow of capitalism has yet to materialize. I argue that the communist revolution has not yet occurred because the proletariat has been unable to develop the universal class consciousness that Marx asserts is a necessary condition for his predicted mass uprising. Additionally, I postulate that the theories of Weber and Simmel reveal the factors impeding