Thesis And Antithesis

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

As a result, the protagonist feels she cannot fit in and builds hesitancy and self-doubt. Helga “could neither conform, nor be happy in her unconformity” (7). Helga concludes that she cannot accept the stereotypes put forth by society, neither can she accept her own identity and individuality with content.

With his co-author Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx produced one of his most famous works, The Communist Manifesto. The authors begin with the famous line, “history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle” (Marx and Engels 1848: 2). It emphasizes that the bourgeoisie is a powerful class, which will stop at nothing and force the adoption of a capitalist means of production upon anyone it meets. Marx describes how this will force society to split into two classes. The Manifesto of the Communist Party also emphasizes the theory of historical materialism. Historical materialism happens when

1. The American city was changed drastically in the first half of the 20th century with the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the ongoing flow of foreigners into an already crowded United States.

These two characters showed significant psychological work in hopes of changing their “problematic” social identity. Both of these characters were conscious of the stigmas that surrounded their identities, each, however, had distinct ways in which they dealt with those stigmas and changing their meanings as they grew older. Many would say that the way in which they were able to transform their identities meant either embracing it or denying one’s own identity fully as the film progressed and new societal pressures arose.

In 1848, Marx, a German philosopher, wrote a supposedly scientific account of his perspective on history entitled The Communist Manifesto. As a materialist philosopher, he believed that economics was at the heart of history. He examined the tools and technology being used to understand the material substructure of how people were fed and clothed.

Conflicts and revolutions have occurred throughout history from the beginning of time. These conflicts and revolutions can all be explained by one theory, Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory. This theory describes a two-class system and how the two classes opposing views ultimately lead to revolts and change of the traditional system. These opposing views stem from a suppressed and exploited working/lower class.

Remarque uses antithesis to reveal the tragedy of the innocence lost by the young soldiers. When Müller ask the boys “what would [they] do if it were suddenly peace-time again” Kroop, Müller, and Paul all contemplate the thought of going home. The young boys joke of the useless information they learned in school, such as “How many children has Charles the Bald?”, and how it is no use to them now in the war. However, the conversation takes a depressing tone after the three realize that they do not have a job, family, or any reason to go home as the other soldiers do. Paul says all they know is “to play cards, to swear, and to fight”, and while this seems so little for “twenty years”, it is “too much”. Remarque includes this to show that they

Karl Marx an influential German economist also known as the Father of Communism was the Author of the popular book, Dad Kapital (the capital) and The Communist Manifesto alongside with his friend Friedrich Engels. His words “Let the ruling classes tremble at the prospect of a Communist Revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose from it but their chains. They have a world to win. Proletarians of all countries, unite!” is a wake-up call to the working to realize what they can achieve if they start a revolution against the abusive capitalist system. Karl Marx had an antagonistic standpoint regarding capitalism believing it caused an unjust division of classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and generated dehumanization and alienation.

By maintaining a facade of “normalcy”, I became instantly popular, and I gained influence that I had never thought possible. Girls looked to me for advice on everything from boys to hairstyles, and I reveled in my “superiority”. Thus, when sixth grade arrived, I was a bully; I became the people who had tormented me. I was deliberately vicious, ridiculing anyone who didn’t fit the impossible standard I used to hide my insecurities. I slashed people down and used their broken pieces to repair myself. The girl I had been seemed permanently lost to the monster I had become-until Julia.

One of the greatest debates of all time has been regarding the issue of the freedom of mankind. The one determining factor, for Marx, it that freedom is linked with class conflict. As a historian, Karl Marx traced the history of mankind by the ways in which the economy operated and the role of classes within the economy. For Marx, the biggest question that needed to be answered was “Who owns freedom?” With this in mind, Marx gives us a solution to both the issues of freedom and class conflict in his critique of capitalism and theory of communism, which is the ideal society for Marx. His theory of communism is based on the “ultimate end of human history” because there will be freedom for all humankind.

Karl Marx, also a philosopher was popularly known for his theories that best explained society, its social structure, as well as the social relationships. Karl Marx placed so much emphasis on the economic structure and how it influenced the rest of the social structure from a materialistic point of view. Human societies progress through a dialectic of class struggle, this means that the three aspects that make up the dialectic come into play, which are the thesis, antithesis and the synthesis (Avineri, 1980: 66-69). As a result of these, Marx suggests that in order for change to come about, a class struggle has to first take place. That is, the struggle between the proletariat and the capitalist class, the class that controls

That being said, Marx again is a dialectical thinker so believing only in constant change alone is one-sided in his perspective. Another quote raised by the instructor is the "unity of opposites." Essentially, this quote ties in with the dialectical method and suggests that although social change is inevitable in the eyes of Marx, it is at the same time not the only thing happening. Rather, Marx is hinting that there is an underlying theme that constantly remains the same. Simply put, this is the conflict between the capitalist and the worker, leading to the next issue to be covered in this paper.

This crucial opening to The Communist Manifesto holds the key to understanding Karl Marx's conception of history. Marx outlines history as a two dimensional, "linear" chain of events. A constant progression of class divisions being created and overthrown, one after the other, until the result is the utopian endpoint, otherwise known as communism.

Marx's view of the idea of "dialectic" comes from Hegel, who thought that no ideas, social formations, or practices were ever eternal or fixed, but were always in motion or flux (something like Derrida's "play"). Hegel said that this motion or flux or change happens in a certain pattern, which he called a "dialectic." Hegel says, change occurs as the result of a struggle between two opposed forces, which then get resolved into a third entity. Hegel's model of change looks like this: you start with a proposition or a position, which he calls a "thesis;" the thesis then stands in opposition to another position, which he calls the "antithesis" (and thus far it does work like our old friend the binary opposition). But then the struggle between thesis and antithesis is resolved into a third position, or set of ideas or practices, which Hegel calls the "synthesis." Then, of course, the synthesis eventually becomes a thesis, with an antithesis, and the whole process starts over. But that, says Hegel, is how change happens--by the continual struggle between thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.