Karl

Marx

And his Theory of History

 Why Study Marx?
  Relevance?
  Influence?
  Communist States
  China
  Vietnam
  North Korea
  Cuba
  Ideology of the “Enemy” (Cold War)
 Economic
Determinism
  Money or lack of money determines…
  Where you live
  Where you go to school

  Who your friends are

  Who you will fall in love with

  Who you will marry

  No free will. No choice.

 View of History
  History is objective
  Can be measured, scientifically
  EXAMPLE: Peasants & Price of Bread

  Future is predictable
  History has laws or rules
  History progresses in stages
 What Makes
History Go?
  HistoricalDialectic = engine of history
  Each stage has an unresolved
contradiction
  Thesis vs. Antithesis
  THESIS = status quo
(of social-economic relationships)
  ANTITHESIS = possible future

  SYNTHESIS = resolution of contradiction

 History = Story of
Class Struggles
  Class= defined by relationship to MOP
  MOP = means of production
  Generates the goods of society
  Owned or controlled by the “Haves”

  Worked by the “Have-Nots” (powerless)

 Stage 1
  Primitive Communism
  Everyone shares for good of community
  No individualism

  Sacrifice for Community

  MOP = land
  Thesis = no private property

  Antithesis = private property

 Stage 2
  Feudalism
  “Haves” — own private property (nobles)
  “Have-nots” — work land (peasants/serfs)

  MOP = land
  Thesis = status based on land

  Antithesis = status based on money

 Stage 3
  Capitalism
  “Haves” — bourgeoisie (industrialists)
  “Have-nots” — proletariat (workers)

  MOP = factories, factory machines

  Thesis = wealth for the few

  Antithesis = equal distribution of wealth

  Wages decrease & conditions worsen

 VIOLENT
PROLETARIAN
REVOLUTION
 Stage 4
  Socialism

  Dictatorship of the Proletariat

  MOP = owned by government

  Redistribution of wealth by gov’t

 Stage 5
  Communism (final stage)
  Socialism worldwide
  Government withers away

  NO “Haves”

  NO “Have-nots”

  All
contradictions resolved
  Human beings are truly free
 “From each according
to his ability, to each
according to his need.”
— Louis Blanc