Is Marxism Dead?

7/02/02

Classical Marxism

ClaM

Why Marxism is rubbish

1. It didnt work in Russia
2. Capitalism and the market
have proved their superiority
over socialism and planning
3. Marxism leads to the Gulag
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Why Marxism is rubbish

4. Even if there are problems
with society, social change is
risky
5. Socialism is really about
morality and values not the
pseudo-science of Marxism
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Why Marxism is rubbish

6. The ideals of Marxism are ok,
but there are better ways of
going about improving society
7. Marx had some insights into
the nature of society, but
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Why Marxism is rubbish

8. Marxism is based on an
outmoded study of 19th
Century capitalism
In particular, the working class
does not exist/has never existed

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Why Marxism is rubbish

9. Marxism doesnt take the
importance of ideas into
account
10.Marxism doesnt take human
nature into account
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Exercise
Write down what you think
Marxism is on a piece of paper
Can write name on top if you
want, but not essential

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Applied Marxism
??

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Course aims
Understanding of what the
founders of Marxism were on
about
Assessment of the
contemporary relevance of
Marxism
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Course aims
Basis for a grasp of
the influence of a powerful set of ideas
the relationship between Marxism and
official Communism
a social theory that can systematically
relate many aspects of social life to each
other
a strategy for changing the world
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10

Surviving ClaM

Go through course guide

Plan your reading
Course diary
Assessment

11

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diary
essay
participation

Marxist basics
A partisan science of working
class self-emancipation =
socialism (lectures 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10,
11)

Historical materialism (lecture 4)

Marxist economics (lectures 5, 9)
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12

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