The Marxist Approach

to study the subject matter of political

sociology
 Key points of interest
1. About: 3. Marxist School of Thought:
a)Karl Marx (list includes only prominent ones)
b)Friedrich Engels
a) Leninism
c)Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
2. The Marxist Approach: b) Maoism
d)What is Marxism? c) Marxism-Leninism
e)Haves and Have Nots d) Western Marxism
f) Aim of Karl Marx
g)Subject matter of Political
e) Eurocommunism
Sociology f) Marxist feminism
h)Application in Russian g) Libertarian Marxism
Revolution
h) Trotskyism
4. Idealism vs Materialism
5. Criticism
Slides
 Karl Marx
5 May 1818–14 March 1883
• Capitalism’s most famous and ambitious critique.

• Born on 5 May 1818, in Prussian (German) town named Trier.

• Although born in Jewish family, got converted to Christianity following the anti-
Jewish laws in Prussia.

• Studied law in Bonn and Berlin, and then wrote a PhD thesis in Philosophy in 1835.

• Later got involved in the then German Communist party {a tiny bunch of
intellectuals advocating to overthrow of class system and abolition of private
property.}

• In the long run met Engels in Brussels in 1845, who became a life-long collaborator
of Karl Marx.
• In 1846, excoriated the then German leader, Wilhelm Weitling for his moralistic
appeals.

• Co-authored ‘the communist manifesto’ with Engels in 1848.

• Was banished by the Prussian government following the revolution in 1849.

• In 1850 he got into misery; but was financially supported by his loyal friend.

• Became a correspondent in The New York Tribune in 1851.

• Provided 500+ articles to the newspaper along with Engels by 1862.

• Got fame and recognition by 1870 after attending the prestigious “Paris Commune.”

• Got into ‘chronic mental depression’ in the last few years of his life.

• Died on 14 March 1883 at London due to Pleurisy.

 Friedrich Engels
28 November 1820 - 5 August 1895
 Born in year 1820 in Barmen Prussia (Germany)

 A German socialist philosopher and the closest collaborator of Karl Marx in the
foundation of modern communism.

 Coauthored The Communist Manifesto and edited the 2 nd and 3rd volumes of Das
Kapital after Marx’s death.

 Came from a wealthy family. His father owned a cotton mill in Manchester.

 Met Moses Hess in 1842, the man who converted him to communism.

 Although a businessman by profession, he devoted most of his time writing articles

on communism for continental and English journals and reading books and
 Joined Marx in Brussels in 1845.

 Helped to bring about transformation into the Communist League paving the
way for the 1848 German Revolution.

 After its failure, Engels rejoined Marx in London, where they reorganized the
Communist League and drafted tactical directives for the communists.

 Supported Marx and his philosophy throughout his life.

 Served as the foremost authority on Marx and Marxism after Marx’s Death.

 Died on August 5 1895 due to cancer.

 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
22 April 1870-21 January 1924

• Born in 1870 at Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk).

• Entered the university of Kazan to study law but was expelled the same year for
participating in student agitation.

• Settled in St. Petersburg in 1893 and became actively involved with the revolutionary
workers.

• In 1897, he was arrested for sedition and exiled to Shushenskoye for three years.

• Specified the theoretical principles and organization of a Marxist party with his
pamphlet chto delat? (What is to be done?) In 1902.

• Took part in the second congress of the Russian social-democratic workers’ party,
which was held in Brussels and London in 1903.
• When two factions formed at the congress the Bolshevik & the Menshevik, Lenin
became the leader and the Bolshevik.

• Organized two international socialist conferences to fight against the war in 1915 at
Zimmerwald and in 1916 at Kientalorganized.

• Immediately came to power in Russia after the February 1917 revolution with the aid
of the Bolshevik coup.

• Being extremely radical, hard to oppose, and promising a better lifestyle for
peasants (the majority of Russia), quickly gained more power.

• Known as the Father of Russian Communism in 1870.

• First to actually use a form of communism in any nation.

• Died in year 1924 from strokes.

 What is Marxism?
In layman’s language

• Marxism is a government structure, that was

introduced by Karl Marx.
• Marxism can be labeled as a radical form of
socialism, and focuses on the class struggle that
has always been existent in human societies.
• Marx argued that the warring classes were
divided into two groups:
the "haves," and the "have-nots."
 Who are the “haves” and the “have-nots” ?
"Haves“ → (Bourgeoisie)
They are the employers.
Controllers of all means of
production.
Status: Become wealthy.

"Have-Nots“ → (Proletariat)
The workers performing the horrific
labor in terrible conditions.
Exploited by capitalists.
Status: Remained poor.
MARX’S IDEA OF HIS UTOPIAN SOCIETY STEMS FROM HIS WORKS.
 Marx’s critiques for capitalist model
1. Modern work leads to alienation. (entfremdung)

2. Modern work is insecure.

3. Primitive Accumulation leads to higher disparity.

(ursprὔngliche akkumulation)

4. Capitalism is very unstable.

5. Capitalism in turn is bad for capitalists: Commodity

fetishism. (Warenfetischismus)
 Aim of Karl Marx
• Marx believed that the workers revolution would result in increasing power
in the proletariat.
• This "power" includes seizing control of the factories and being capable of
changing the means of production.
• This "dictatorship of the Proletariat," having felt the pains and anger of
being exploited, would control the government and ways of production so
that everyone produced what society need, and shared the profits,
promoting economic equality.
• Eventually, in the final form of Marxism, all classes would slowly become
non-existent, and the complete equality would be known as "Communism."
• In communism, the means of production is owned by the people, not a
dictator.
• Everyone would produce what they could, and in return would receive what
they need; everyone is equal.
 The Marxist Theory
Subject Matter of Political Sociology
Some key pointers:
1. Class basis of politics is the major determinant of political phenomena, must ask which class controls
and dominates the state.
2. Reality is world of human effort – WORK, people realize themselves through work and around this
productive process history unfolds.
3. Dynamics of society originate in its economic activity which is essentially the production of material life
– food, clothing, shelter - and culture arises out of this process of economic activity.
4. Foundation or basis of society is the economy from which the legal, political, religious, cultural and
educational institutions derive; i.e. societies in different stages of developments create different
productive systems which are the economic institutions which in turn shape general nature of beliefs
and practices in all areas of social life including political organization.
5. A form of economic determinism.
6. Obedience of all classes is found not on coercion but on virtual dependence of working class on
capitalist class for subsistence and false consciousness.
7. Power flows from economic relations, who rules, those who control the economic resources, societal
power is a product of economic forces, Political power is not centered in the state but in the nature of
the class relations, who owns and controls the means of production.
8. Economic dominance is translated into power in all other societal realms, especially the state, thus
dominant economic class is ruling political class.
9. Since classes are political groups, political conflict is class conflict.
 The Russian Revolution
 The Russian Revolution was often known as "a firecracker with a very long fuse;" meaning that
unrest in Russia had been boiling up for almost a century, and the "explosion" finally came in
1917. This long fuse of unrest was composed of three different categories: Economic, Political,
and Social unrest.

1. Economic Unrest:
 Leading up to the revolution, Russia was struggling financially, and was falling far behind European nations,
but their Tsar did nothing to fix it..
 Poor economic conditions led to an extremely large and ever-growing poor social class, who protested with
strikes due to non-changing poor working conditions, food and fuel shortages, and a lack of efficient
transportation system in the largest country in the world.
 These issues created an angry community within Russia that wanted change.

2. Political Unrest:
 Politically, Russia was losing its dignity, and its power.
 Extreme losses in World War One made the largest country look childish, and the weak rulers proved to be
unproductive.
 These rulers, known as the Tsars, followed a policy of Autocracy, in which they ruled with unlimited power.
 This policy was used by leaders Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II, who were
characterized as harsh rulers who cared more about their own social status then their countries.
 With such pathetic leaders, it was no wonder why Marxist ideas and revolutionary ideas came into the picture.
3. Social Unrest:
 The social causes of the Russian revolution are very similar to most revolutions, as the
larger, poorer social class becomes upset with their status.
 The extreme social classes in Russia caused a ton of social unrest among the nation, and
peasants developed a desire for land.
 Extreme disease throughout the nation and deprivation as a result of entering World War
One also made citizens angry with their ineffectual ruler.

The Outburst
 The "explosion" of the Revolution occurred after three costly mistakes from Tsar Nicholas
II:
1. The Russo-Japanese War:
Whilst this war was meant to boost Russian moral, it actually destroyed it as
they, the largest country in the world, lost to one of the smallest.
2. Bloody Sunday:
Bloody Sunday, as named by the citizens, was an event in which the Tsar open
fired on unarmed rioters who were asking for better working conditions.
3. Involvement in World War I:
Tsar Nicholas entering Russian in WWI completely destroyed the economy
and killed millions. It revealed how weak their leaders actually are.
 Its Relevance in History

• These causes of the Revolution are very important to know in the Russian
Revolution because it shows the motivation behind every revolutionary act
that occurs, and also reveals why this event in history happened in the first
place.
• The causes of the revolution allow us to see connections between other
revolutions, and give an understanding to when another revolution might
occur.
• Finally, the causes of the revolution may foreshadow some events that
occur throughout the revolution, and reveal the ultimate goals of the
revolution to come.
 The Russian Revolution & Marxism
 During the Russian Revolution, Marxism was promoted to the
people in the form of Leninism, and was led and advertised by
Vladimir Lenin.
 Leninism was an imperfect style of Marxism, in which he adopted
to create a revolutionary nationalism in the working class.
 The hopes of Leninism was to transform the Russian environment
into a more suited industrialized area by means of a decentralized
system, led by the proletariat as a system of proletarian direct
democracy.
 The workers would hold political power via Soviets; local councils
that govern their own area.
 Marxist School Of Thought
Leninism

Maoism

Marxism-Leninism

Western Marxism

Eurocommunism
Marxist feminism

Libertarian Marxism

Trotskyism
 Leninism
• Leninism was the preeminent figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

• Its influence on the subsequent development of communism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere has been of

fundamental importance.

• In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels defined communists as “the most advanced and resolute section of

the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others.”

• This conception was fundamental to Leninist thought.

• Lenin saw the Communist Party as a highly committed intellectual elite who;
(1) had a scientific understanding of history and society in the light of Marxist principles,
(2) were committed to ending capitalism and instituting socialism in its place,
(3) were bent on forcing through this transition after having achieved political power, and
(4) were committed to attaining this power by any means possible, including violence and revolution if necessary.

• Lenin’s emphasis upon action by a small, deeply committed group stemmed both from the need for efficiency and

discretion in the revolutionary movement and from an authoritarian bent that was present in all of his political

thought.

• The authoritarian aspect of Leninism appeared also in its insistence upon the need for a “proletarian dictatorship”

following the seizure of power, a dictatorship that in practice was exercised not by the workers but by the leaders

of the Communist Party.

• Lenin was not at all convinced, for instance, that the workers would inevitably acquire the
proper revolutionary and class consciousness of the communist elite; he was instead afraid
that they would be content with the gains in living and working conditions obtained through
trade-union activity.

• In this, Leninism differed from traditional Marxism, which predicted that material conditions
would suffice to make workers conscious of the need for revolution. For Lenin, then, the
communist elite the “workers vanguard” was more than a catalytic agent that precipitated
events along their inevitable course; it was an indispensable element.

• Just as Leninism was rational in its choice of means to achieve political power, it was also
devious in the policies it adopted and the compromises it made to maintain its hold on power.

• In practice, Leninism’s unrestrained pursuit of the socialist society resulted in the creation of
a totalitarian state in the Soviet Union.

• The building of the socialist society proceeded under a new autocracy of Communist Party
officials and bureaucrats.

• Terror was applied without hesitation, humanitarian considerations and individual rights were
disregarded, and the assumption of the class character of all intellectual and moral life led to a
relativization of the standards of truth, ethics, and justice.
 Maoism
• The doctrine of Maoism composed of the ideology and methodology for
revolution developed by Mao Zedong and his associates in the Chinese
Communist Party from the 1920s until Mao’s death in 1976.
• It represented a revolutionary method based on a distinct revolutionary outlook not
necessarily dependent on a Chinese or Marxist-Leninist context.
• The first political attitudes of Mao Zedong took shape against a background of
profound crisis in China in the early 20th century.
• Mao gradually decided to base his revolution on the dormant power of China’s
hundreds of millions of peasants, for he saw potential energy in them by the very
fact that they were “poor and blank”; strength and violence were, he thought,
inherent in their condition.
• Proceeding from this, he proposed to instill in them a proletarian consciousness
and make their force alone suffice for revolution.
• Although Mao relied on the Stalinist model of communist state he was way ahead
of both Lenin and Stalin in preserving his communist state identity.
• Although one party dominance prevailed in China since the Red revolution, there
came a time where the party itself got divided in two groups i.e. the party elites
and the subordinate officers.
• This led to the shift of power paradigm from the proletariats to the party
elites.
• This greatly helped the authority to strengthen its clasps over the country.
• The extreme violence that accompanied Mao’s many political campaigns
and Maoism’s inability to achieve sustained economic growth in China,
after the chairman Mao’s death, to a new emphasis on education and
management professionalism there, and by the 1980s Maoism appeared to
be celebrated mainly as a relic of the late leader.

Outside China, however, a number of groups have identified themselves as

Maoists. Notable among these are rebels in Nepal, who won control of the
government there in 2006 after a 10-year insurgency, and the Naxalite groups
in India, who engaged in guerrilla warfare for decades in large areas of that
country.
 Marxism-Leninism
• The Marxist-Leninist ideology was the officially adopted state ideology of the
Soviet-Union and its allies forming the eastern-bloc.
• It was developed by Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s based on his understanding
and synthesis of both orthodox Marxism and Leninism.
• Today, Marxism–Leninism is the ideology of many Stalinist and Maoist political
parties around the world and remains the official ideology of the ruling parties of
China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam.
• This theory believes in stagism (two-stage theory) where any capitalist state
would transform into the socialist state through the following process;
i. The working class will form a political union/party.
ii. They will overthrow the opposing capitalist power holders.
iii. The newly formed communist party will establish itself as the vanguard party of the
state.
iv. The party then will work for the interest of the working class through the process of
democratic-centralism.
• Marxism–Leninism supports the creation of a one-party state led by a communist
party as a means to develop socialism and then communism.
• The political structure of the Marxist–Leninist state involves the rule of a
communist vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents the
 Eurocommunism
• The term was coined in the mid-1970s and received wide publicity after the
publication of Eurocommunism and the State in 1977 by the Spanish communist
leader Santiago Carrillo.
• It can be defined as a trend among European communist parties toward
independence from Soviet Communist Party doctrine between 1970-80.
• The Euro-communist movement openly rejected the subordination of all communist
parties to the once-prevalent Soviet doctrine of one uniform world communist
movement.
• Instead, every party was expected to base its policies on the traditions and essentials
within its own country.
• The promotion of Eurocommunism seemed to coincide with the stagnation of
many European communist parties.
 Marxist Feminism
• Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory focusing on the overthrow of capitalism as
a way to liberate women.

• It states that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality as well as dependence,
political confusion and ultimately unhealthy social relations between men and women, is the
root of women's oppression.

• According to Marxist theory, in capitalist societies the individual is shaped by class relations
—that is people's capacities, needs and interests are seen to be determined by the mode of
production that characterises the society they inhabit.

• Marxist feminists see gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of
production.

• Gender oppression is class oppression and women's subordination is seen as a form of class
oppression which is maintained (like racism) because it serves the interests of capital and the
ruling class.

• Marxist feminist thinkers have extended traditional Marxist analysis by looking at domestic
labour as well as wage work in order to support their position.
 Trotskyism
• Trotskyism was advocated by Russian Marxist Leon Trotsky, a contemporary of Lenin from
the early years of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, where he led a small trend
in competition with both Lenin's Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.
• This ideology supports the theory of permanent revolution and world revolution instead of
the two stage theory and socialism in one country.
• It also supported international socialism in the Soviet Union which Trotsky claimed had
become a degenerated worker's state under the leadership of Stalin in which class relations
had re-emerged in a new form, rather than the dictatorship of the proletariat.
• In less-developed countries the bourgeoisie were too weak to lead their own bourgeois-
democratic revolutions.
• Due to this weakness, it fell to the proletariat to carry out the bourgeois revolution. With
power in its hands, the proletariat would then continue this revolution permanently,
transforming it from a national bourgeois revolution to a socialist international revolution.
• This was the theory supported by the Trotskyist supporters.
 Western Marxism
• Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central
Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of
Leninism.
• The term denotes a loose collection of Marxist theorists who emphasized culture,
philosophy and art, in contrast to the Marxism of the Soviet Union.
 Some of the prominent ideologies of this theory are as follows;
1. Structural Marxism: It is an approach to Marxism based on structuralism, primarily
associated with the work of the French theorist Louis Althusser and his students.
2. Neo-Marxism: It is a Marxist school of thought encompassing 20th-century approaches
that amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory that attempts to supplement the
perceived deficits of orthodox Marxism or dialectical materialism. In industrial
economics, the neo-Marxist approach stresses the monopolistic and oligarchical rather
than the competitive nature of capitalism. This ideology focused more on dialectical
idealism rather than dialectical materialism.
3. Frankfurt School: It is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the
Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt. The theorists of these school
of thought proposed that social theory was inadequate for explaining the turbulent political
factionalism and reactionary politics occurring in ostensibly liberal capitalist societies in
the 20th century. Critical of capitalism and of Marxism–Leninism as philosophically
inflexible systems of social organization, the School's critical theory research indicated
 What is Dialectical Materialism?

• People outside Marxism may describe Materialism as excessive

obsession with the material and being preoccupied with it.
• But this not the description when talking about it in the Marxist theory.
• Materialism here refers to a philosophy or world outlook that treats
reality as independent of human thought. It places emphasis on the
very matter this world is made up of.
• To understand this in a clear way we need to understand its counter
argument i.e. Idealism.
• Idealism believes that human thought comes above all and the
materials surrounding us is the vision of our mind.
• The idea of Marx for human thoughts falls somewhere between
materialism and idealism.
• Marx simply suggested that the thoughts of human mind are the
result of what the human mind has gone through. (the environment,
the conditions etc.)
• Marxist dialects emphasizes the importance of real world conditions,
in terms of class, labour and other socio-economic interactions.
 Criticism

• Leads to State tyranny.

• Does not appreciate the concept of private ownership.
• Limits opportunities for entrepreneurs.
• Limits the scope of human development.
• Negligence of market forces leads to economic downfall.
• Threat to democracy.
 Videos for references

https://youtu.be/fSQgCy_iIcc
..\..\A Brief Introduction to Marxism.mp4
https://youtu.be/XyzFwHFN_BI
..\..\Causes of Russian Revolution.mp4
https://youtu.be/lJemjbIlt68
..\..\Fundamentals of Marx Idealism vs. Materiali
https://youtu.be/W0GFSUu5UzA sm.mp4

..\..\karl marx- political theory oversimplified.mp

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