loveme4whoiam
25th October 2006, 16:30
Well, not really a comprehensive answer, but an answer nonetheless. For my Uni course we've been studying the Marxist view of history, and one of the questions is:
‘The weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to the ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself’ (p. 41 of the Communist Manifesto). How and why does Marx think that revolutionary change occurs?
My answer had to be within 500 words (although this draft is over that) and succinct. What do you fine people think of it? :)
"Marx chose to begin the Communist Manifesto by detailing the rise of the bourgeois class out of the ashes of feudal society, as this is key to the theory of historical inevitability. Just as feudal society was out-stripped by evolution in the modes of production, and the advancement of a world market, so too will the bourgeois class lose control of the proletariat, which they have subjugated to their will. It is this process that Marx views as revolutionary change.
Capitalist, bourgeois society is, in the words of Marx, a self-fulfilling prophecy – through the creation and subsequent exploitation of the proletariat “the bourgeoisie… produces, above all, its own grave-diggers”1. Marx bases his theory of revolution entirely in relation to the means of production. The process of colonisation and inter-nation trade paved the way for the early elements of a bourgeois class to emerge: wealthy merchants and controllers of trade. As industrial production began to grow beyond the feudal system “under which industrial production was monopolised by closed guilds”2, the bourgeoisie moved into this field and assumed control of the division of labour.
The introduction of a competitive market drove technological advancements forward with a sense of urgency that had been lacking in the centuries before, and with it grew the influence of the owners of production, the bourgeoisie: “this development [of the world market] has… reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion to industry… the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages”3. It must be noted that Marx refers to “every class” of the Middle Ages, not simply the labourers. The bourgeois pushed out the feudal ruling class through use of capital – by concentrating in their hands the means of production, they were able to dictate policy to those who were now in name only the ruling class: “Each step of the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class”4.
In this way, the bourgeoisie manoeuvred themselves into the position of power, in Marx’s view. They achieved revolutionary change through the exploitation of labourers in order to generate capital, with which they suborned the ruling processes to their own preferences. This change was inseparably linked to the means of production; by controlling them, the bourgeoisie’s power and influence increased at the same rate as production. Once in power, the bourgeoisie consolidated their position by “constantly revolutionising the instruments of production… and with them the whole relations of society”5.
Marx theorised that this constant modernising of industry would eventually lead to more and more of the proletariat becoming surplus to the process of production, and sink into poverty once the self-interested capitalist employers removed them from employment. In this fashion, increasing numbers of people would become a burden on the state, in a position where “[the state] has to feed him, rather than it being fed by him”6. At a certain point, this majority of proletariats would take steps to seize control of the means of production, separating the bourgeoisie from the means of their power.
Marx believed that the means of production were the essence of all society; whichever class controlled them, was able to dictate how society would function. Revolutionary change, in Marx’s view, was achieved through changing whoever controlled them. He sited the transfer from feudal to bourgeois society as proof of this theory, and used this view of history to predict the next, eventual change in society."
Marks out of ten :P
‘The weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to the ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself’ (p. 41 of the Communist Manifesto). How and why does Marx think that revolutionary change occurs?
My answer had to be within 500 words (although this draft is over that) and succinct. What do you fine people think of it? :)
"Marx chose to begin the Communist Manifesto by detailing the rise of the bourgeois class out of the ashes of feudal society, as this is key to the theory of historical inevitability. Just as feudal society was out-stripped by evolution in the modes of production, and the advancement of a world market, so too will the bourgeois class lose control of the proletariat, which they have subjugated to their will. It is this process that Marx views as revolutionary change.
Capitalist, bourgeois society is, in the words of Marx, a self-fulfilling prophecy – through the creation and subsequent exploitation of the proletariat “the bourgeoisie… produces, above all, its own grave-diggers”1. Marx bases his theory of revolution entirely in relation to the means of production. The process of colonisation and inter-nation trade paved the way for the early elements of a bourgeois class to emerge: wealthy merchants and controllers of trade. As industrial production began to grow beyond the feudal system “under which industrial production was monopolised by closed guilds”2, the bourgeoisie moved into this field and assumed control of the division of labour.
The introduction of a competitive market drove technological advancements forward with a sense of urgency that had been lacking in the centuries before, and with it grew the influence of the owners of production, the bourgeoisie: “this development [of the world market] has… reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion to industry… the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages”3. It must be noted that Marx refers to “every class” of the Middle Ages, not simply the labourers. The bourgeois pushed out the feudal ruling class through use of capital – by concentrating in their hands the means of production, they were able to dictate policy to those who were now in name only the ruling class: “Each step of the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class”4.
In this way, the bourgeoisie manoeuvred themselves into the position of power, in Marx’s view. They achieved revolutionary change through the exploitation of labourers in order to generate capital, with which they suborned the ruling processes to their own preferences. This change was inseparably linked to the means of production; by controlling them, the bourgeoisie’s power and influence increased at the same rate as production. Once in power, the bourgeoisie consolidated their position by “constantly revolutionising the instruments of production… and with them the whole relations of society”5.
Marx theorised that this constant modernising of industry would eventually lead to more and more of the proletariat becoming surplus to the process of production, and sink into poverty once the self-interested capitalist employers removed them from employment. In this fashion, increasing numbers of people would become a burden on the state, in a position where “[the state] has to feed him, rather than it being fed by him”6. At a certain point, this majority of proletariats would take steps to seize control of the means of production, separating the bourgeoisie from the means of their power.
Marx believed that the means of production were the essence of all society; whichever class controlled them, was able to dictate how society would function. Revolutionary change, in Marx’s view, was achieved through changing whoever controlled them. He sited the transfer from feudal to bourgeois society as proof of this theory, and used this view of history to predict the next, eventual change in society."
Marks out of ten :P