Will there really be a revolution?

[Capcomm]

From what i have learned about Marx, wouldn't he say that the "revolution" will be a gradual natural process? Instead of an actual revolution by the masses? Marx understood that our consciousness is a result of our life expirience, when machines do everything, when mostly everything is automated, than the bourgeois would have naturally been done away with.

The way i see it is, that it will go away just like the Knights and that type of nobility or "class", was done away with after Feudalism was changed.

[rouchambeau]

I don't know if Marx said that change from capitalism to communism would be "gradual".

About feudalism, there was actually a pretty violent cause for it's change in England where it first fell.

[Capcomm]

I don't know if Marx said that change from capitalism to communism would be "gradual".

About feudalism, there was actually a pretty violent cause for it's change in England where it first fell.

ok, well what did Marx say? Yeah i mean im not sure he said it was gonna be "gradual" either, but the technology is going to take long time to develop, which is a gradual process, until we get to a state of automation that will give way to a communist society.

Can you please elaborate about the violent struggles in the change of Feudalism in England?

[Janus]

As far as the actual shift from immediate post-capitalist society to communism, most Marxists believe that it will be somewhat gradual and require some type of transition stage through a dictatorship of the proletariat. As far as the time limit goes, Marx was pretty vague on it but he certainly didn't believe that the process could simply occur overnight.

[BreadBros]

From what i have learned about Marx, wouldn't he say that the "revolution" will be a gradual natural process? Instead of an actual revolution by the masses?

Well, I think you're confusing concepts. The ability of the bourgeoisie to successfully manage capitalist production will likely diminish (or is diminishing) over time. So the path to revolutionary conditions will be somewhat gradual (although I don't know if I'd call it "natural", economic crisises tend to be fairly violent and hard on society). Any actual revolution will probably be marked by a series of significant concrete events and will probably not be gradual at all.


Marx understood that our consciousness is a result of our life expirience, when machines do everything, when mostly everything is automated, than the bourgeois would have naturally been done away with.

Our consciousness is a result of our life experiences, thats completely correct. However, the idea that technology will pave the way towards revolution is wrong. Capitalist producers are very adept at adopting technology. Today our industrial factories are far more automated than even 20 years ago. Yet the same economic relations exist between people, meaning that work is still necessary for the mass of society, poverty is still endemic, etc. The lowered labor costs of automation simply means more profit for capitalists and a harder time finding long-term "livable" employment for most people. When Marx talked of overthrowing capitalist production he was not referring to the machinery at work but rather to the property relations that that technology is employed for.

As for the consciousness bit. Its true that people's consciousness in regards to capitalism will only change with life experience. What Marx meant was that as capitalism degrades and becomes more unegalitarian creating more hardship and violence for people, people's consciousness would change. That could be gradual (as it has been until now) but it could also be sudden if economic crises start emerging with more frequency or if public revolts begin happening. Technology would have one role as it would point out the huge potential for wealth and leisure that is possible but is not equally shared in by the mass of society.


The way i see it is, that it will go away just like the Knights and that type of nobility or "class", was done away with after Feudalism was changed.

Actually, I think the transition from feudalism to capitalism is a great example. The production capability of feudalism began to significantly fail as time went on, especially compared to the emerging merchant and bourgeois classes. That changed the masses consciousness of feudalism, resulting in violent overthrows of the nobility and massive social change. The grandest example of this would be the French revolution, although the Napoleonic wars, the attempted revolutions of 1848 and the glorious revolution in England all relate into this.