Pete
26th February 2003, 01:08
Marxist Theory
Communism is splintered, but one common thread unites all threads of this ideology. This is the theory of Marxism.
In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrieck Engels wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party, a short piece outlining the ideals of the International Communist Party. This work describes the basics of what Marxism is. To look at Marxism, also know as Sciencetific Socialism, is to enter the realms of Dialectal Materialism. This term can be broken down into three simpler parts: the Dialectic, the Class Struggle, and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
The Dialectic - History moves forward in a cyclical motion. From the thesis, a stable point in time, to the antithesis, which is a theory completely different to the one of the thesis. As this ideal grows in popularity they two sides come into conflict and end with a resolution, or synthesis. Ultimately the synthesis is either the outright victory of one side over the other, and never, in the Marxist sense, a comprimise. Marx believed that the class struggle drove history forward, and that it had progressed from Slave vs Master, to Serf vs Feudal Lord, to Middle Class vs Absolute Monarch, to the present. The two new classes are the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
The Class Struggle -* Marxism is defined, in simpliest terms, by the battle between the powerful, ruling elite, or bourgeoisie, and the poor, oppressed workers, or proletariat. The system the world operates under is a bourgeoisie on; it enables them to hold power and keep it indefinitley. Constructs such as wage labour only benifit the bourgeoisie. The value of the work done by the worker should be a measure of their pay, but instead they are paid by how long they work. This allows the management to place quotas on the workers, so they work faster, but keep the pay the same. In the end the bourgeoisie gets the bigger share of the surplus, or profit. Over time inequalites become evident, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, until they become so extreme that the little that trickles down is not enough and the proletariat revolt. The nature of the revolution is not specified, but in most cases it has been violent, such as the Russian Revolution or the Cuban Revolution. After a period of intense fighting the proletarait emerge victorious; they are fighting for their lives where as the bourgeoisie are fighting for privilide. A new government is set up to deal with the inequalities that exist.
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat - After the national revolution, the guerrillas establish a government inorder to help create only one class. This body must be strong enough to preform radical agrarian, economic, and social reforms without caving to the pressures of the "sellout bourgeoisie." This government, the Dictatorship of the Proletarait, can hold any form imaginable, from autocracy to a workers democracy. In the CCCP (post 1917 Russia) Vladmir Illych Lenin set up a top down system, and then slowly worked to create a bottom up form of government. This initiative lasted until 1923, when he died and Joseph Stalin came into power. In Cuba, Fidel Castro set up a representative democracy at first, and then, after the first president resigned, worked to reform it into a workers democracy. This is where the power is in the hands of the local councils, almost like the Soviets Lenin established, and the Communist Party is not allowed to field canadates for elections. All members of the legislative body in Cuba, including Castro, where nominated by their peers, not any of the active parties on the island republic. To end the inequalities, universal education, health care, and housing is provided. When a person meets the requirements (intellectual) to join the Communist Party, and they feel that they want to, they are welcomed by their comrades. The final goal of the Revolutionary Government is to abolish its self after the people have been assimilated in to the proletariat class.
The three main principles of Marxism, the dialectic, the class struggle, and the dictatorship of the proletairait, are the common theme the bind all Communists together in solidarity.
Communism is splintered, but one common thread unites all threads of this ideology. This is the theory of Marxism.
In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrieck Engels wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party, a short piece outlining the ideals of the International Communist Party. This work describes the basics of what Marxism is. To look at Marxism, also know as Sciencetific Socialism, is to enter the realms of Dialectal Materialism. This term can be broken down into three simpler parts: the Dialectic, the Class Struggle, and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
The Dialectic - History moves forward in a cyclical motion. From the thesis, a stable point in time, to the antithesis, which is a theory completely different to the one of the thesis. As this ideal grows in popularity they two sides come into conflict and end with a resolution, or synthesis. Ultimately the synthesis is either the outright victory of one side over the other, and never, in the Marxist sense, a comprimise. Marx believed that the class struggle drove history forward, and that it had progressed from Slave vs Master, to Serf vs Feudal Lord, to Middle Class vs Absolute Monarch, to the present. The two new classes are the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
The Class Struggle -* Marxism is defined, in simpliest terms, by the battle between the powerful, ruling elite, or bourgeoisie, and the poor, oppressed workers, or proletariat. The system the world operates under is a bourgeoisie on; it enables them to hold power and keep it indefinitley. Constructs such as wage labour only benifit the bourgeoisie. The value of the work done by the worker should be a measure of their pay, but instead they are paid by how long they work. This allows the management to place quotas on the workers, so they work faster, but keep the pay the same. In the end the bourgeoisie gets the bigger share of the surplus, or profit. Over time inequalites become evident, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, until they become so extreme that the little that trickles down is not enough and the proletariat revolt. The nature of the revolution is not specified, but in most cases it has been violent, such as the Russian Revolution or the Cuban Revolution. After a period of intense fighting the proletarait emerge victorious; they are fighting for their lives where as the bourgeoisie are fighting for privilide. A new government is set up to deal with the inequalities that exist.
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat - After the national revolution, the guerrillas establish a government inorder to help create only one class. This body must be strong enough to preform radical agrarian, economic, and social reforms without caving to the pressures of the "sellout bourgeoisie." This government, the Dictatorship of the Proletarait, can hold any form imaginable, from autocracy to a workers democracy. In the CCCP (post 1917 Russia) Vladmir Illych Lenin set up a top down system, and then slowly worked to create a bottom up form of government. This initiative lasted until 1923, when he died and Joseph Stalin came into power. In Cuba, Fidel Castro set up a representative democracy at first, and then, after the first president resigned, worked to reform it into a workers democracy. This is where the power is in the hands of the local councils, almost like the Soviets Lenin established, and the Communist Party is not allowed to field canadates for elections. All members of the legislative body in Cuba, including Castro, where nominated by their peers, not any of the active parties on the island republic. To end the inequalities, universal education, health care, and housing is provided. When a person meets the requirements (intellectual) to join the Communist Party, and they feel that they want to, they are welcomed by their comrades. The final goal of the Revolutionary Government is to abolish its self after the people have been assimilated in to the proletariat class.
The three main principles of Marxism, the dialectic, the class struggle, and the dictatorship of the proletairait, are the common theme the bind all Communists together in solidarity.