7.3 Socialist thinkers Flashcards
1
Q
3
Describe Marx and Engels’ centrality of social class
A
- Historical materialism
- ‘dialectic’ change creates new stages of history
- class consciousness - class struggle arises from property ownership
2
Q
3
Describe Marx and Engels’ humans as social beings
A
- Human nature determined by society - humans rational and malleable to corrupting nature of capitalism
- State and society used religion, patriotism, enfranchisement, etc to weaken class consciousness
- Common humanity only possible once capitalism abolished
3
Q
6
Describe Marx and Engel’s historical predictions
A
- Capitalism’s crises and recession will only leave tiny minority of ruling class (‘bourgoisie’) benefitting from it
- Vast majority of individuals will realise exploitation and form ‘proletariat’
- Class consciosuness will start revolution to overthrow capitalism
- Transitional period with dictatorship of ‘proletariat’
- State will wither away and be replaced by stateless, communist society with based on common ownership
- Claimed these theories were empriical and scientically determined
4
Q
3
Describe Marx and Engels’ views on the democracy
A
- State controlled by bourgoisie, which reinforced capitalism
- Liberal democracy a ‘democratic swindle’
- State used religion, patriotism, enfranchisement, etc to weaken class consciousness
5
Q
5
Describe Marx and Engels’ view on capitalism
A
- Corrupts human nature (‘chains’ of capitalism)
- Theories of surplus value
- Economic base determines superstructure
- Alienates workers from their labour
- Will lead to dialectic change
6
Q
6
List key quotes from Marx and Engels on capitalism and communism
A
- Capitalists are ‘parasites’
- ‘alienation’ of the worker from his labour
- had created ‘false consciousness’ of human nature
- ‘inherent contradicitons’ between ‘proletariat’ and ‘bourgoisie’ within capitalism
- ‘The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains’
- ‘From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs’
7
Q
5
List key quotes from Marx and Engels on revolutions
A
- liberal state ‘merely a committee’ of ‘democratic swindle’ (democratic state controlled by bourgoisie)
- ‘Workers of the world. Unite!’
- ‘Revolutions are the locomotives of history’
- Spectre of communism’ is haunting Europe (communism inevitable)
- ‘The history of class conflict’
8
Q
3
Describe Webb’s ‘inevitability of gradualness’
A
- Evolutionary socialist belief that parliamentary democracy, and not revolution, would achieve socialist society
- Inevitable because universal franchise leads to support for socialist parties as democracy serves interests of working-class
- Socialist parties will instigate nationalism to instigate social, economic and political reform
9
Q
3
Describe Webb’s expansion of the state
A
- Technocracy - highly trained elite of administrators and specialists
- State should expand to provide welfare amenities
- Done through ‘cooperative federalism’ - customers effectively have decision-making power and ownership over businesses and profits (common wonership, though not workers’ control)
10
Q
4
List key quotes from Webb
A
- capitalism was the cause of ‘demeaning inequality’
- revolutions are ‘chaotic, ineffcient and counter-productive’
- state should ‘silently change its character’ due to ‘unpredictability’ of revolutions
- state should provide ‘national minimum of civilised life’ (equality of welfare)
11
Q
2
List key quotes from Webb on the technocracy
A
- ‘guide the mass of citizens’ to a socialist state
- ‘impregnate all the exisitng forces of society’
12
Q
2
Describe Luxemburg’s criticism of evolutionary socialism (revisionism)
A
- nature of capitalism was exploitation
- therefore socialism cannot be initated by reform of capitalism
13
Q
4
Describe Luxemburg’s struggle by the proletariat for reform and democracy
A
- Rejected Marx’s historical materialism as capitalism does not need to reach ‘final stage’
- Revolution can occur in less economically developed societies
- Class consciousness will develop ‘spontaneously’ as proletariat struggle for workplace reforms and democracy
- Mass strike action will initiate revolution
14
Q
4
Describe Luxemburg’s view of democracy
A
- Should be retained in socialist state
- Advocated GEs, freedom of press and assembly
- Correctly predicted dictatorship in nations that had Marxist revolutions
- socialism should be internationlist rather than nationlist (consistent with Marx)
15
Q
2
List key quotes from Luxemburg
A
- ‘life dies in every institution’ without democracy
- ‘freedom is how free your opponent is’
