Marx & Engels

Question 1

How is Hegel connected to Marx?

Answer 1

Marx pupil of Hegel. Hegel was famous professor in Berlin, building on system of
thought. Living in time of French revolution, time of napoleon. Thought napoleon
greatest ruler of all times. Thought with napoleon end of history came.

• Hegel was idealist with a capital eye → idealism in philosophical sense. Believed
  nothing is so important in history as ideas
• How does human history develop? → through dialectics.
• Dialectics: the idea that we have thesis, antithesis and then synthesis

End of history is positive according to Hegel. it’s a situation where rationality and
feeling, and state and freedom, are realised as good as possible. most rational, most
absolute freedom, complete rationality and human feelings and emotions are also
done justice to at end of history. Hegel optimistic about end of history

Question 2

How does Hegel view the end state of history?

Answer 2

he regarded it as
an ideal state because it was a rational and bureaucratic state where civil
servants rule as the ‘universal estate’

Question 3

Who where the four undermined masters of the englightenment?

Answer 3

• Darwin: showed human beings derived origins of lower species.
• Marx
• Nietzsche: criticized christianity, interpreted history as struggle for power.
• Freud: undermined our idea of our self and consciousness showing we are driven by
  longed passions, wanting to fulfill our passions.

Question 4

Why where Marx and Engels scientific socialists?

Answer 4

They were not first socialists, long before them socialist ideas put forward and defended. They called utopian socialist → no concrete plan how to strive against
socialism, therefore utopian.

Also positivistic: look at mankind as it is, not as it has to be. Machiavelli said the same
(descriptive).
Our thinking doesn’t determine our being, but vice versa. Our being determines our
consciousness. Thinking ‘from earth to heaven

Question 5

What where the two structures Marx and Engels used?

Answer 5

Überbau and Unterbau

Question 6

What is Überbau?

Answer 6

Politics, law, religion etc. Legal and cultural. All the important things.
Sphere of consciousness and ideology. Many people only think about uberbau and don’t look at unterbau.

Question 7

What is Unterbau?

Answer 7

lower structure.
Material, economic structure of the world. who owns the
production, means of production? (forces & relations of productions). This is the foundation of Überbau.

Question 8

How does Marx view human history and how does he devides this?

Answer 8

Human history is a history of class struggle from beginning to end.

Prehistory: Division of labor starting here: between intellectual work and manual labor.

Antiquity led to slavery

feudalism led to serfdom

bourgeois society led to proletariat

Question 9

What does labor do?

Answer 9

• How do things get value? put labor into it.
  Labor + nature = property. Put your labor in fruits of nature, therefore increase of value. Dig gold → nice ring

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Question 10

How does marx view property?

Answer 10

Who gets the property? Not necessarily the person (the laborer) who puts the labor into it → he only gets a very small salary. The surplus goes as a
profit to the capitalist.

Question 11

What are the three devions of values of marx?

Answer 11

• Use value: the value of using things. golden ring very little use value
• Exchange value: of gold ring very high, people want it. You can exchange it
• Surplus value: what you add as a laborer to the role materials that you get in first place. Locke didn’t foresee this, he thought all workers get the value they make themselves.

Question 12

What is Verelendung?

Answer 12

Impoverishment, ‘race to the bottom’. Trying to do more work with fewer means. People became poorer.

Labor market is what we have: the worker himself is a little thing in machine of
industrialization. He can be replaced by someone else (if he gets sick). Labor(er) is
seen as a commodity! Humans are just resources for organizations. Using human
beings as commodities. Factory owner wants to pay lowest price to the laborer. Pay
just the salary that keeps laborer alive and healthy enough to do work, but not more.
Have to make biggest profit

Question 13

What are CONSEQUENCES OF labor?

Answer 13

• Urbanization
• Life of worker economized
• Fetishism of commodities
• Alienation

Question 14

What is urbanization?

Answer 14

Centralization of government

power in hands of capitalist regime,

globalization (dependencia),

no country or culture immune to power of capitalism.

Spreading of capitaism over the entire world. this creates
dependencia, dependency of poorer country on richer countries

Question 15

What is Life of worker economized?

Answer 15

Economization of lifeworld and thought. Complete identity

defined as being a worker, thinking overtook by economist idealization.

Question 16

What is Fetishism of commodities?

Answer 16

people constantly on look for cheaper goods for
consumption, people stuff house with lots of goods whether they need it or not. Try to
get as much goods as possible. Tocqueville also said this, americans buying a lot of
stuff even if it’s fake.

Question 17

From what do workers alienate from?

Answer 17

• product they are making. Doesn’t matter what they are making, small action has to be made, no care for what is being made.
• productive labor, work. If there is asked what the laborer has done, it’s just work, nothing else.
• oneself. Being introduced to someone → ‘what are you doing in life’ → I work in a factory. Losing identity, nothing more than just a worker. one of the many.

others:
withdraws from idealization,
becomes lonely.
whole life taken over by manual labor.

Question 18

What is Alienated thinking?

Answer 18

Other ideas lead to disconections of the harsh reality

Question 19

What are Alienated thoughts of every ideas?

Answer 19

• Idealism → chimera of philosophers
• Liberalism → ideology of the bourgeoisie. False thought to take you from the
  fact that there are no individual rights, equality.
• Religion → opium of the people. it keeps the people drowsy, so they accept
  hard reality of everyday life. dream about heaven, therefore willing to submit
  to those in power.
• False consciousness → misleading the working class. accept situation as it
  should be so. A little like stockholm syndrome, identifying with your kidnapper.
  So powerful, he should be right in some way

Question 20

Why is a revolution needed?

Answer 20

The situation is unbearable. Increasing exploitation, bad

conditions of workers.

Question 21

What will lead to a revolution?

Answer 21

Class struggle will intensify between workers and capitalist

Competition between capitalists, also struggle for them → lower profits → This will lead to reduction of production costs, by lowering salary of workers or maybe
replacing them by robots or children. people have to work harder or become unemployed → EXPLOITATION → this leads to discontent and therefore riots.

Question 21

What will lead to a revolution?

Answer 21

Class struggle will intensify between workers and capitalist

Competition between capitalists, also struggle for them → lower profits → This will lead to reduction of production costs, by lowering salary of workers or maybe
replacing them by robots or children. people have to work harder or become unemployed → EXPLOITATION → this leads to discontent and therefore riots.

Question 22

What wil happen to the state after the revolution?

Answer 22

The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’’ → the state is serving the interest of bourgeoisie of the capitalist.

State must come in hands of proletariat and get control over all means. Factories
must become nationalized. State should have hands on all means of production.
Workers take over power, become majority in power, and nationalize means of
production. However, this is only intermediate step, not the end (unterbau)

once workers are in power, there will be no oppression and exploitation, so state becomes less and less
necessary.

‘’The government of persons is replaced by the administration of things’’ → doesn’t
have to rule of people anymore, because the people are free and rule over
themselves.

’the state is not ‘’abolished’’, it withers away’’ disappears by itself.
Prediction/theory of ideal situation when proletariat is in power.