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Political ideologies > Socialism > Flashcards

Socialism Flashcards

1
Q

Karl Marx years

A

1818-83

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2
Q

Karl Marx political context

A
  • 1848 revolutions
  • Franco-Prussian war
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3
Q

Karl Marx books

A
  • communist manifesto (1848)
  • Das Kapital (1848)
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4
Q

What type of socialist was Karl Marx?

A

Classic Marxist

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5
Q

Key ideas of Karl Marx

A
  • Capitalist society is divided into two classes.
  • The Bourgeoisie exploit the Proletariat.
  • Those with economic power control other social
    institutions.
  • False consciousness.
  • Revolution and Communism.
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6
Q

Karl Marx quotes

A
  • false conciousness
  • historically inevitable
  • surplus value
  • the seeds of its own destruction
  • merely a committee
  • from each according to his ability to each according to his needs
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7
Q

Tensions within socialism - society

A

by definition, all socialists see our social environment (i.e. society) as the crucial determinant of our personalities. So if society can be improved (i.e. made more equal and
fraternal), improvements in our attitude and behaviour will follow. Yet socialists disagree
about whether society can be improved gradually. Revolutionary socialists, like Marx and the Frankfurt School, believe existing society is so ‘sick and so inimical to socialist values that only a revolution can provide the necessary ‘shock therapy’ Other fundamentalist socialists, like Beatrice Webb, believe society can be ‘gradually’ improved, and socialist values gradually more entrenched, by a series of reforms that gradually curtail private ownership. Revisionists like Crosland and Giddens also argue that society can be gradually improved and believe such improvements can occur alongside private property and capitalism.

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8
Q

what did socialism grow out of

A

the enllightment

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9
Q

What do socialists and liberals have in common?

A
  • take an optimistic view of human nature
  • exalt reason over faith and superstition
  • are ‘progressive’ - they believe in the possibility of reform and are always ready to challenge the status quo
  • share a desire to liberate human beings from oppression believe in ‘foundational’ equality
  • reject the ‘traditional’ state
  • reject anarchism
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10
Q

Anthony Giddens quotes

A

atomised the modern workforce and left individuals feeling alienated
The new mixed economy looks…for a synergy between public and private sectors.

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11
Q

Anthony Giddens years

A

1938 -

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12
Q

Anthony Giddens - economy

A

A neo-liberal economy, propelled
by privatisation and deregulation, will provide huge tax yields. This will finance huge
increases in public spending, which will secure greater equality of opportunity.

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13
Q

Anthony Giddens books

A

Beyond left and right (1994)
The third way: the renewal of society (1997)

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14
Q

What type of socialist is Anthony Giddens

A

Revisionist socialist

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15
Q

Anthony Giddens - society

A

Society has undergone
embourgeoisement - egalitarians must harness, rather than
deny, these forces.

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16
Q

Anthony Giddens - human nature

A

Human nature has been shaped by changing socio-economic conditions. The pro-fairness
instinct is still present, but it now
competes with a sharpened sense of individual aspiration.

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17
Q

Anthony Giddens political context

A
  • WW2
  • benefits from welfare states
  • post war consensus
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18
Q

Anthony Giddens - state

A

The existing liberal state should
be improved, redistributing and
decentralising political power
while encouraging greater political participation.

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19
Q

Anthony Giddens key ideas

A
  • capitalism and indivdualism were irreversible but they were corrosive
  • triangulation
  • post fordist society
  • fragmented communities
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20
Q

Anthony Crosland quotes

A

What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity
I do not believe there is a long-term future for the privately rented sector in its present form

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21
Q

Anthony Crosland political context

A
  • WW1
  • great depression
  • rise of hitler
  • post war consensus
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22
Q

Anthony Crosland years

A
  • 1918-77
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23
Q

Anthony Crosland - society

A

Society is increasingly complicated, altered by the emergence of new social groups comprising ‘meritocratic. managers and ‘classless’ technocrats.

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24
Q

Anthony Crosland - economy

A

A mixed economy underpinned by limited public ownership and canteen capitalism will finance the greater public spending necessary to secure equality.

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25
Q

What type of socialist was Anthony Crosland

A

Social democrat

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26
Q

Anthony Crosland - state

A

Democratic socialist governments (for example, Labour 1945-1951) prove
that the existing state can be used to effect radical, socialist change.

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27
Q

Tensions within socialism - human anture

A

all socialists believe that human nature is malleable and improvable, ‘plastic’ not permanent. Yet some socialists, such as Marx, believe that human nature is especially
susceptible to whichever economic system it lives under. Therefore, people are likely to
suffer a ‘false consciousness’ that can be cured only by revolution and authoritarian rule (the dictatorship of the proletariat). Other socialists, including revisionists like Giddens, argue that human nature can prosper under capitalism yet still appreciate the importance of core socialist beliefs such as cooperation, fraternity and collectivism.

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28
Q

Tensions within socialism - state

A

unlike collectivist anarchists, socialists believe a state is vital to the promotion of core socialist values. But they differ dramatically about what kind of state is needed. Marx
and orthodox communists believed the existing capitalist state would have to be destroyed by revolution and replaced by a dictatorship of the proletariat, which, in turn, would wither away’ to produce stateless communism. Democratic socialists like Webb and revisionists like Crosland and Giddens believed that the existing state can be used to steer society towards socialist values and that the traditional state (in capitalist society) requires constitutional reform rather than abolition.

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29
Q

Anthony Crosland books

A

The future of socialism (1956)
The conservative enemy (1962)
Socialism Now (1974)

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30
Q

Beatrice Webb quotes

A

crippling poverty and demaning inequality
corrupting force
unnatural
a sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able bodies, treatment went sick and modest but secure when livelihood disabled or aged

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31
Q

Beatrice Webb - economy

A

A chaotic capitalist economy will gradually be replaced by one
which secures for workers the full fruits of their labour, based upon a common ownership of
the means of production.

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32
Q

Beatrice Webb book

A

Minority Report (1909)
The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891)

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33
Q

Beatrice Webb - society

A

The poverty and inequality is the capital of society continued to press human potential well fostering regressive competition.

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34
Q

Anthony Crosland Key ideas

A
  • true objective was equality
  • Keynes - state managed capitalism - mixed economy
  • economic growth - steady expansion of the welfare state
  • universal education
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35
Q

Anthony Crosland - Human nature

A

Human nature has a powerful sense of ‘fairness’ and an
innate objection to huge inequalities of outcome.

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36
Q

Beatrice Webb political context

A
  • Beveridge report - 1942
  • creation of labour party 1906
  • WW1
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37
Q

Beatrice Webb key ideas

A
  • gradualism
  • capitalism needed to be irradicated
  • paternalism wasn’t sustainable solution to the
    problems of poverty and inequality
  • trade unionism and extensive state intervention
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38
Q

What type of socialist was Beatrice Webb

A

Democratic socialist

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39
Q

Beatrice Webb years

A

1858-1943

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40
Q

Rosa Luxemburg - the state

A

The existing capital state must be destroyed by, but one arising from strike action. Replacement state should be a genuine democracy, complete with free speech and free elections.

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41
Q

Rosa Luxemburg - human nature

A

Human nature has not been damage to the extent Marx alledged. Fraternity and altruism so flourish in working-class communities punished by capitalist economies.

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42
Q

Rosa Luxemburg quotes

A
  • Bourgeois society stands at a crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism
  • socialism without democracy is just tyranny by another name
  • the enemy of socialism remains in our own country
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43
Q

Rosa Luxemburg - society

A

Capitalist society is class-ridden and morally indefensible yet alternative societies or sub-cultures exist within downtrodden proletarian communities.

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44
Q

Beatrice Webb - human nature

A

The damage inflicted by capitalism upon the human psych will be compounded only by violent revolution. Humanity needs to be guided back gradually to its original cooperative condition.

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45
Q

Rosa Luxemburg books

A

Reform or revolution (1900)

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46
Q

What type of socialist was Rosa Luxemburg

A

Marxist-Leninist

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47
Q

Beatrice Webb - state

A

If harnessed universal suffrage did exist in state could be used to effect a gradual transition to socialism

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48
Q

Key ideas of Rosa Luxemburg

A
  • liberal democracy was the best way to struggle
  • gender equality and sexual liberation could come from economic equality
  • only revolution created change
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49
Q

Rosa Luxemburg political context

A
  • Franco-Prussian war
  • WW1
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50
Q

Rosa Luxemburg years

A

1871-1919

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51
Q

Tensions within socialism - economy

A

Fundamentalist socialists (like Marx, Luxemburg and Webb) believe socialism is incompatible with a capitalist economy based on private property. Marxists and orthodox communists believe that a new, non-capitalist economy should be created quickly, via revolution, while democratic socialists believe such a non-capitalist economy will be created gradually, via a series of elected socialist governments. By definition, revisionists believe that
socialism is possible within a capitalist economy. Social democrat revisionists like Crosland believe that the economy should be mixed (i.e. allowing a degree of public ownership) and run along Keynesian lines by governments. Third Way revisionists like Ciddens believe the economy should be neo-liberal, privatised and deregulated, claiming this will produce a greater tax yield and thus more public spending.

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52
Q

Early ideas on Private Property

A

Such ideas were developed by a small number of radical theorists during the eighteenth century. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755), suggested that ‘many crimes, wars and murders……many horrors and
misfortunes’ arose from the concept of private ownership, while during the 1789 French Revolution François-Noel Babeuf
(1760-97) led a ‘conspiracy of the equals’, demanding the abolition of private property.

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53
Q

Utopian socialism

A

Linked to philanthropists like Robert Owen, this refers to the earliest form of socialism, one based on a vision of the perfect
human existence. For Karl Marx, however, its ‘utopian’ character stemmed from
the absence of any clear method for bringing about such ‘socialism’.

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54
Q

Utopian socialists

A

The so-called utopian socialists such as Charles Fourier (1772-1837) and Robert Owen (1771-1858), offered a radical response to the emerging problems of
capitalism and industry. Fourier duly advocated independent communities based on communal ownership and production,
involving the equal distribution of resources and a culture marked by tolerance and permissiveness. Owen, meanwhile, set up model ‘cooperative’ communities in Scotland and America,
designed to promote shared ownership, shared responsibility and altruism.

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55
Q

Socialism in response to industrialisation

A

For many of those otherwise sympathetic to liberal principles, liberalism now offered an inadequate response to the profound changes wrought by the industrial revolution. It was felt that liberalism
was in denial about the effects of urban life and blinkered to the fact that in the new industrial areas there was little scope for
individual autonomy and individual freedom. As a later socialist
thinker, Eric Hobsbawm, wrote (in respect of conditions in mid-nineteenth-century England):
‘For an individual living in a slum…paying rent to a rapacious landlord, while working in a factory for whatever wages his employer deigned to pay him, any notion of freedom or independence seemed utterly distant.’ (The Age of Capital, 1848-1875, 1975)

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56
Q

Results of industrialisation on socialists

A

As a result, the early socialists argued for a new approach, one that would make Enlightenment principles (such as self-
determination) more achievable in an industrialised society - one where employment was much less individualistic and where individuals seemed to have much less autonomy in their everyday lives.

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57
Q

Fraternity and cooperation

A

Fraternity denotes socialism’s belief that the relationship between human beings should be marked by generosity, warmth
and comradeship; that we should regard our fellow humans as ‘siblings’ rather
than opponents, and that cooperation and solidarity, rather than competition and
division, should be the norm in human affairs.

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58
Q

True nature of mankind

A
  • Mankind’s true nature has been diluted by time and circumstance.
  • So whereas liberalism takes an optimistic view of human nature as it is, socialists are
    more optimistic about how it could be. This is because socialism, unlike liberalism, sees human nature as malleable, or ‘plastic’,
    rather than permanently fixed at birth.
  • Consequently, socialists believe that human nature can be adjusted, thus ensuring that men and women fulfil their true, fraternal potential while contributing to a more cooperative community.
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59
Q

Socialist view of human nature

A
  • Socialists have an upbeat, optimistic view of human nature, which helps explain why both liberalism and socialism are seen as ‘progressive’ ideologies. Yet liberals and
    socialists differ as to why they are optimistic.
  • Socialists believe that individuals are
    naturally cooperative, generous and altruistic. So instead of forever seeking autonomy, independence and supremacy, as liberals claim, human beings naturally seek solidarity, fraternity and comradeship
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60
Q

Socialist view of society

A

According to socialism, any understanding of human nature requires a clear understanding of society. Much more than
liberalism, socialism - by definition - focuses upon an individual’s social environment: in other words, the individual’s society. Whereas liberals tend to see society as the sum of autonomous individuals, socialists see things the other way round - for socialists, individuals are the product of the society into which they were born.

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61
Q

Marx and Engels view of society

A
  • They thought these forces were primarily economic, with the ‘means of production
    that is, the way a society’s resources are determined and distributed - having a crucial impact upon the nature of society and, by implication, human behaviour.
  • An individual’s social class is determined by their status within society’s economy.
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62
Q

What is society often cited as for indivduals not doing want?

A

fulfilling their potential, for socialists, this is no cause for despair.

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63
Q

What do socialists believe about society

A

socialists argue that if only society can be improved, there will be a corresponding improvement to the prospects of its individuals.

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64
Q

How can society be improved from a socialist point of view?

A

Socialists argue that in order to prescribe a better society in future, we must first diagnose the society we have today. It is
at this point that we see the importance to socialism of social class.

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65
Q

Major consequence of industrial revolution

A

The emergence of distinct social groupings
classes - based principally upon employment and an individual’s source of income.

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66
Q

what liberal view did socialist rejct

A

That men and women are autonomous creatures, free to carve out their own identities and destinies - socialists argue that an individual’s status, priorities and prospects are shaped by the social class he or she is born into.

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67
Q

Divisons between classes

A

That society’s classes tend to be profoundly unequal in terms of power and influence: those in the working class, for example, are seen to earn less and therefore exercise less influence within their society. Put another way, individuals in some sections of society will have more opportunities to exploit their potential than individuals in other sections of society. This in turn leads to socialism’s unique perspective on the issue of equality.

68
Q

Common ownership

A

This represents an alternative to both private property and a capitalist economy,
and a method of ownership seen (by many socialists) as conducive to equality and
fraternity. It is synonymous with state ownership and public ownership.

69
Q

Capitalism

A

Sometimes referred to as economic
liberalism, capitalism is an economic system based on private property, private
enterprise and competition between individuals and individual organisations.
Its tendency to produce unequal outcomes is of concern to most socialists.

70
Q

Socialist view of the economy

A

As indicated in the section on ‘Society’, socialists have always argued that equality of opportunity was precluded by the
inequalities existing between social classes. Furthermore, key socialist ers, from Marx and Engels onwards, have argued that
social class is determined by the economic system underpinning society. So it has been impossible for socialists to address the fundamental issue of inequality within society without addressing the structure of the economy.

71
Q

Socialist view on economic society

A

Socialists have always recognised that an economic system based upon private property and capitalism - as opposed
to common ownership - can be hugely problematic.

72
Q

Human nature and economy

A

As explained in this chapter’s section on ‘Human nature’ socialists believe that the ‘natural’ condition of mankind is one of cooperation and fraternity. Yet these attributes are said to be seriously threatened by both private property and
capitalism, which are said to encourage competitiveness, ruthless egotism and the callous pursuit of self-interest. Free-
market capitalism also generates huge inequalities of outcome, which for socialists, of course, are incompatible with equality of opportunity, self-determination and social justice.

73
Q

Socialism - reectifying problems caused by capitalism

A

Socialism seeks to rectify the problems caused by capitalism by championing an economy that provides for greater workers’
control in employment, and a significant redistribution of wealth and resources within the economy generally. Indeed, socialism is routinely described by its proponents as a ‘redistributionist’
doctrine, practising what Tony Benn (1925-2014) wryly described as ‘the politics of Robin Hood - taking from the rich and then giving to the poor’. For socialists, the ‘redistributionist’ economy will usually involve two broad principles.

74
Q

Empathetic rejection of liberalism

A

First, there will be an emphatic rejection of the laissez-faire capitalism advocated by classical and neo-liberalism, whereby
market forces are given free rein by a state that is disengaged and minimalist in relation to a society’s economy. According
to socialism, an economy where there is low taxation and little state interference will be one where unfairness and social injustice become exacerbated.

75
Q

Arising from the rejection of laissez-faire,
socialists demand greater collectivism.

A

This perspective on the economy claims to focus on the needs of society as a whole
rather than on the abilities of a few enterprising individuals, as with economic liberalism.

76
Q

For socialists, economic collectivism
can take various forms, for example:

A
  • Progressive taxation, whereby the state extracts wealth from its citizens but on a ‘sliding scale”, so that the richer classes
    contribute much more than the poorer classes.
  • Progressive public spending, whereby the state uses the economic resources it has acquired (via taxation) in a way that enhances the less fortunate elements of society - for example, via state benefits to the unemployed or elderly.
  • Extensive public services, whereby the state uses its yield from taxation to guarantee key public services, such as
    health care and education. Socialists claim that if left entirely to private enterprise, such services might prove inaccessible
    to less advantaged sections of society.
  • Extensive state regulation of capitalism, exemplified by various state regulations designed to prevent exploitation by
    the economy’s richer and more powerful elements. A legal minimum wage for employees, equal pay legislation, health
    and safety directives, and guarantees of maternity leave are examples of such regulation that socialism would applaud.
  • State/common ownership, recommended when private enterprise is seen to fail parts (or all) of the economy, with grievous
    consequences for society and its more vulnerable citizens. The original Clause IV of the UK Labour Part’s constitution
    initially championed by socialists like Beatrice Webb (1858-1943)
77
Q

socialism believes that economic collectivism has two other benefits from redistribution of wealth

A
  • First, progressive taxation, increased public spending, extensive public services and sometimes public ownership are seen as expressions of a more fraternal, more cooperative society with greater social justice.
  • Second, such collectivist policies
    are thought to make the economy more efficient. As Marx and Engels were the first to point out, capitalism and market forces
    are inherently volatile and unpredictable - causing, for instance, periodic mass unemployment.
78
Q

Socialist view of the state

A

It needs to be emphasised that the core socialist values discussed so far - such as equality, fraternity, even collectivism
are not exclusive to socialists: they are also shared by certain anarchists, notably ‘collectivist anarchists’ like Peter Kropotkin
(1842-1921) and Mikhail Bakunin (1814-76). What makes socialism distinctive from collectivist anarchism is that it also
advocates a strong state.

79
Q

Strong state

A

Socialists believe that without a strong state, it will be impossible to bring about a fairer and more equal society. In the
short to medium term at least, it would certainly be difficult to bring about a redistribution of wealth and greater social
justice without a state that was expansive and dirigiste (actively seeking to direct a society’s economy).

80
Q

Marx and Engels view of the state

A

They argue that, eventually, the state will wither away’ a blissful moment in human evolution, which Marx described as ‘the end of history’. However, all socialists agree that for the foreseeable future, a strong state is essential. They also agree it must be a certain type of state, and certainly not the sort that preceded the Enlightenment.

81
Q

Rejection of the monarchical state

A

Socialism therefore rejects the monarchical state, it rejects the theocratic state, and it rejects the aristocratic state. Instead, socialists advocate a state where political power, as well as economic power, has supposedly been redistributed and where decision making reflects the principle of equality and an empowerment of ‘the people’. In short, the socialist state will usually pay lip service, at least, to the principle of democracy.

82
Q

Monarchial state

A

one based on the absolute authority of one person

83
Q

theocratic state

A

one based on religious principles

84
Q

aristocratic state

A

one based on a hereditary ruling class

85
Q

Extensive state

A

Socialists also agree that the state must be an extensive one; socialists will therefore contest that any reduction of state power is likely to produce increased social and economic inequality. Nevertheless, among socialists, there are still significant differences about the structure of the ideal
state, the extent of its activities and how it emerges. These differences, indeed, help explain why socialism has such a large
number of variants and subdivisions, some of which will now be examined.

86
Q

Fundamentalist socialism definition

A

This represents the earliest form of socialism, which holds that socialist values are fundamentally incompatible with
capitalism. Originally asserted by Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels (classical Marxism’), this form of socialism has since been associated with various strands of
socialism such as orthodox communism, neo-Marxism, Euro-communism and
democratic socialism.

87
Q

Marxism and communism definition

A

Seen by Marx as the ultimate stage of human development, communism represents (for communists) the perfect society, based on communal ownership,
communal living and the principle of ‘each according to his needs’. Marxism
reflects this prediction and also involves an ‘episodic’ view of history, a rigorous critique of capitalism and a justification for
revolutionary politics.

88
Q

Fundamentalist socialism

A

All fundamentalist socialists believe that capitalism, at some stage, must be abolished. However, there are significant
differences about how capitalism should be abolished. Does it necessitate revolutionary change, which quickly destroys both the capitalist system and the state that supports it? Or can the elimination of socialism be done gradually, via evolutionary change, and within the confines of the existing state? This section of the chapter, which examines five strands of fundamentalist socialism, ascertains - among other things where each strand stands on the issue of ‘revolution or evolution?’

89
Q

Classical marxism

A

Classical Marxism refers to the writings of Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels. Although it was not the earliest
form of socialism, it was certainly the first form to set out its analysis in detail. Indeed, the term ‘utopian socialism’, used to
describe previous socialist thinkers such as Owen and Fourier, was actually coined by Marx to denote the vagueness and
superficiality of their views.

90
Q

how would communism be established

A

Marx and Engels made it plain that capitalism must disappear before socialism - and then communism - could be established.

91
Q

What did Marx argue that capitalism promoted

A

‘exploitation’, ‘alienation’ and the ‘oppression’ of one class by another and was therefore wholly at odds with key socialist principles such as fraternity, solidarity and equality.

92
Q

Dialetic

A

Associated with the philosopher Hegel, this
refers to the clash of ideas and perceptions that will inevitably take place within
each ‘stage’ of history and which eventually leads to the disappearance of existing society.

93
Q

Historical materialism

A

This refers to the view of Marx and Engels that each ‘stage’ of history was defined by
a clash of economic ideas, relating to how society’s resources should be produced and distributed.

94
Q

Class consciousness

A

According to Marx and Engels, this was a by-product of capitalism that would be especially pronounced among the
downtrodden working class, or proletariat. It would eventually be the engine of revolution and capitalism’s destruction.

95
Q

Marx’s view towards he end of history

A

Within each historical ‘stage’ there was - eventually - an intellectual clash, which Hegel had described as dialectic. This dialectic occurred when the ‘official’ narrative about a society’s aims and character - as propounded by its ruling classes - no longer corresponded to the perceptions of the majority, who then experienced what Hegel described as ‘alienation’. For Hegel, this clash would
eventually spawn a new society, a new orthodox mentality and a new stage of history that would survive until the next
wave of alienation.

96
Q

the dialectic was not so much a clash of
ideas as a clash of economic interests

A

a process they termed “dialectical materialism’. Within the Marx-Engels dialectic, one particular class would be economically dominant, while others
would be exploited for economic purposes. It was this logic that led Marx and Engels to believe that capitalism was ‘historically
doomed’, given the class consciousness it would produce among an economically exploited and therefore ‘alienated’ workforce (or proletariat).

97
Q

Historical materialism and dialectical change (according to Marx and Engels)

A

1 Primitive societies with no economic organisation.
2 Slave-based societies - slaves are the main mode of production.
3 Feudal societies - land owned by the monarch is leased to lords, tenants and eventually serfs.
4 Emergence of capitalism.
5 Emergence of proletariat and class consciousness.
6 Revolution and destruction of capitalism.
7 Socialism (dictatorship of the proletariat).
8 Withering away of the socialist state.
9 Communism.
10 ‘End of history’.

98
Q

Belief in revolution - classical marxism

A

They argued that when capitalism
became unsustainable (on account of its tendency to produce an exploited and ‘alienated’ workforce that was increasingly
class conscious), it was necessary to ‘smash’ capitalism via revolutionary violence and replace it with an alternative economy and society. For Marx and Engels, such action could not be accomplished peacefully within existing liberal political systems, such as those present in the UK or the USA. According to Marx and Engels, these states were mere ‘servants’ of the very economic system that socialism must destroy. In short, Marx and Engels emphatically reiected evolutionary or reformist
socialism, which they considered an inherent contradiction.

99
Q

New economy and new revolution - classical marxism

A

As a result, they insisted that a new economy and a new state, forged by revolution, were essential if socialist values were to be secured. The new state they commended, the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, would supposedly obliterate all traces of liberal-capitalist values and pave the way for a stateless communist society based on common ownership, one that
would be so flawless that it would represent the peak of human achievement: what Marx and Engels termed the end of history.

100
Q

Marxism - leninism

A

No history of socialism would be complete without reference to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1874-1924). Leader of Russia’s Bolshevik
party prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, Lenin was a key figure during the revolution itself and the de facto leader of the new, ‘socialist’ state that emerged in its wake. Yet, in addition to being a major figure in Russian political history, Lenin made a pivotal contribution to the development of revolutionary socialism.

101
Q

difference between Marx and Lenin

A

Lenin was concerned by Marx’s insistence that revolution, and a dictatorship of the proletariat, could occur only in societies
where capitalism and the proletariat were well developed a view vigorously disputed not just by Lenin but by German-based socialists such as Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)

102
Q

Lenin and Luxemburg

A

The unacceptable implication was that less developed countries would have to endure many more decades of oppressive rule,
plus all the horrors of a developing capitalist economy, before the salvation of socialism could arrive.

103
Q

Lenin pre-industrial countries

A

Lenin thus argued that revolution in pre-industrial countries should be the cause
and not (as Marx argued) the effect of socialist ideas developing. Similarly, Lenin believed that revolution in early capitalist societies would prevent ‘the masses’ from developing any sympathy for capitalist values (a situation Leninists refer to as “false consciousness”), which would then be a further obstacle to socialism.

104
Q

Luxembourg concerns with Lenin

A

Luxemburg was concerned that Lenin’s ideas could make
revolutionary socialism irrelevant to the already industrialised masses in countries like Germany. Yet it was in respect of how the revolution should arise, and how it should be conducted, that led to the most serious dispute between followers of Lenin
and supporters of Luxemburg.

105
Q

Elitist vanguard

A
  • First, it would plot and plan the overthrow of the existing regime
    (in Lenin’s case, Tsarist Russia).
  • Second, it would incite and organise the revolution.
  • Third, prior to and during the revolution, it would start educating the masses into the basic virtues of socialism.
  • Fourth, once the old regime had been toppled, the vanguard would form a new organisation: the Communist Party.
106
Q

Communist Party

A

This new party would embody Marx’s dictatorship of the proletariat and direct all aspects of the new, post-revolutionary society - a doctrine that became
known as democratic centralism.

107
Q

Democratic centralism

A

This was a term and a process developed by Lenin. However, it was not “democratic’ in the way
that liberals or democratic socialists (see later) would
understand. There would be only one party and only within that party would there be open
discussion. Once the party had reached its decision, Lenin argued that the decision would embody the will of the people,
making any further debate at best unnecessary and at worst disrespectful of the revolution. This doctrine was later used to
justify severe repression in orthodox communist countries such as Russia and China.

108
Q

why is marxism-leninism may now be refered to as orthodox communism

A

Yet within these states, there has been little evidence of Marx’s ultimate objective - communism - being even pursued, let alone attained. Far from withering away, the state in all these regimes became ever more pervasive. As a result, many believe that Luxemburg’s critique of Marxist Leninism (offered long before most Marxist-Leninist regimes
emerged) has been powerfully and tragically vindicated.
For most of today’s fundamentalist socialists, Luxemburg’s ideas are therefore considered a more compelling brand of revolutionary socialism.

109
Q

Is Marxism redundant? YES

A
  • Far from communism marking the ‘end of history’, recent history has marked the end of
    communism.
  • The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1990 signalled the failure of an attempt (spanning
    80 years) to bring Marxist principles to effective fruition.
  • The attempts at implementing Marxist principles were not just unsuccessful; in the USSR, China
    and elsewhere they were catastrophic, leading to
    repression, torture and genocide.
  • Capitalism has not imploded, as Marx forecast. Instead its reach has become ever wider, penetrating states that are either formerly or currently Marxist-Leninist (for example, Russia
    and China).
  • In advanced capitalist states, the working class has not risen to revolution, as Marx predicted.
    Instead it has taken on the characteristics of the bourgeoisie (for example, acquisition of private property) while enjoying the benefits of market economies.
110
Q

Is Marxism redundant? NO

A
  • Just as Marx deduced, capitalism remains unstable and volatile.
  • Capitalism continues to leave a legacy of poverty and gross inequality, particularly in developing economies.
  • Globalisation has weakened the power of national governments, reinforcing Marx’s argument that economic power supersedes political power.
  • The ‘disappointing’ record of socialist governments in capitalist states (such as François Hollande’s in France after
    2012) vindicates Marx’s argument that radical change is impossible without revolution.
  • Regimes such as the USSR and China were a distortion of Marxist principles - nowhere in Marx’s writings is there explicit
    justification for the horrors that followed. Just because they were misapplied does not mean that Marx’s theories were invalid.
111
Q

Democratic socialism

A

In the UK and most other western European societies, the
most influential form of fundamentalist socialism has been democratic socialism. It emerged during the late nineteenth century, developed during the twentieth century and (thanks to politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn and parties like Syriza in Greece) remains a feature of western politics in the
twenty-first century.

112
Q

Early democratic socialism

A

In the UK, democratic socialism was initially associated with the
Fabian Society and bourgeois intellectuals like G.B. Shaw, Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb. It was also a strand of socialism that proved vital to the development of the Labor Party.

113
Q

Clause IV

A

Clause IV of Labour’s 1918 constitution, heavily influenced by Webb, expressed the fundamentalist-socialist creed by aiming to ‘secure for the producers by hand and by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof…upon the
basis of the common ownership of the means of production’.

114
Q

What distinguished Webb’s socialism from Marx and Lenin

A

What distinguished Webb’s socialism from that of Marx and
Lenin, however, was its rejection of ‘big bang’, revolutionary
change. In her book The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891), Webb argued that revolutions were ‘chaotic, inefficient and counter-productive’ and, for that very reason, ‘guilty of the same problem besetting capitalism - unpredictability’.

115
Q

Revolution for webb

A

Like other early democratic socialists, Webb, despairing of
capitalism’s volatility, looked forward to a more planned and
‘rational’ society where “matters may be resolved sensibly…by
rational, educated and civic-minded officials’. So, for Webb and other Fabians, the mayhem associated with revolution did not seem the ideal starting point for a bright and orderly future.

116
Q

Early democratic socialism - extenstion of suffrage

A

Early democratic socialists believed that the extension of the suffrage, from the late nineteenth century onwards, had facilitated a more orderly, election-based progression towards post-capitalist society. In a scenario Webb and other Fabians dubbed ‘the inevitability of gradualism’, democratically elected socialist governments would steadily transform society via the existing parliamentary system, gradually replacing a society based on private ownership with one based on common ownership and public control.

117
Q

Democratic socialism and ‘the inevitability of gradualism’

A

-Democratic socialist parties would campaign peacefully and gradually win the attention and trust of voters.
- The majority of voters (the working class) would gradually and inevitably realise they had no vested interest in capitalism.
- Voters would inevitably elect socialist governments.
- Democratic socialist governments would inevitably oversee the gradual replacement of private ownership with state ownership.
- Voters would gradually recognise the progress being made and inevitably re-elect democratic socialists to government.
- The continuous effects of democratic socialist governments would gradually and inevitably produce a socialist society.
- The benefits of such a society would inevitably be clear to all, thus making any reversal of socialism unlikely.

118
Q

Later democratic socialism

A

Many regard the UK’s post-war Labour government as a
prime illustration of democratic socialism in action. After an
overwhelming victory at the 1945 general election, Clement
Attlee’s government duly implemented a series of measures that had been carefully discussed and planned beforehand. The introduction of a welfare state and the transfer of several industries and services from private to public
ownership all seemed to promote progress towards a fairer, post-capitalist society - underpinned, of course, by supportat the ballot box.

119
Q

Democratic socialist individuals

A

Democratic socialist thinking was further updated by the writings of Tony Benn 1925-2014). In his Arguments for Socialism (1980), Ben restated his belief in fundamentalist socialism, arguing that the ‘failure’ of the Wilson-Callaghan UK governments proved the ‘impossibility’ of achieving socialism within a mainly capitalist economy. For Benn, the drastic cuts to public spending in 1976, made by a Labour government under
pressure from the International Monetary Fund, underlined the
danger of a ‘socialist government seeking to rescue a flagging
capitalist system’. In addition, Benn saw Labour’s defeat at the
1979 general election as the inevitable punishment awaiting
any socialist government that ‘compromised with capitalism’s
contradictions’.

120
Q

Evolutionary socialism

A

Linked to both democratic
socialism and revisionist
socialism (see below),
evolutionary or parliamentary socialism involves a rejection of
revolutionary politics, of
the sort associated with
Marxism, and a belief that
socialism can be achieved
peacefully and gradually
through the existing
constitutional system.

121
Q

Benn on evolutionary socialism

A

However, Benn did not accept that this invalidated evolutionary socialism - it merely strengthened the case for democratic socialists rethinking their tactics.

122
Q

Ben therefore argued that for fundamentalist socialism to be pursued peacefully, by a Labour government, a number of adjustments were needed. These included:

A
  • The restoration of parliamentary sovereignty through the UK’s withdrawal from the European Economic Community (as the EU then was) - for Benn and many other democratic socialists, the EEC, and then the EU, were simply “capitalist clubs’
  • Parliamentary reform, so as to ensure an easier passage for
    socialist reforms - Ben therefore advocated the abolition of the unelected House of Lords and the subsequent strengthening of a socialist-dominated House of Commons
  • Stronger resistance by socialist governments to pro-capitalist
    vested interests - this could be achieved if socialist governments mobilised support from their own vested interests, within, for example, the trade unions
  • The internal restructuring of a governing, socialist party
  • this should happen in a way that gave more power to
    individual party members outside Parliament, allowing them (for example) to select and de-select party leaders. This
    would encourage socialist prime ministers to ‘stay true’ to socialist principles and not be ‘diverted’ by non-socialist forces once in office.
123
Q

Euro-communism

A

The belief that capitalism could be gradually decommissioned,
via parliamentary methods and evolutionary socialism, was
shared from the 1970s by a number of communist parties in
western Europe. This gave rise to the phenomenon of Euro-
communism.

124
Q

1970 - euro-communism

A

By the 1970s, many communist parties in western Europe
were keen to distance themselves from the excesses of the Soviet Union and wished to establish themselves as radical yet ‘respectable’ forces in mainstream politics. As a result, groups like the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI) rejected the Marxist-Leninist case for revolution.

125
Q

Election between 2006 and 2015

A

Instead, they contested elections, took up seats won in national parliaments and occupied positions of executive power within the existing constitutional system. George Marchais of the PCF served in France’s Socialist-Communist coalition government of the early 1980s, while George Napolitano of the PCI served as Italian president between 2006 and 2015.

126
Q

Influence on Gramsci on euro-communism

A

Euro-communists were much
influenced by Italian socialist intellectual Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), who founded the PCI. Gramsci argued that capitalism could never be overthrown without mass public support. But he argued that such support was hard to achieve given that the ruling economic class had a supreme influence (hegemony) over society’s culture. Socialist change, he contested, must therefore be preceded by the emergence of a counter-culture - not just in the workplace, as Marx and Lenin prescribed, but in artistic, literary and recreational life as well. To achieve this, Gramsci argued, socialists needed their own ‘cultural vanguard’, promoting
new ideas from within existing society.

127
Q

Euro-communists summary

A
  • Euro-communists argued that the existing ‘liberal-bourgeois’
    state could accommodate meaningful, socialist change,
    including the transition from a privately owned to a publicly
    owned economy.
  • As a result, Euro-communists rejected the inevitability and
    desirability of revolution. The PC routinely referred to the
    ‘disaster’ of both the 1917 revolution in Russia and the 1949 revolution in China.
  • Euro-communists rejected the dictatorship of the proletariat
    and reworked Marx’s historical materialism. They claimed it
    would now be the liberal-capitalist state that evolved and
    eventually withered away; communism would still emerge as the end of history’, but without the need for any intervening revolution or dictatorship of the proletariat.
128
Q

Neo-Marxism

A

During the twentieth century, certain socialist thinkers, though
respectful of Marx, nevertheless felt obliged to explain the survival of capitalism in western Europe. One of the most
important contributions in this respect came from the so-called
Frankfurt School, centred upon philosophers such as Herbert
Marcuse (1898-1979) and Max Horkheimer (1895-1973).

129
Q

Neo-Marxism - economy

A

As such, like Gramsci, they argued that capitalism’s values do not simply infect the economy but also the arts, the media and education.

130
Q

Neo-Marxist vs Euro-communist

A

Consequently, these neo-Marxists rejected the Euro-communist belief that capitalism could be gradually reformed out of existence. Instead, they asserted that when the next economic slump came,
socialists should advocate revolution rather than pursue a long-term project of cultural change.

131
Q

Raplh Miliband

A

One of the most important was Ralph Miliband, whose key work, The State in Capitalist Society (1973), sought to demolish the idea that socialism could be achieved via gradual, parliamentary reform. Miliband argued that whenever
democratic socialist governments had come to power, in the UK and elsewhere, they had been ‘blown off course’ and forced to dilute their socialist agendas.

132
Q

Miliband and Marx

A

For Miliband, this was wholly foreseeable - as Marx had
predicted, the existing state would always protect the existing, dominant economic class. Examining the record of recent socialist governments in western Europe, Miliband claimed they were confronted and frustrated by a web of state-sponsored, anti-socialist forces, such as the senior civil service, the judiciary, the armed forces and the security services.

133
Q

Miliband and parliament

A

All these ‘pro-capitalist’ forces, Miliband stated, would
conspire to divert socialist governments, especially during the economic crises to which capitalism was prone. Miliband thus concluded that a ‘parliamentary road’ to socialism, on its own, was impossible. It would have to be accompanied, or supplanted, by a revolutionary overthrow of the economic status quo, probably arising from the ‘spontaneous’ trade union action commended by Rosa Luxemburg several decades earlier.

134
Q

Revolutionary socialism or evolutionary socialism?

A

Revolutionary:
- classical Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, neo-Marxism.
Evolutionary:
- democratic socialism, Euro-communism, all forms of revisionist socialism.

135
Q

Revisionist socialism definition

A

This is the belief that socialism can be achieved without the destruction of capitalism and private property, and without the
upheaval of a revolution. It is therefore a form of evolutionary socialism. Dating from the late
nineteenth century, this view has been associated with Eduard Bernstein, post-war social democracy and the Third Way of the late twentieth century.

136
Q

Revisionist socialism

A

Unlike all strands of fundamentalist socialism, revisionist socialism seeks to revise Marx’s view that socialism is incompatible with capitalism. Furthermore, like some strands
of fundamentalist socialism, revisionist socialism also revises
Marx’s view that socialism can be achieved only via revolution.
Yet despite these two underlying principles, there are three
important variations to revisionist thinking.

137
Q

Classical revisionism

A

The earliest form of revisionism came from German socialist
Eduard Bernstein, in his book Evolutionary Socialism (1898).
Bernstein noted that by the end of the nineteenth century, the
condition of the working class was steadily improving under
capitalism - especially in those states where capitalism was
well developed. in short, there was little evidence that history
was unfolding in the way Marx had prescribed, or that Marx’s
‘crisis of capitalism’ was about to materialise.

138
Q

Bernstein’s argument

A

This led Bernstein to argue that, if overseen by socialist governments, capitalist economies could provide an even greater improvement to workers’ conditions, with capitalism’s worst features forever contained. Furthermore, Bernstein contested that
the widening of the franchise, and the advent of a working-clas
majority among voters, meant that socialist governments were
increasingly likely. Such governments could then legally insist, for example, that employers regularly improved conditions for their workers, and that landlords continuously improved conditions for their tenants - all of which would curb the inequalities of a capitalist society, while eliminating the need for revolution.

139
Q

Fabians and Bernstein

A

Bernstein endorsed many of the ideas being promoted by early
democratic socialists, such as the Fabians, and supported laws that
would extend trade union rights and education for the working
classes. He evidently shared the Fabian Society’s belief in a gradual, parliamentary road to socialism and was friendly with some of its members. What made Bernstein different was that he did not hold such views alongside an irrevocable contempt for capitalism - in
other words, he believed the struggle for socialism could co-exist with an economy based on private property.

140
Q

Must socialism involve the abolition of private property and capitalism? YES according to fundamentalist socialists

A
  • Socialism’s core values include equality; private property generates inequality.
  • Socialism’s core values include fraternity and cooperation. Private property promotes
    individualism and competition.
  • Marx, Engels and disciples like Rosa Luxemburg believed that private property (capitalism)
    led to exploitation and oppression of working people. Marx and Lenin also believed the collapse of capitalism was historically inevitable.
  • Gramsci and the Frankfurt school believed that capitalism’s cultural hegemony promoted false conciousness among working people. This made the promorion of socialist values difficult.
  • Early democratic socialists like Beatrice Webb believed public ownership to be more rational and efficent than private ownership.
  • Later democratic socialists like Tony Benn believed that attempts to achieve socialism alongside Keynesian capitalism had failed.
141
Q

Must socialism involve the abolition of private property and capitalism? NO according to revisionist socialists

A
  • The debate about private/public ownership
    merely concerns the means not the ends of socialism - the true ends being equality and fraternity.
  • Early revisionists like Bernstein noted that working-class conditions had improved under
    capitalism, as a result of capitalist economies growing in a way Marx did not envisage. With
    democratically elected socialist governments (passing laws favourable to trade unions, for
    example), Bernstein believed this was even more likely to happen.
  • Social democratic revisionists, like Crosland, stated that increased public spending, not public ownership, was the key to more socialism. Steady increases in public spending were possible if capitalist economies grew
    steadily, which would occur if Keynesian economic policies were properly applied.
  • Third Way revisionists, like Giddens, argued that a thriving neo-liberal economy could
    provide the state with a growing tax yield, thus financing the extra public spending socialism required.
  • The globalisation of capitalism, and the spread of home ownership in states like the
    UK, simply forced socialists to reconcile their core values to a society where private property was ubiquitous.
142
Q

Social democracy

A

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the term ‘social democracy’ was associated with hostility to capitalism and even a belief in revolution. In the UK, for example, the Social Democratic Federation was formed by
Henry Hyndman in 1881 after he was inspired by the works of
Marx. By the mid-twentieth century, however, it was regarded as the most important and relevant form of revisionist socialism, far removed from the politics of Marx and Lenin. How did this occur?

143
Q

1945 - SPD

A

One of western Europe’s most influential socialist groupings. At its Bad Godesberg conference in 1959, SPD revisionists (such as
the future West German chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt) persuaded the party to renounce its remaining links with Marxism by embracing both modern capitalism and the
post-war West German state. Yet this development also had a
British dimension, for Brandt and others had been emboldened to make such arguments by the work of a young British socialist, Anthony Crosland, whose book The Future of Socialism (1956)
came to be seen as the key work of post-war social democracy.

144
Q

John Maynard Keynes

A

Whereby the state actively sought to ‘manage’ market forces - had guaranteed full employment and steady economic growth.

145
Q

Keynesian economics definition

A

Based on the work of liberal economist John Maynard Keynes, Keynesianism involves the state managing market
forces so as to ensure steady growth and full employment. Social democrats believed that
this would finance steady rises in public spending and thus greater equality.

146
Q

Crosland/Keynes capitalism

A

Capitalism was no longer vulnerable to ‘peaks and troughs’ and could now be
relied upon to finance a richer, fairer and more classless society.
As Crosland noted, the end of capitalism’s cyclical character
meant a constant expansion of public spending, a constant
expansion of state welfare and constant progress towards the
ultimate socialist goal of greater equality.

147
Q

Crosland - resolving issues of capitalism

A

Crosland went on to argue that by resolving the problems of capitalism, and by establishing that socialism was not just about ‘common ownership’, Keynesian economics allowed socialists to look at other methods whereby greater equality could be secured, such as ending the ‘unequal’ forms of secondary education created by the 11-plus examination.

148
Q

The Third way

A

The most recent form of revisionist socialism, sometimes
referred to as neo-revisionism, is the Third Way. Associated
with the UK governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and German SPD politicians like Gerhard Schröder, it emerged in the 1990s at a time when the case for fundamentalist socialism was thought to have disappeared once and for all.

149
Q

Soviet union collapse

A

The Soviet Union had collapsed, market economics were being embraced across Russia and eastern Europe, even surviving communist states such as China were allowing forms of private enterprise. However, this did not simply vindicate post-war social
democracy; the globalisation of capitalism was thought to have
rendered much of Keynesian economics redundant, while the
apparent failure of nationalised industries in the UK - and the extensive privatisation of the 1980s - made support for a mixed economy seem dated.

150
Q

Giddens view on the economy

A

Giddens urged modern leftists to “go with the flow’ by encouraging further privatisation and further deregulation. Giddens argued that as this was the modern way to boost economic growth, it was also
the best way to boost government tax revenues, and therefore boost government spending in the name of more equality.

151
Q

equality of oppourtunity - giddens

A

According to Giddens, greater equality of opportunity probably required more, not less, inequality of outcome. His
reasoning was that in a neo-liberal economy, increasingly
unequal outcomes often went hand in hand with increasing
rates of economic growth, and if outcomes became less unequal, it often indicated slower growth and therefore a smaller tax yield, lower public spending and less opportunity to ameliorate the problems of society’s poorest.

152
Q

1994 - 1995 third way

A

This Third Way was duly accepted by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, whopersuaded the Labour Party to renounce its Clause IV commitment to common ownership and thus herald the era of New Labour.

153
Q

Peter mandelson quote

A

This Third Way was duly accepted by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who persuaded the Labour Party to renounce its Clause IV commitment to common ownership and thus herald the era of New Labour.

154
Q

Critics of the third way

A

To socialist critics of the Third Way, such as Tony Benn,
this analysis represented little more than paternalistic conservatism, an effort to make inequality of outcome more palatable while consolidating the position of very wealthy individuals.

155
Q

New labour finance

A

Rise in public spending, from
39% of gross domestic product in 1997 to 47% in 2010.

156
Q

Blaie- third way

A

As such, governments like Blair’s passed various measures
promoting greater racial, gender and sexual equality; the legalisation of civil partnerships for gay couples is one example. Blair’s government also brought in measures designed to redistribute political influence, such as devolved government and a Human Rights Act.

157
Q

Does socialism require revolutionary change? YES according to some fundamentalist socialists

A
  • Marx argued that the pre-socialist state reflected the interests of the dominant
    economic class - it would not allow the promotion of socialist values. Marx also believed revolution was historically inevitable.
  • Lenin believed revolution was necessary to pre-empt the horrors of capitalist development and stifle ‘false consciousness’ among the masses.
  • Rosa Luxemburg believed revolution would inevitably and ‘spontaneously’ develop from
    trade union agitation.
  • Trotsky believed that ‘permanent revolution was needed until all capitalist states had disappeared.
  • Mao believed that to cement socialism, economic revolution would have to be followed by long-term cultural revolution.
  • Neo-Marxists such as Ralph Miliband argued that attempts at parliamentary socialism had
    failed.
158
Q

Does socialism require revolutionary change? NO according to other fundamentalist socialists

A
  • Early democratic socialists (such as Webb) believed in the ‘inevitability of gradualism’ - i.e. slow, steady change within the existing political system.
  • Later democratic socialists (for example, Benn) believed that the existing state required reform rather than abolition.
  • Euro-communists believed the capitalist state would eventually wither away but could accommodate major socialist reform in the meantime.
159
Q

Does socialism require revolutionary change? No according to revisionist socialists

A
  • Early revisionists like Bernstein believed that, with universal adult suffrage, the existing state could allow socialist governments and steady, socialist change.
  • Social democrats like Crosland and Third Way revisionists like Giddens believed that, with the advent of a welfare state,
    the existing political system could ensure steady increases in public spending and therefore steady progress towards a fairer
    society.
    -Giddens believed the existing state’s structures could be reformed (via devolution, for example) so as to produce greater political equality.
160
Q

Can socialist values be reconciled to liberal values? YES

A
  • socialism and liberalism are products of the enlightenment.
  • socialism and liberalism always believe in the possibility of progress.
  • socialism and liberalism stress liberty and equality.
  • socialism and liberalism reject hereditary political power and paternalism.
  • socialism and modern liberalism endorse ‘positive liberty’ and further state intervention.
161
Q

Can socialist values be reconciled to liberal values? NO

A
  • liberals prioritise individual liberty where as socialists a fairer society.
  • liberals think individual shape society Socialists think society shapes individuals.
  • liberals see in equality of outcome as a sign of freedom where is socialist thing in equality of outcome precludes equality of opportunity.
  • liberals see capitalism as a condition of freedom fundamentalist socialists see it as a threat to freedom
    -socialists wish to extend state intervention classical and neoliberals wish to reduce it.
162
Q

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - human nature

A

Human nature, originally fraternal and altruistic, has
been contaminated by capitalism, instilling the false
consciousness’ of bourgeois values. Revolutionary socialism, however, will repair this.

163
Q

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - the state

A

The existing liberal- bourgeois state is a tool of the dominant
capitalist class; it must be destroyed by revolution and
replaced by a new socialist state: the dictatorship of the proletariat.

164
Q

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - society

A

Capitalist society is sickeningly, yet fatally, defined by class interests and class conflict. A
communist society will be the perfect “end of history’.

165
Q

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - the economy

A

Capitalism is corrupt, inefficient
and ultimately self-destructive. It
should - and will - be replaced by an economy based on collective ownership.

166
Q

Rosa Luxemburg - economy

A

Capitalism is more resilient than Marx allowed. Its neccessary destruction, and replacement by an economy based on worker’s control, will require determination and solidarity among the proletariat

Political ideologies (4 decks)

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