Socialism 2 Flashcards
What is the difference between fundamental and revisionist capitalism?
Fundamentalist socialists believe socialism is at odds with private ownership and capitalism, while revisionists believe socialism can be achieved alongside private property and capitalism
What are the strands of fundamentalist capitalism
Classical Marxism
Orthodox communism
Democratic socialism
Neo-Marxism
What are the strands of revisionist socialism?
Classical revisionism
Social democracy
The third way
What did Marx believe about capitalism?
- Capitalism must disappear before socialism and then communism could be established
- Capitalism promoted exploitation, alienation and oppression of one class by another
- Capitalism was historically doomed, given the class consciousness it would produce among the proletariat
How does Marxism describe the stages of history and society within that?
- history was a series of stages, moving towards an inevitable final destination (historicism).
- Within each historical stage, there is eventually an intellectual clash, known as a dialectic. This happens when the narrative of society’s aims – as decided by the ruling classes- no longer corresponded to the majority.
- This establishes a new stage of history that survives until the next stage of alienation.
- For Marx and Engels, each clash was a result of economics and how resources and wealth were distributed - thus known as historical materialism (each clash known as dialectic materialism)
How did Marx and Engels believe society would change?
Believed in revolution - changes can’t occur peacefully - therefore reject evolutionary socialism
- revolution was not just inevitable but essential
What does the new state look like that is created after revolution according to Marx and Engels?
‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ – this would pave the way to a communist society, creating a state so flawless that it represents the peak of human achievement: ‘the end of history’.
How did Lenin’s views differ to Marx?
- Concerned by Marx’s insistence that revolution could only occur in societies where capitalism and the proletariat are well developed (Luxemburg would agree)
-it was an unacceptable implication that less developed countries would have to endure many more decades of oppressive rule, plus the horrors of developing a capitalist society, before the salvation of socialism could arrive - Therefore, they believed in accelerated revolutionary socialism
- revolution in pre-industrial countries should be the cause and not the effect of socialist ideas developing
- this would prevent the masses developing sympathy for capitalism
What did Marx believe about human nature?
It had been contaminated by capitalism
What does Marx believe about society?
Capitalism created the bourgeoisie and the proletariat with harsh inequalities which were not sustainable and so they would inevitably be overthrown by the ‘historically inevitable’ proletarian revolution
What did Marx and Engels believe about the state?
It would always serve the interests of whichever class ruled the economy
What would happen once the dictatorship of the proletariat has cemented socialist values?
The state would wither away and be replaced by communism
How did Luxemburg and Lenin differ?
Lenin stressed the importance of a revolutionary elite (Vanguard), which Luxemburg was against.
She believed revolution could arise spontaneously - mass strike action would ignite a much wider revolution.
She also disagreed with socialist nationalism
What was the role of the Vanguard
- Plot and plan to overthrown the existing regime
- Organise the revolution
- Educate the masses to the virtue of socialism
- Once the old regime is gone, the Vanguard would form the communist party. This would embody Marx’s dictatorship of the proletariat - a doctrine that became known as democratic centralism
What did Luxemburg think about human nature which is similar to Marx?
capitalism was at odds with human nature
