Marx: Social Class and Revolution Marx Capitalism Essay

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Historical context of the communist manifesto

Slow change:
Persistence of monarchies – a king held power in most of europe old days still with europeans
Persistence of old classes – social classes associated with monarchy was still alive (aristocracy and peasantry) most people were still peasant aristocrats were wealthiest class not capitalist
Rise of new classes – middle class constituted at most two and a half percent of the population.

Rapid growth:
Urbanization
Technology – use of gas lamp, railroad, mining, more cotton
Productivity
Commerce – world commerce grew four times in volume
Uncertaintity over the future of:
Capitalism – eventually growth in the economy cannot be contained by the social structure and so a new social structe will need to be in place
Capitalism will burst apart and socialism will emerge
The same way feudalism burst and led to capitalism
Monarchies – liberal movements believed society shouldn’t be governed by monarchies
Nationalism – also on the rise
Social order

Read the communist manfiesto:
Alert to analogy
Trying to make sense of two revolutions
Democratic and industrial revolution

Marx capitalism:

Two premises of marx approach:
Humans have essential needs -if we don’t eat shelter we wont be able to survive
These needs are satisfied by entering into predetermined social relations – these needs are constant – all historical eras have had to meet these needs – proletariat have to meet this need as well, as a result they are forced to enter capitalism and sell their labour power

Marx: mode of production

Forces of production (means of production):
Material neccesities
Nature (raw materials, energy)
Instruments of productions (tools machines)
Labour (producers organized to cooperate)
Technical knowledge

Relations of production:
Which class control the forces of production?
Power and equality

Mode of productions = forces of production +relations of production

Modes of production – types:
Primitive communism – classless society
Ancient society – ancient rome and certain city states of ancient greece heavy reliance on slavery – slave is property of slave owner
Asiatic – mode of production – societies which are split between a ruler and peasants – vast irrigation systems – emperor has the power
Fedualism – decentralized elites – lords get given land and have great control of the land – lords and serfs
Capitalism – owner does not own the worker but he buys the labour of the worker – division between those who control means of productions and those who have to sell their labour to put food in their mouth
Communism – classless society -

What are these social relations?
The mode of production

Capitalism:
The coomodification of labour – commodity is any item that can be brought or sold on a market – such as labour – capitalism would give way to another form of production
Founded on a class division
Classes have conflicting interests – trying to buy labour as cheaply as possible
Gap between productive power and the shrinking control of worker – the division of labour
Creates alienation – cant identify themselves with that they create
Not a final form of society
Human relations become market relations

Communism:
End alienation by ending society divided into classes
People who support capitalism try to trick us into thinking its human nature to be selfish
But we can create a society where humans can see there welfare relies on them cooperating with others
Communism will be in favor of the expansion of each individuals potential
Only through communism that humans become individuals

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