Lakhasly

Marxist criticism Beginnings and basics of Marxism Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher, and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a German sociologist (as he would now be called), were the joint founders of this school of thought. Marx was the son of a lawyer but spent most of his life in great poverty as a political exile from Germany living in Britain (he was expelled after the 1848 'year of revolutions'). Engels had left Germany in 1842 to work in Manchester for his father's textile firm. They met after Marx had read an article by Engels in a journal to which they both contributed. They themselves called their economic theories 'Communism' (rather than 'Marxism'), designating their belief in the state ownership of industry, transport, etc., rather than private ownership. Marx and Engels announced the advent of Communism in their jointly-written Communist Manifesto of 1848. The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. Marxism is a materialist philosophy: that is, it tries to explain things without assuming the existence of a world or of forces beyond the natural world around us, and the society we live in. It looks for concrete, scientific, logical explanations of the world of observable fact. (Its opposite is idealist philosophy, which does believe in the existence of a spiritual 'world elsewhere' and would offer, for instance, religious explanations of life and conduct). But whereas other philosophies merely seek to understand the world, Marxism (as Marx famously said) seeks to change it. Marxism sees progress as coming about through the struggle for power between different social classes. This view of history as class struggle (rather than as, for instance, a succession of dynasties, or as a gradual progress towards the attainment of national identity and sovereignty) regards it as 'motored' by the competition for economic, social, and political advantage. The exploitation of one social class by another is seen especially in modern industrial capitalism, particularly in its unrestricted nineteenth-century form. The result of this exploitation is alienation, which is the state which comes about when the worker is 'deskilled' and made to perform fragmented, repetitive tasks in a sequence of whose nature and purpose he or she has no overall grasp. By contrast, in the older 'pre-industrial' or 'cottage industry' system of manufacture, home and workplace were one, the worker completed the whole production process in all its variety, and was in direct contact with those who might buy the product. These alienated workers have undergone the process of reification, which is a term used in Marx's major work, Das Kapital, but not developed there. It concerns the way, when capitalist goals and questions of profit and loss are paramount, workers are bereft of their full humanity and are thought of as 'hands' or 'the labour force', so that, for instance, the effects of industrial closures are calculated in purely economic terms. People, in a word, become things. There were various influences on early Marxist thinking in addition to that of the political experiences of its founders, including the work of the eighteenth-century German philosopher Hegel (especially his idea of the dialectic, whereby opposing forces or ideas bring about new situations or ideas). Marxism also built upon the socialist thinking which was produced in France at the time of the French Revolution, and it inverted some of the ideas of early economic theory, especially the view that the pursuit of individual economic self-interest would bring economic and social benefits to the whole of society (the belief which was and is the underlying rationale of capitalism). The simplest Marxist model of society sees it as constituted by a base (the material means of production, distribution, and exchange) and a superstructure, which is the 'cultural' world of ideas, art, religion, law, and so on. The essential Marxist view is that the latter things are not 'innocent', but are 'determined' (or shaped) by the nature of the economic base. This belief about culture, known as economic determinism, is a central part of traditional Marxist thinking.

Marxist criticism
Beginnings and basics of Marxism
Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher, and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a German sociologist
(as he would now be called), were the joint founders of this school of thought. Marx was the son of a
lawyer but spent most of his life in great poverty as a political exile from Germany living in Britain (he
was expelled after the 1848 'year of revolutions'). Engels had left Germany in 1842 to work in Manchester
for his father's textile firm. They met after Marx had read an article by Engels in a journal to which they
both contributed. They themselves called their economic theories 'Communism' (rather than 'Marxism'),
designating their belief in the state ownership of industry, transport, etc., rather than private ownership.
Marx and Engels announced the advent of Communism in their jointly-written Communist Manifesto of
1848.
The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of
production, distribution, and exchange. Marxism is a materialist philosophy: that is, it tries to explain
things without assuming the existence of a world or of forces beyond the natural world around us, and the
society we live in. It looks for concrete, scientific, logical explanations of the world of observable fact. (Its
opposite is idealist philosophy, which does believe in the existence of a spiritual 'world elsewhere' and
would offer, for instance, religious explanations of life and conduct). But whereas other philosophies
merely seek to
understand the world, Marxism (as Marx famously said) seeks to change it. Marxism sees progress as
coming about through the struggle for power between different social classes. This view of history as class
struggle (rather than as, for instance, a succession of dynasties, or as a gradual progress towards the
attainment of national identity and sovereignty) regards it as 'motored' by the competition for economic,
social, and political advantage. The exploitation of one social class by another is seen especially in modern
industrial capitalism, particularly in its unrestricted nineteenth-century form. The result of this exploitation
is alienation, which is the state which comes about when the worker is 'deskilled' and made to perform
fragmented, repetitive tasks in a sequence of whose nature and purpose he or she has no overall grasp. By
contrast, in the older 'pre-industrial' or 'cottage industry' system of manufacture, home and workplace were
one, the worker completed the whole production process in all its variety, and was in direct contact with
those who might buy the product. These alienated workers have undergone the process of reification,
which is a term used in Marx's major work, Das Kapital, but not developed there. It concerns the way,
when capitalist goals and questions of profit and loss are paramount, workers are bereft of their full
humanity and are thought of as 'hands' or 'the labour force', so that, for instance, the effects of industrial
closures are calculated in purely economic terms. People, in a word, become things.
There were various influences on early Marxist thinking in addition to that of the political experiences of
its founders, including the work of the eighteenth-century German philosopher Hegel (especially his idea
of the dialectic, whereby opposing forces or ideas bring about new situations or ideas). Marxism also built
upon the socialist thinking which was produced in France at the time of the French Revolution, and it
inverted some of the ideas of early economic theory, especially the view that the pursuit of individual
economic self-interest would bring economic and social benefits to the whole of society (the belief which
was and is the underlying rationale of capitalism).
The simplest Marxist model of society sees it as constituted by a base (the material means of production,
distribution, and
exchange) and a superstructure, which is the 'cultural' world of ideas, art, religion, law, and so on. The
essential Marxist view is that the latter things are not 'innocent', but are 'determined' (or shaped) by the
nature of the economic base. This belief about culture, known as economic determinism, is a central part of
traditional Marxist thinking.