Chapter Info (Click Here)
Book No. – 3 (Political Science)
Book Name – A History of Political Thought: Plato to Marx (Subrata Mukherjee & S. Ramaswamy)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. LIFE SKETCH
2. MARX AS A POET
3. MARX’S DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
4. DIALECTICS
5. MATERIALISM AND HISTORY
6. ECONOMIC DETERMINISM
7. CLASS STRUGGLE AND SOCIAL CHANGE
8. ANALYSIS OF CAPITALISM
9. ASSESSMENT OF MARX’S PREDICTIONS
10. ANALYSIS OF THE STATE
10.1. Bonapartism
10.2. Future Society
11. DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT
11.1. The Communist Manifesto
11.2. The Class Struggles in France
11.3. The Civil War in France
11.4. The Critique of the Gotha Programme
12. REVISIONISM, RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT
13. INADEQUACIES IN THE MARXIST THEORY OF THE STATE
14. WOMEN AND THE GENDER QUESTION
15. THE ASIATIC MODE OF PRODUCTION
16. ON INDIA
17. CONCLUSION
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LANGUAGE
Karl Marx
Chapter – 14
Table of Contents
- Marx’s system combined a vision of society with a systematic approach, reflecting both a critique and a transformative theory of human society.
- Marx’s contributions in technical change, exploitation, class struggle, and belief formation continue to influence contemporary thought and have not been fully exhausted.
- Marxism set out to challenge the idea that ideas determine the course of history, but its widespread influence has softened the strength of this thesis.
- Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a major intellectual figure whose ideas reshaped disciplines like anthropology, law, sociology, philosophy, and political theory, linking economic and intellectual life.
- Marx developed a theory of praxis, which emphasized the unity of thought and action, significantly altering the methodology of the social sciences.
- Marx was a brilliant agitator, economist, sociologist, and historian, integrating various strands of socialist thoughtinto a cohesive worldview focused on struggle.
- Marxism faced diverse criticism and acclaim, with debates over the two periods of Marx’s thought: the early focus on alienation, human nature, and morality versus the later deterministic study of capitalism.
- The connection between the young and old Marx is seen in works like the Grundrisse and Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy.
- Marx’s collaboration with Friedrich Engels led to questions about the balance between Marx’s original ideas and Engels’ interpretations, with Engels seen as a popularizer and Marx as an innovator.
- The shift in the late seventeenth century from analyzing the political order based on scarcity to one based on abundance framed poverty and inequalities as solvable, not inherent.
- Early liberal theory emphasized non-coercive solutions and democratic methods for resolving social conflict but overlooked the necessity of social change through class struggle, which Marx integrated into his theory.
- Marx viewed liberalism and classical economics as defending middle-class interests and proposed that the proletariatwould lead a social revolution following the political revolution brought by the French Revolution.
- Marx criticized early socialists as utopian, advocating instead for a scientific socialism grounded in the laws of social and economic development.
- Early socialists had visions of centrally planned economies, equal income, and common ownership, but they failed to foresee the mechanisms that would bring about these changes, unlike Marx, who saw capitalism’s destruction as inevitable.
- Marx integrated ideas from German philosophy, French political thought, and English economics into his theoretical framework.
- From German philosophy, he adopted Hegelian dialectics but applied them to the material world rather than idealism.
- From the French Revolutionary tradition, Marx adopted the belief that apocalyptic change driven by a messianic idea was both desirable and feasible.
- From English classical economics, Marx studied the dynamics of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution to understand the laws governing capitalist production.
- Marx’s view was that historical movement follows natural laws, and more industrially developed societies show less developed societies their own future.
- Marx emphasized action and revolution, transforming Hegelian idealism into a radical, class-based social theory aimed at overthrowing capitalism.
- Marx’s early works, including his doctoral thesis, laid the foundation for Marxist theory, demonstrating his dissatisfaction with German idealism while retaining some Hegelian influence.
- Marx reinterpreted Hegelian philosophy, shifting from the struggle of nations to the struggle of social classes and developing a revolutionary political theory focused on class conflict.
- Marx’s critique of Hegel transformed Hegelianism from a nationalistic, conservative philosophy into a powerful radicalism focused on the overthrow of capitalism and class structures.
LIFE SKETCH
- Karl Marx was born on March 5, 1818, in Trier, Rhineland, to a Jewish family.
- Father Heinrich was a rabbi, and the surname Marx was an abbreviation of Mordechai, later changed to Markus.
- Heinrich’s family had a notable ancestry, with his father being a successful lawyer and his uncle, Lion Philips, a businessman who founded Philips Electric Company.
- Heinrich converted to Lutheranism in 1817, followed by his wife Henriette in 1825, and Marx himself converted in 1824.
- Marx’s Jewish background made him aware of his marginality, shaping his conflicting qualities as a thinker, prophet, scientist, and moralist.
- Marx studied law at the University of Bonn (1835) and University of Berlin (1836), but shifted to philosophy under the influence of the young Hegelians.
- He completed his doctorate in philosophy in 1841, but the accession of Wilhelm IV in 1840 ended his academic career prospects.
- Marx married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843, after a seven-year courtship. They had a hard but happy life together.
- From 1842 to 1848, Marx edited radical publications in the Rhineland, Belgium, and France, including the Rheinische Zeitung.
- In 1844, while in Paris, Marx became interested in working-class movements and political economy.
- In 1847, Marx and Engels began working on the German Ideology.
- In 1848, Marx and Engels helped found the Communist League, which existed until 1850.
- Marx was expelled from Prussian territories in 1848 and moved to London, where he lived for the rest of his life.
- From 1850 to 1860, Marx worked and studied at the British Museum in London.
- Marx had limited direct contact with workers, peasants, or landowners, only knowing two individuals in industrial and financial processes: his Uncle Philips and friend Engels.
- Marx wrote for the New York Tribune, earning one pound per article, which was his only regular income.
- Engels provided financial assistance to Marx, who struggled with money management and lived in poverty.
- Three of Marx’s six children died due to lack of resources.
- Jenny played an important role in editing Marx’s manuscripts and preparing them for publication before she died in 1881.
- Karl Marx died on March 14, 1883, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London.
- His death went largely unnoticed in Britain, and it was the London correspondent in Paris who reported it, later featured in the London Times.