WHAT IS MARXISM

• Marxism derives its name from Karl Marx, a German economist and social philosopher, though the term was unknown during Marx’s lifetime.
• Friedrich Engels, a close collaborator of Marx, reported that Marx himself stated, “All I know is that I am not a Marxist.”
• Despite its name, Marxism is a living tradition of social thought, not solely belonging to Marx.
• Marxism emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in response to the oppressive conditions of the capitalist system.
• By the mid-nineteenth century, classical liberalism had failed to create true human freedom as it entrenched capitalism, benefiting a small capitalist class at the expense of the majority of the working class.
• While liberalism achieved legal and political equality, it resulted in economic inequalities and injustice.
• Unbridled capitalism produced a wealth gap, with the capitalist class thriving while the working class suffered in poverty, malnutrition, disease, and insecurity.
• Early socialists like Saint-Simon, Louis Blanc, Robert Owen, and Charles Fourier proposed alternatives like centralized state-controlled economies and model communities based on free cooperation rather than competition.
• These early socialists, known as utopian socialists, diagnosed the ills of capitalism but failed to provide practical solutions.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels critiqued utopian socialism, replacing it with scientific socialism, which analyzed social problems and proposed revolutionary solutions.
• Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto (1848), calling for the working class to unite and secure their own emancipation, which would lead to the freedom of all humanity.
• Marxism is a set of political and economic principles that aims to scientifically understand society through historical analysis.
• Marxism views history as a conflict between antagonistic forces and classes, rooted in the mode of production, where one class controls the means of production and exploits the other.
• The ultimate goal of Marxism is the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, replacing it with social ownership of production and the full development of productive forces.
• The core tenets of Marxism, known as Classical Marxism, were developed by Marx, Engels, and later V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, and Mao Zedong.
• Classical Marxism argues that private property divides society into dominant and dependent classes with irreconcilable interests, held together by the dominant class’s ideological power.
• Neo-Marxism, influenced by Young Marx’s humanist thought, analyzes the subtle dynamics of dominance and dependence and explores ways to achieve human emancipation.
• Human history moves toward freedom through the revolutionary destruction of social contradictions, ultimately leading to a classless society.