Marxism

Marxism

5.) Discuss the main tenets of Marxism. In what ways was this ideology an extension of the thought of the Enlightenment? In what ways did it deviate from those ideals?

Socialism granted a powerful language for the working-class to express their interests. Many workers, who were enfranchised in the latter portion of the century joined political parties espousing this doctrine. Socialism existed before Karl Marx presented himself to the scene. In fact, Marx drew from the theories of the foremost prophets of socialism: Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier in France, and Robert Owen in Great Britain. However, he gave these theories his own style, and in the end his form became the dominant idea of socialism. Karl Marx, the son of a lawyer, grew up in an industrializing area that was particularly open to political ideas and agitation. The Rhineland, in western Germany, had been influenced by ideas of the French Revolution and was primed for political radicalism. Marx, as a young man, studied philosophy at the University of Berlin and joined a group known as the "Young Hegelians," self-declared disciples of idealist G.W.F. Hegel. Marx showed an early interest in political liberty and socialism.

Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto, in 1848. This pamphlet was an appeal to the working classes of the world, written specifically for the Communist League, a group of Germans living in exile. The pamphlet was too late and too obscure to influence the revolutions of 1848. However, it laid out Marx's basic principles, urging the proletariat to rise, proclaiming, "You have nothing left to lose but your chains." Marx's pen birthed numerous political and polemical works, but most went unpublished during his li...

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...rpose; rather, it was a significant process, part of the drama that would finally bring forth human emancipation. Marx accepted industrialism and perceived it as part of the path that history was destined to choose, unlike some of the utopians who deplored it. In studying economics and history, Marx became convinced that the coming of socialism was not only desirable, but more importantly it was inevitable. The laws of history dictated that capitalism would collapse, having created within itself the means of self-destruction, specifically the proletariat uprising. Marx provided his ideology with the boost it needed to become the faith of millions, through proclaiming his own brand of socialism as scientific. In the nineteenth century, when science was regarded with respected glorification, declaring ideas scientific was solid way to gain popularity and a following.