Marxism, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism

1. Marxism, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism A very brief introduction

2. Capitalism “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.”

3. Feudalism Capitalism Victorian Businessman Peasants Landed Gentry Monarch Land Aristocracy

4. Capitalism • The Industrial Revolution created a new class of people in Europe: wealthy, educated but not noble – the middle-classes… • Factory owners and businessmen were middle-class; the people who worked in their factories were working-class.

5. Capitalism Peasants Landed Gentry Monarch Land Aristocracy

6. Capitalism • The driving social force behind Capitalism is the accumulation of capital: material wealth • Those peasants who left the villages for the cities could earn more money… …which they could spend on the new things churned out by the factories • Other peasants saw this and left for the cities as well

7. The Cycle of Capitalism Businessmen Who build Who employ Factories Workers For Money Who earn Which earns To buy Money Products

8. The ‘Problem of Capitalism’ Businessmen Who build Who employ Factories Workers For Money How do the workers Ever break out of a cycle of poverty? Who earn Which earns To buy Money Products

9. Capitalism and The Worker • Capitalism relies on The Worker to keep the rich rich • Without The Worker, there is no factory, which means no products, which means no wealth • The more products people buy, the more comfortable they become: the more they desire from life (socially as well as monetarily) • The Worker does not want to stay The Worker for ever

10. Capitalism • The Businessman wants: • To stay wealthy • To stay in business • To keep costs low • The Worker wants: • To get rich • To find easier work • To earn enough to buy products What is the solution for each of these groups?

11. Marxism • Karl Marx (1818-1883) • Born into the Industrial Revolution (c.1760-1840) • Lived through the Second Industrial Revolution (c.1850-1870) • Wrote Das Kapital (and so popularised the word: Capitalism) • Wrote The Communist Manifesto

12. Marx’s Beliefs Under capitalism, the proletariat, the working class or “the people,” own only their capacity to work; they have the ability only to sell their own labor. According to Marx a class is defined by the relations of its members to the means of production. He proclaimed that history is the chronology of class struggles, wars, and uprisings. Under capitalism, Marx continues, the workers, in order to support their families are paid a bare minimum wage or salary. The worker is alienated because he has no control over the labor or product which he produces. The capitalists sell the products produced by the workers at a proportional value as related to the labor involved. Surplus value is the difference between what the worker is paid and the price for which the product is sold. www.allaboutphilosophy.org

13. Marx’s Beliefs • Marx also held that revolution or uprising from the working classes was an inevitable result of the way the class-system was set up. • At no point did he advocate violent upheaval, revolution or civil war… he merely said they were inevitable

14. Marxism • A word given to encompass Marx’s teachings • Often identified (incorrectly) with Soviet Communism • Theoretical/Analytical discussion about revolutionary change • Different from Anarchism, which is more of an ethical discussion about the actual practice of revolution

15. Socialism Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he [Marx] believed socialism would, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. This would emerge after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat": a period sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers' democracy". Wikipedia: Marx

16. Socialism and the Future • Feudalism is a system where land, power and money are held by a small, elite group of landowners, guaranteed by birth • Internal tensions = what about the intelligent poor? • Capitalism is a system where land, power and money are distributed between a wider range of educated men • Internal tensions = what about uneducated poor? • Socialism is a system where land, power and money are distributed between the people, usually by a government of the people • Internal tensions = still an ‘elite’, a ‘ruling class’ in government

17. Socialism and the Future • Communism is a system where there is no state and no ruling elite, where land, power and money are owned equally by all the people • Internal tensions = everyone treated the same, regardless of intelligence, ability or effort • Despotism is a system where one person rules with an iron fist; they control all the land, money and power • Internal tensions = what about the rest of the people? • Monarchism is a system where land, power and money are held by an elite few, appointed by the monarch to govern in his name • Internal tensions = why should one person, so far away, make all our decisions?

18. Soviet Communism • Communism is an idea – a system of beliefs • Put into practice in Russia in 1917, after a revolution by the working-classes (led by the educated middle-classes) overthrew the existing monarch and hunted down and exterminated the aristocracy • Corrupted under Stalin into a totalitarian state (essentially, one person is totally in charge)

19. Soviet Communism & Stalin • Stalin became Chairman of the Communist Party in 1922 • Lenin (founder of Soviet Communism) died in 1924 • Trotsky (another founder) died in 1925 • Great Purge of 1930s • By 1945, Pure Communism was dead in USSR • Soviet Communism finally abandoned in 1990

20. Socialism and the Future • Feudalism is a system where land, power and money are held by a small, elite group of landowners, guaranteed by birth • Internal tensions = what about the intelligent poor? • Capitalism is a system where land, power and money are distributed between a wider range of educated men • Internal tensions = what about uneducated poor? • Socialism is a system where land, power and money are distributed between the people, usually by a government of the people • Internal tensions = still an ‘elite’, a ‘ruling class’ in government • Communism is a system where there is no state and no ruling elite, where land, power and money are owned equally by all the people • Internal tensions = everyone treated the same, regardless of intelligence, ability or effort • Despotism is a system where one person rules with an iron fist; they control all the land, money and power • Internal tensions = what about the rest of the people? • Monarchism is a system where land, power and money are held by an elite few, appointed by the monarch to govern in his name • Internal tensions = why should one person, so far away, make all our decisions?

21. The Cycle of History Polybius (203-120 BC) coined the term ‘Kyklos’ (Greek for ‘cycle’): all of human political history can be broken down into a series of governmental styles, each one following on from the previous: “Originally society is in anarchy but the strongest figure emerges and sets up a monarchy. The monarch's descendants, who because of their family's power lack virtue, become despots and the monarchy degenerates into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler the tyranny is overthrown by the leading citizens of the state who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the state becomes an oligarchy. These oligarchs are overthrown by the people who set up a democracy. Democracy soon becomes corrupt and degenerates into mob rule, beginning the cycle anew.” Wiki:Kyklos