Political Essay
ljj
MarxJune1.pptxMarx’s political theory
The state: instrument of class domination
Class societies: divided, centrifugal societies
The irony of capitalism
“the bourgeoisie itself, therefore, supplies the proletariat with its own elements of political and general education, in other words, it furnishes the proletariat with weapons for fighting the bourgeoisie!”
The Communist Manifesto, p. 483
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After capitalism
Politics will be fully democratized
Collective ownership of the means of production
Socialism vs. communism
”From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”
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New purpose to economic life
Opportunity for free, conscious activity for all, development of human capacities
Subordination of economic life to higher purposes
No more division of labour
Important quotes
“an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” (Communist Manifesto, p. 491)
“Hunting in the morning, fishing in the afternoon…” etc. (German Ideology, p. 160)
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What is true freedom for Marx? (read pp. 439-441 of Capital)
Liberty is defined in opposition to necessity (p. 441, 715, 716)
“an existence guaranteeing to all the free development and exercise of their physical and mental faculties” (p. 715)
Avoidance of enslavement to the division of labour, capacity to fulfill creative/productive freedom
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How communism transcends the problem of alienation
The “return of man to himself” 84, “transcendence of human self-estrangement)
Why does private property need to be abolished?
The “real appropriation of the human essence by and for man” 84
The “true resolution of the strife between essence and existence” 84
And between “freedom and necessity” 84
The transcendence of private property is the “complete emancipation of all the human senses and attributes” 87
Private property has made us so “stupid and one-sided that an object is only ours when we have it” 87
486: “But in your existing society….”
“Your very ideas are but the outgrowth…” 487
“man’s ideas, with every change….” 489
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