Craig  Collins,  Ph.D.  

•  The  ideas  of  Karl  Marx  himself  should  not  be  confused  with  “Marxism.”  

• Marx  would  surely  disagree  strongly  with  many  of  the  people,  organizaBons  &  governments  who  claim  to  base  their  acBons  &  policies  on  his  ideas.  

•  Some  of  this  course  will  be  devoted  to  examining  what  Marx  &  Marxism  have  in  common  &  where  they  part  company.  

 During  his  life,  Karl  Marx  developed  his  poliBcal  philosophy  in  close  collaboraBon  with  

his  lifelong  friend,  Friedrich  Engels.  

Rival  militarist  Monarchs  were  compelled  to  expand  their  empires  &  to  either  crush  their  domesBc  opponents  or  share  power  with  them.  

– Crushing  their  opponents  weakened  the  economy.  

– Sharing  power  expanded  the  corrupt  parasiBc  state,  taxing  the  people  beneath  them  even  more.  

•  Hereditary  monarchies  became  the  common  enemy  of  most  classes  throughout  Europe.  

•  They  lived  in  decadent  luxury  by  taxing  everyone  &  monopolizing  poli=cal  power.  

•  They  threw  the  poor  into  debtors’  prisons  &  conscripted  them  to  fight  their  wars.  

•  The  capitalists  were  happy  with  revoluBons  that  toppled  monarchs  but  leJ  the  property  owning  classes  in  power.  

•  The  working  class  &  the  poorest  farmers  oJen  wanted  more  fundamental  change.  

•  They  wanted  improvements  in  their  everyday  lives:    –  BeMer  working  condiBons,  higher  

wages,  the  right  to  unionize  &  strike,  debt  relief  &  land  reform.  

–  A  poliBcal  &  economic  system  designed  to  meet  human  needs,  not  maximize  profit.  

• Marx    &  Engels  were  poliBcal  philosophers.  

•  They  thought  it  was  possible  to  create  a  science  of  history  &  social  change.  

•  They  reasoned  that  if  the  laws  of  social  change  could  be  understood,  they  could  be  used  to  shape  history  for  the  benefit  of  all.  

• Marx  studied  &  analyzed  capitalism  in  great  detail.  

•  He  concluded  that  it  was  a  powerful,  dynamic  economic  system  with  incurable,  fatal  flaws.  

•  These  flaws  would  only  deepen  as  capitalism  grew,  eventually  causing  it  to  fail.  

•  Marx  &  Engels  devoted  their  lives  to  hastening  the  day  when  capitalism  would  be  buried  by  a  democraBc,  working  class  revoluBon.  

•  They  helped  build  a  socialist  movement  that  carried  on  aJer  their  deaths.  

• World  War  I,  the  Depression,  the  rise  of  Fascism,  World  War  II,  &  the  Cold  War  all  had  major  impacts  on  European  Marxists.  

•  Using  Marx’s  method,  they  asked  why  history  had  not  unfolded  as  Marx  thought  it  would.  – Why  had  the  working  class  failed  to  embrace  Marxism  &  topple  capitalism  in  Europe  &  America?  

– Could  Marxism  become  a  criBcal  tool  for  exposing  capitalist  ideology  &  dogmaBc  Soviet  “Marxism”?  

Weil

Benjamin Horkheimer

Adorno

Marcuse

Early industrial period; capitalism becomes dominant; working class emerges as radical force.

After period of stability, capitalism generates crisis, wars & revolution

“Marxism-Leninism” becomes the official ideology of the USSR, China, & 3rd world revolutions. Western Marxism becomes isolated & abstract.

Reformist Social Democracy

Revolutionary Social

Democracy

Kautsky, Bernstein

Anarchist Marxism Bakunin, DeLeon

Maoism

Geuvarism

Western “critical” Marxism

Ché & Debray’s Foco Theory

Trotskyism ???

Soviet

Revisionism

Stalinism