CHAPTER THREE:
RESPONSES TO SOCIAL/ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Some social
critics in industrializing societies responded to the obvious social and
economic inequalities by advocating radical equality, redistribution of wealth
and improvement of worker conditions. Building on the memory of Jacobin
policies, socialists called for the redistribution of wealth, mass
democratization (voting for the working class) and increasing state power and
policies to achieve greater equality in terms of standard of living in the face
of gross class differences especially in the cities.
EARLY SOCIALIST
MOVEMENTS
At its heart, socialism is
an ideology which advocates the creation of a more equal society- equality
not just in terms of rights, but also in terms of social/economic conditions
such as education, political power, living standards, and access to
wealth/benefits. Socialists shared a belief that a powerful state was
the instrument for achieving this equality. However, socialists disagreed and
debated on how best to mobilize a government and society to move towards
fundamental broad-based equality. Thus, many different forms of
socialism emerged in the 19th century.
Some socialists advocated
working through the political system - working for more voting
rights for the working class and thus giving this group a real political voice.
Socialist and labor based political parties (such as the Fabian party in
Other socialists worked to
organize workers to exert economic pressure on elites in respond
to worker conditions. Unions and union activities were initially illegal. Union
socialists focused on the struggle to achieve worker rights to enable them to
legally unionize, strike, and engage in collective economic actions. The later
rise of unions and union activities by the early 20th century was the result of
a long struggle, often bloody, undertaken by these "trade unionist" socialists
throughout the 19th century.
These socialist movements, however
frustrated some social critics since little was accomplished in the first half
of the century. Only small steps were achieved in terms of reform. Later
socialist groups, advocating the need to use more violent, militant methods
criticized these early movements as "utopian" for not confronting the
harsh realities of power and wealth by an entrenched economic elite. As
socialism became more hardened, more militant, and more aggressive by the
mid-19th century, a new face of socialism emerged. This was a radical, revolutionary
ideology - Marxism.
MARXIST
SOCIALISM
In 1848, a critical work
was published in
Part of the appeal of
Marxism to some followers was that it called for workers to strive for
dramatic, rapid revolution, rather than trusting in moderate, slow-paced
reform. Marxism envisioned violence as the only means to establish an
equal society. There was a confidence underlying Marxist doctrine, a confidence
that this revolution would inevitably happen. The confidence was based
on Enlightenment belief in the laws of history and economics.
The key ideas in the Communist
Manifesto rested on Engels' theories based on his research and reporting on
the conditions of
the working class and ideas from Marx, who borrowed heavily from the
philosopher of history, G. W. F. Hegel. Hegel had stated that societies change
by going through historical stages; a shift from one historical stage to the
next was fueled by the dynamic and driving historical (natural) force of the dialectic -
the clash between opposing groups or forces in a society. According to Hegel's
theory, at each stage of development societies experience internal struggle
between two competing ideologies or world views - the existing mainstream
view and the newer, challenging ideology. As a result of this clash of
ideas, a new synthesis (a blend of the old and new) emerges; in this way
societies change and evolve over time. (see
excerpts of Hegel's ideas)
Karl Marx adopted the idea
of the dialectic, that struggle was the force that moves history.
However, instead of societies changing due to clashing ideas, Marx claimed that
societies were transformed by the inevitable conflict between conflicting
economic classes. The first sentence of the Communist Manifesto states this
explicitly - "The history of all hitherto existing societies is the
history of class struggles."
According to Marx,
throughout history there has always been an upper class which dominates the
society; this is the group that controls the basis of wealth ("means of
production.") Thus in an agricultural society, the dominant class is the
one that owns the land - the means of producing wealth. In an industrial
society - it is those who own the factories. The lower class rises to
challenge this elite in violent confrontation. Economic power changes hands; a
transformation occurs when this lower class achieves economic dominance, either
by absorbing or eliminating the resisting class. According to
Marx's interpretation of historical laws, class struggle and thus change in
societies occurred numerous times in history. Kings were challenged and
ultimately absorbed by aristocrats. The aristocracy then lost its dominant
class status, replaced by the middle class (bourgeoisie) during the commercial
and Industrial revolutions.
Marx, writing in 1848, then
predicted that the next, and greatest, class conflict was about to
happen - the working class (proletariat) would rise up and seize power from
the capitalist owners and elite. Based on his perception of history, this class
war was an inevitable outcome of the laws of history.
Ironically, Marx was as much a product of Enlightenment thinking as John Locke.
To
summarize (briefly) the Marxist view of history, human societies develop
through stages:
I. SLAVE STAGE
Dominant Class:
Kings/Emperors
Revolutionary
(Challenging) Class:
Aristocracy
....class struggle between
these groups led to.....
II. FEUDALISM STAGE:
Dominant Class:
Aristocracy
Revolutionary
(Challenging) Class:
Middle Class (Bourgeoisie)
....class struggle between
these groups led to.....
III. CAPITALISM STAGE:
Dominant Class:
Middle Class (Bourgeoisie)
Revolutionary
(Challenging) Class:
Urban Working Class (Proletariat)
....class struggle between
these groups *would lead* to.....
IV. COMMUNISM STAGE:
No classes - all share in
wealth/power (since no one is below the proletariat)
Marx
predicted that the revolution in a capitalist society which would lead
to a communist society, would be carried out by a small group of politically
aware and class conscious workers called the "Dictatorship of the
Proletariat". This group would take control of the state and use the
state's power to redraw society. Economic power would change dramatically; private
property would be abolished and control of wealth put in the hands of all of
the working, lower class (through state control and ownership). In the
countryside, peasants would decide economic direction and share in the profits.
In addition to creating
total equality in the economy, Marx advocated the need for parallel revolutionary
changes in social and political affairs. Marx felt that the culture of any
society was merely a reflection of the dominance and agenda of the ruling
class. Thus, the revolutionary leadership must not only change economic
conditions but also transform the existing culture. Marx indicated that as part
of a Communist revolution, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat must:
Thus, the
revolution was to be total - economic, cultural, intellectual and
social.
In terms of political
change, Marx made an even more radical (and unrealized!) prediction. After the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat used the power of the state to eliminate
private property, stomp out elite resistance, reeducate people to think
cooperatively and create a whole communal order, the end result would be total
equality - radical socialism. His was a radical vision of how a
socialist society would be achieved. He predicted that once this equal society
was securely achieved, there would be no more need for a strong state (since
states were created to preserve the dominance of the ruling class); Marx
predicted the Dictatorship would simply fade or "wither" away,
leaving decisions to be made by cooperation and consensus. In Marxist understanding,
if there was no class oppressing another class, there was no real need for a
state. With the withering away of the state, the society would have reached the
stage of communism.
In fact at this stage,
according to Marxist theory, history would "end" in the sense that no
more transformations would occur. Once there was no "lower class" and
everyone was equal, that would be the final stage in human societal evolution
since there would no longer be class struggle to push the society into a new
phase.
(see commentary
and summary of the Communist Manifesto)
These were the ideals as
presented in the Communist Manifesto and other writings by Marx and
Engels. Recognize, Marx was not specific about how the Dictatorship of
the Proletariat would specifically achieve all of these changes in economy and
cultural values. Marx also did not specify when this workers'
revolution would take place, or where.
Marxism as it was proposed
in the mid-19th century was vague and general about details, thus leaving
much to interpretation. Later thinkers such as Vladimir Lenin,
Stalin and Mao Zedong therefore took many of the ideas of Marx, and interpreted
and reinterpreted them to apply to their own societies and to reflect their
specific goals. In fact, the two greatest revolutions carried out in the name
of Marxism (the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Chinese Communist
revolutionary take over in 1949) did not even follow Marx's fundamental
prediction; they occurred in peasant societies (not industrialized societies)
and ended with results that in many respects were substantially different from
those envisioned in The Communist Manifesto!
Recognize, the emergence of
Marxism in the mid-1800's represented the more militant face of socialist
goals. The threat (or promise) of violent worker-based revolution especially
those inspired by Marx's ideas after 1848 presented a serious challenge to leaders
in Europe, and was a visible presence in other parts of the world by the end of
the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
Marxism ultimately did
produce an actual revolution in the streets - the Russian Revolution in
1917. When we discuss the Russian Revolution in later lectures, remember
these key ideas of Marxist ideology. Lenin and the Bolsheviks will seize
power in
The anger and the sense of
social and economic injustice that gave birth to this radical ideology was born
out of the trauma and unresolved crises of the Industrial Revolution. Marxism
is a product of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Like
other effects of this Age of Revolution, this ideology was initially a European
phenomenon, but ultimately became a global force.
And we are still not
yet finished discussing the effects of the Industrial Revolution! In the
next chapter, we deal with the global reach of industrial powers and a new wave
of colonial expansion.
INTERESTING LINKS
HOW THE OTHER
HALF LIVES: TENEMENTS IN 19TH CENTURY
SOCIALISM:
INTERNET SOURCES
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