Aside from Fascism and Liberalism, Marxism
is one of the most complex and diverse ideological
families which has spread across the globe.
There are two very common misconceptions out
there about the topic, so before getting started,
let me adress these right off the bet.
One of them states that „Marxists and Fascists
are the same and aside from the symbols they
are using, there is no real difference between
the two”.
There are many people - and I keep hearing
this even in my circles - who are claiming
that „Marxism and Fascism are of the same
cloth, that they are the two sides of the
same coin and so on and so forth”.
My answer to that is a clear NO – that’s
not the case.
I will expand on that in a later video.
The other widespread misconception equates
Marxism with Socialism.
That’s also wrong.
Socialism includes a variety of ideologies
such as Owenism, Saint-Simonism, and Communism
to name a few.
Those interested in social questions never
constituted a monolithic bloc, so their more
radical groups felt the need to differentiate
themselves from the rest and to find a name
which wouldn’t leave any doubts about their
intentions of establishing a new society.
Today we know them as Communists.
The topic of social problems - being as old
as human society itself - has long been intertwined
with religion, which resulted in several Socialist
movements rejecting Marxism on the same basis,
while others attempted to synthetize it with
their religious tenets.
Who was Marx?
Karl Marx was a nineteenth century German
philosopher, economist and sociologist;
the most important ideologue of the labour movement;
the namesake of Marxism
and the father of modern sociology.
He was born in a Jewish family, but his parents
converted to Lutheranism because of the anti-semitic
atmosphere of the era.
In his younger years, Marx was a revolutionary
Democrat, but studying the work of
utopian Socialist authors changed his views.
He later stated that it was during the period
he worked as a journalist when he realized
the misery of the working class.
His often visits at 'Communist' debate clubs
further influenced him, but the greatest impact
on his thinking was probably the general strike
of the British Chartist movement in 1842
which turned his attention towards the labour movement.
So as we can see, even though he brought a
revolutionary change to these fields,
both Socialism and the labour movement predates
Marxism.
Where does Marxism originate from?
Marxism, which as a term appeared 30 years
after the Communist Manifesto, combines several
reworked variants of Socialism with utopian
Communism,
while also incorporating a lot of new ideas specific to Marx and Engels,
one of the most important being dialectical  Materialism.
Let's go back in time here for a moment: in
the late 1700s the French Enlightenment
gave birth to a myriad of radically new ideas,
all wanting to put an end to the absolute monarchy.
It is probably even accurate to say that the
French Revolution is the forefather of every
later ideological revolution.
Since the French national state was a result
of this revolution, it became an integral
part of the nation's identity, which likely
explains the revolutionary attitude of the
French as well as why we find the first Marxists
among them instead of among Germans or Englishmen.
Needless to say, Marx did not take this to
his liking, mainly because these romantic
youngsters were way too vague in their interpretation
of his ideology.
A lot of people attribute a quote to Marx
that „If they are Marxists, I’m most certainly not.”
It is said he was making fun of the early
French Marxists by that, but whether he actually
said it or not, the meaning stands: merely
calling oneself a Marxist won't make him one.
The main fields of Marxism.
There are three main fields of Marxism: Marxist
philosophy, Marxist politics and Marxist economy.
Marx constructed his philosophy with the help
of Friedrich Engels and published its fundamentals
in the Communist Manifesto as the programme
of the Communist League.
The fact that this happened in 1848 begs the
question: did the Communist Manifesto influence
the Nationalist revolutions of '48?
Usually they say it didn't, since back then
Communism wasn't all that relevant,
certainly not on an international level.
Others however point out that even though
Marx didn't have a direct impact on the events,
he was praising the revolutions and expressed
his support towards their endeavors.
The first significant Marxist activity was
carried out in France in 1871.
In a nutshell, a group consisting of Marxists,
Blanquists, Proudhonists, Communists and far-Left
Republicans took power in Paris from the 18th
of March to the 28th of May, before they were
defeated by the French monarchists and the
Prussian army.
The Paris Commune became known as the first
dictatorship of the proletariat in history.
Marx explained his economic theory in his
classic work titled 'Capital', published in 1867.
This is basically an enormous study on political
economics as well as a criticism
and rejection of the Capitalist system.
Marx argued that since it's only goal is profit
for profit's sake, Capitalism exploits the
employee instead of helping him come to better
terms with his employer, which ultimately
leads to alienation from work.
He also explained how money, originally a
medium of exchange turned from a symbol of
value to some kind of fake value in social
interaction.
Materialism and Idealism.
The entire history of philosophy from early
antiquity to postmodernity can be seen as
a story of a battle between Idealism and Materialism.
The evident effects of this struggle proves
how directly philosophy influences
people's everyday life.
We could say Materialism and Idealism are
like two opposing parties in philosophy.
Idealism can be divided in two main groups:
objective and subjective Idealism.
Objective Idealism states that the basis and
or essence of reality is an either personal
or impersonal world spirit, an absolute principle
beyond nature.
Subjective Idealism has the individual mind
in its focus, and denies the existence of
a reality independent from the experiencer's
consciousness: it questions the truth of the
contents of the mind in favor of the mind
itself.
Materialism, the philosophy to which Marxism
and related schools belong to declares the
physical, natural and social objective existence
as the foundation of reality, and considers
consciousness and ideas as processes originated
from, and determined by these factors.
Naturally, there are numerous different types
of Materialism as well, such as antique, medieval,
modern, dialectical, historical, and so on.
Marxist criticism of religion.
The two most cited works of Marx on religious
questions are the ones titled
'Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right' and 'On the Jewish Question'.
Contrary to common belief, Marx didn't actively
seek to abolish religions.
In our time of out-of-context, one line quotes,
most people tend to misinterpret the expression of
„religion is the opium of the people”.
I will return to that later.
Marx and most of his circle were Atheists,
and even the formerly religious philosopher,
the Anarchist Bakunin had become one because
of his influence.
Aside by this fact and his criticism of religion,
Marx wasn't characterized by antagonism toward religion.
He stressed the importance of the separation
of church and state, but deemed individual
spirituality irrelevant.
A couple of quotes by Marx:
„We know that violent measures against religion are nonsense.”
„Religious suffering is, at one and the
same time, the expression of real suffering
and protest against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,
the heart of a heartless world, and the soul
of soulless conditions.
It is the opium of the people.”
As we can see, Marx didn't use his famous
phrase in a provocative way, rather he saw
religion as an effective spiritual painkiller,
a tool in the hands of desperate people who
wanted to escape the hardships of reality.
There is another widespread topic when it
comes to Marx and his stance on religion:
the accusation of anti-Semitism.
As we already mentioned, Marx had Jewish ancestry
even though his parents later converted to Christianity.
In his younger years, Marx wasn't aware of
his origins, and since he wasn't religious
either, he didn't even care about it.
With that said, a good number of researchers
found parts in his writings which can be interpreted
as being anti-Semitic.
Let me quote one of Marx's articles titled
'The Russian Loan'; from 1856:
„We find every tyrant backed by a Jew, as
is every Pope by a Jesuit.
In truth, the cravings of oppressors would
be hopeless, and the practicability of war
out of the question, if there were not an
army of Jesuits to smother thought and a handful
of Jews to ransack pockets.”
And another quote from his essay called 'On
the Jewish Question'; from 1843:
„What is the secular basis of Judaism?
Practical need, self-interest.
What is the worldly religion of the Jew?
Huckstering.
What is his worldly God?
Money.
Very well then!
Emancipation from huckstering and money,
consequently from practical, real Judaism,
would be the self-emancipation of our time.
(...) In the final analysis, the emancipation
of the Jews
is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.”
Some claim that's outright anti-Semitism,
others say that Marx wasn't opposing the Jewish people,
or even Judaism itself, but what he
called a 'worldly religion', or 'practical Judaism',
a certain mindset or mentality which
he associated with Western civilization,
the bourgeoisie and Capitalism.
As a counter argument against the anti-Semitism
of Marx, it is important to mention the works
of Israeli professor Shlomo Avineri, who stated
a numerous times how Marx's empathy towards
working class Jews clearly refutes the claims
of anti-Semitism.
Marxism-based ideologies.
Ideologies based on Marxism are Marxist even
if in denial, since they struggle to achieve
the Communist society of the Marxist idea.
We can say that while not every Communist
is a Marxist, every Marxist is a Communist.
The main goals of Marxism and ideologies based on it:
– Transcending Capitalism.
– Protection of the proletariat.
– Abolishment of the monetary system.
– Abolishment of class differences.
– Unifying individual and collective interests.
– Establishing a society without a state and
classes.
– Abolishment of social inequalities.
The first ideology of this kind was Babeufism,
but Marxism left the greatest impact on human history,
as it organized the former revolutionary
Communistic ideas into a solid ideological
system and with that, it became the first
modern counter-culture.
It was the ideas of Marx which has set the
standard for Communist thought,
and according to which radical Leftist ideologies evolve
to this day.
Marxism served as a basis for Leninism, Stalinism,
Trotskyism, Maoism
and other Asian Communist ideologies,
and different forms of 'Reform Communism'
 from which several rejects the Marxist label.
'Reform Communism' is not a widely used term,
but around these parts that's how they referred
to ideologies which were trying to find new
ways to implement Communism by straying away
from the mainstream of the Marxist doctrine.
’Reform Communism’ thus is an interesting
topic, as it is an already modified version
of the Marxist-based Communism, and as such
it doesn't necessarily forbids Capitalist
methods either.
For example, China or Vietnam aren't classical
Marxist states, but reform Communist ones,
which at one or more points come in conflict
with pure Marxist ideology.
I will expand on Maoism, Titoism, Polpotism,
Jucheism and some others in another video
having Communism as its main topic.
Summary.
It is no doubt that Marx's philosophy changed
the course of world history, and Marxism is
still one of the most influencial ideologies
on the fields of philosophy, politics and
economy with countless offshoots and variants
of itself.
Marx was convinced about that he foresaw the
already determined destiny of humanity,
with Communism being the culmination of social progress.
He believed that with the passing of time
and the advance of economy, Communism will
be the only logical outcome of history.
The Russian philosopher, Aleksandr Dugin stated
that history proved this theory wrong, as
Communism was but a possible transitional
phase between traditional Feudal
and modern Capitalist societies.
According to him, that's the reason why Communism
never succeeded in the West, only in the premodern
Eurasian and African societies, where the
transition from Feudalism to Capitalism wasn't
halted but completed by a brief Communist
period; and that is why Communist societies
become Capitalist ones with no examples of
the opposite transpiring.
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