Discussing Bresslers definition of Marxism as a literary theory
Marxism is not the hot topic it once was. With the collapse of Communist U.S.S.R., mainstream North America had thought it had seen the last of Marxism and the communist party. However, with the People's Republic of China becoming a reality, those early beliefs may have proven to be premature.
Defining Marxism is not difficult. Marxism is the belief that the common workingman (the proletariat) is under a rule of tyranny by the upper class owners (the bourgeois.) Someday (according to Marx) the proletariats will rise up, overthrow the bourgeois and create a society of communism. Communism is the political idea in where a society would be controlled mostly by the government. Personal property would not be allowed and therefore eliminate the bourgeois; a utopian society in which every man works for the common good.
Marxists believe that (based on the works of Karl H. Marx) everything we do or think is influenced by the bourgeois. This is simple. Marxism becomes difficult when defining it as a literary theory. The original intentions of Marx were those of social and political revolution. Many of Marx's followers however, were and are scholars. Therefore the transition from a social economic theory to a school of literary criticism was inevitable. Charles Bressler is faced with this seeming difficult task of defining Marxism as a literary school of thought.
Bressler attempts to define and explain Marxism as a school of literary thought by examining past Marxists, the assumptions which one must adopt and the methodology (as he does with every chapter.) He succeeds in some places and fails in others. Bressler's definition of Marxism is as follows, "[the belief] that reality itself can be can be defined and understood, society shapes our consciousness, social and economic conditions directly influence how and what we believe and value, and Marxism details a plan for changing the world from a place of bigotry, hatred and conflict due to class struggle to a classless society where wealth, opportunity, and education are accessible for all people". Bressler does a decent job here. He defines Marxism as it was originally intended: an economic and social view of culture and its influences. He provides a clear, simple definition of Marxism which is easily understandable.
After this however, Bressler's chapter begins to fall apart. He succeeds in giving a brief description of Marxist events and theorists, but fails in his assumptions and methodology.
Marx’s ideals of communism were drawn from the realization that the cycle of revolutions caused by the class struggles throughout history lead society nowhere. Society as a whole was more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes that were directly facing each other—bourgeoisie and proletariat. According to Marx, in order for society to further itself a mass proletarian revolution would have to occur. The bourgeois, who were the employers and owners of the means of production, composed the majority of the modern capitalists. It was these individuals that controlled the capitalist society by exploiting the labor provided by the proletariats. For example, the bourgeoisie make property into a right because they are the ones with the property. However, without their power force of labor behind them, the bourgeoisie class would crumple. To accomplish a revolution, the workers (proletariats) would need to rise up against the bourgeoisie and take back the factors of production. Marx believed that after the inevitable revolution of the proletariats against the oppressive force of the bourgeoisie, a communistic form of government would take hold.
Marxism is an economic and social system developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the mid-1800s (What is Marxism). A Marxist literary criticism deals with class consciousness and ideology.
Marxism is a method of analysis based around the concepts developed by the two German philosophers Karl Marx and Fredrich Engel, centered around the complexities of social-relations and a class-based society. Together, they collaborated their theories to produce such works as The German Ideology (1846) and The Communist Manifesto (1848), and developed the terms ‘’proletariat’ and ’bourgeois’ to describe the working-class and the wealthy, segmenting the difference between their respective social classes. As a result of the apparent differences, Marxism states that proletariats and bourgeoisie are in constant class struggle, working against each other to amount in a gain for themselves.
The ideology of Marxism, established by German philosopher Karl Marx, is a collectively known set of assumptions of a political ideology, which focuses especially on analysis of materialist interpretation of historical development, or on class struggle within the society. The primarily approach of Marxism, nonetheless, was the critique of capitalism. The strength of his inquiry lies in belief of inevitable shift from capitalism and he aims to advocate the new form of ideology and economy, the socialism. The title of this essay is provocative as in today´s world, there exist many proponents who claim, the core of Marx conception of ideology is still relevant in the 21st globalised world. However, Marxism is relevant to the extent to which is it important to examine every political and economic conception, moreover if we are able to perceive its outcomes after the concepts has been practically applied. This paper is intended to assess key ideas of Marxism with observations of positives and negatives it brought and the reasons why the concepts failed.
Marxism is a form of socialism along with Communism and Neo Marxism. Socialism is an economic model, often linked to collectivisation
While literary critics do attempt to elaborate or develop ideas articulated by Karl Marx, it is important and necessary to make a distinction between Marx's specific socio-economic and political agenda and the body of literary theory which emerged years later. Marxist literary criticism proceeds from the fundamental philosophical assumption that "consciousness can never be anything else than conscious existence...Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life" (Marx 568-9). Marxist critics use this challenge to the notion of an innate, prefigured, individual human nature to reexamine the nature of creative or literary authority.
Marxism is a theory of revolution and a rudimentary account of how societies deal with and go through change that is inevitable. Its roots can be traced back
Marxism accepts a virtually axiomatic dialectical materialism, the labor theory of value and the economic determination of all human actions and institutions. It is characterized by a belief in the class struggle as a fundamental force in history.
Marxism was created by Karl Marx and Federick Engels; they both sought out a better future for the working class. Marx, who was born in Germany in 1818 and died in London in 1883, lived in a world where he disagreed with capitalism whole heartedly. Frederick Engels was also born in Germany in 1820 and died in London in 1895. With this, they created their own philosophical and economic thought which was called Marxism. The problem with Marx was that he was always ready to change his mind about certain theories or ideas which he created. This is why it is very difficult to understand how Marxism works. Also Marxism is usually stereotyped with mainstream communism, which is why people seem to brush it off and just see it as some radical oppression machine. In Lenin’s words “the three main sources of Marxism are: British political economy, French Socialism, and German Idealist Philosophy”.
Marxism focuses on a conflicting view that emphasizes social differences and conflicting interests and values of different groups in society.
Marxism is a philosophy coined by Karl Marx with the help of Friedrich Engles in the early nineteenth century. Marx’s writings inspired many progressive thinkers throughout the European continent and the United States. The Marxist doctrine stated that first a bourgeoisie revolution, which will ignite a capitalist fire. The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism” With industry and capitalism growing a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism:
The concept of Marxism is a popular one which is still being implemented in modern times, a prime example being within literature. When observing and analysing a text from a Marxist literary viewpoint, one must interpret the text as the author commenting on their society, culture and the political issues that were prevalent at the time; thus the background of the author must be researched. Marxism focuses more on the ideological and sociological aspects of the text as opposed to a psychological viewpoint of each character within the text. Marxist critics also reflect on texts in different ways, believing that literature is created as a product of ideology and not the desires of the authors/playwrights themselves. In the three texts King Lear, The Bloody Chamber and 1984, the concept of socio-economic struggles is more prevalent than ever with many analysing the texts from a Marxist literary viewpoint.
In this essay I am going to examine the Marxist view that the role of
He is known worldwide for his numerous theories and ideas in regards to society, economics and politics. His outlook on these subjects is known as Marxism. Marxism focuses on the imbalance and struggle between classes and society. Marx’s theories stem from the concept of materialism based society and the implications thereof. These concepts leads to the Marxist theory of the failure of capitalism. Marx had a number of specific reasons for the downfall of capitalism yet capitalism remains very real and successful. Marxism covers a wide range of topics and theories, but an in depth analysis of his criticism to capitalism and how it is not relevant to modern day will be explored.
Karl Marx was a philosopher, a sociologist, economist, and a journalist. His work in economics laid a foundation for the modern understanding of distribution of labor, and its relation to wealth generation. His theories about the society, economic structure and politics, which is known as Marxism led to him developing social classes. He later on showed how social classes were determined by an individual’s position in relation to the production process, and how they determine his or her political views. According to Karl Marx, capitalism was a result of the industrial revolution. Capitalism is a system that has been founded on the production of commodities for the purpose of sale. Marx defined the