In this essay I am going to discuss whether or not Marxism and Fascism are still relevant to today 's political life. Marxism is, (according to American Heritage dictionary of the English language) The political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which believes the idea of class struggle has an essential role in understanding society 's (allegedly) inevitable development from bourgeois oppression under capitalism to a socialist and completely classless society. Fascism according to the Oxford dictionary is, an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. Marxism is a form of socialism along with Communism and Neo Marxism. Socialism is an economic model, often linked to collectivisation
It supports a totalitarian single-party state. Unlike Marxism, Fascism does not believe that class conflict can bring about a change, instead fascism believes that class conflict can hurt the integrity of a country. Fascism emerged in Italy in the 20th century to stop the rapidly growing workers movement which was pushing up wages and threatening revolution. Led by Mussolini they were funded by various wealthy big businesses (the rich minority) in order to smash picket lines and attack left-wing
Some, such as Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and France, had large fascist movements. Others, such as Spain, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Finland, gained substantially fascist governments. Fascism had the largest effect on Italy and Germany. The death toll due to fascism in Germany was the highest, mostly due to the holocaust. Fascism tended to use racism to further its aims such as the Nazi 's who attempted to direct public anger at the problems caused by capitalism (unemployment, mass poverty etc.) onto a racial group in this case the Jewish, portraying them as money grabbing capitalists in order to undercut the widespread support for the communists, socialists and anarchists. Like many fascist groups today such as the national socialist movement they claimed to initiate a left-wing economic programme with good welfare and high wages, although the Nazi leadership had no intention of putting this propaganda into
In conclusion, Fascism was successful after WWI because the people no longer had their sense of nationalism, did not have a stable economy, and overall felt defeated. Someone came along in Germany and Italy and promised the downtrodden that they would no longer feel this way, and that their country would again prosper. The people were susceptible to this because of how low they felt. They found the leaders they desperately hoped for and never for a second challenged their motives.
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.
Fascism is one of the great political ideology in the 20th century. It is a kind of authoritarian government that, according to Wikipedia, “considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.” Two of the most successful and to be in the vanguard of fascism government is Italian fascism – led by Benito Mussolini, and Nazi Germany – led by Adolf Hitler. Fascism in Italy and Germany, though in many regards very similar - have the same political ideologies, still have many aspects to them that make them different from each other. Before analysing the similarities and differences between the fascism that emerged in Italy and Germany since the very first of 20th century, it is better to discover - what is fascism.
Firstly I will look at some of the effects of fascism, starting with one of the most devastating tragedies the world has witnessed, the holocaust. It is not known who first proposed the term holocaust, but we can draw assumptions as to why it was adopted. The Jewish community are likely to have adopted this name in order to distinguish it from what unfortunately, become the routine cases of war crimes and genocide. When we look at the figures of deaths in the holocaust, we do not even need to examine the way in which many of the victims died, to understand just how horrific the effects of fascism had been.
Fascism is defined as, “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.” Peter Hyland reports that throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, an economic depression was growing and becoming widespread throughout the world. People were losing faith in their democracies and in capitalism. Leaders who gained power supported powerful militarism, nationalism, and initiated the return of an authoritarian rule. J.R. Oppenheimer says that the rise of fascism and totalitarianism in Europe and Russia instigated a “critical step on the path to war.” In 1922, Benito Mussolini held leadership in Italy, promising a proficient and militaristic nationalistic state. During his control as prime minister, he gained a large group of followers, banned the disparagement of government, and used extreme violence against his enemies within the parliament.
Fascism, and discontent go hand in hand. After WWI Europe was devastated, the people had lost hope in the systems, neither the liberals, nor conservatives had been able to prevent the terrible disaster that was the war. Socialists were the closest one, however not happy with socialism either, a group of socialist joined and formed their own ideology. The difference between this new ideology, and other that had originated before, is that the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about fascism, is not what they stood for but what they hated most. Fascist hated socialism because of its internationality. They hated liberals because specifically because their ideology center in the individual strength of the human been, and in sharing when a variety of thoughts are in conflict, not imposing. They hated conservatives because they like to preserve the system, and for them change had to be very small, and slow, while fascist wanted radical change now.
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.
Fascism values human nature in a group for the benefit of the community. Fascism’s approach to politics is to organize a mass movement in a drive to seize state power. Fascism also uses this mass movement as a system of control using organized violence to stop opposition. When the power is in firm grip of the ruler, the government will be used to control the population and everything in it so the community will be benefited. The two most recognized names that go along with fascism are Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Adolf Hitler, which will be e...
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 primary approach of Marxism, nonetheless, was the critique of capitalism. The strength of his inquiry lies in his belief of the 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's conception of ideology is still relevant in the 21st globalised world. However, Marxism is relevant to the extent to which it is important to examine every political and economic conception, moreover if we are able to perceive its outcomes after the concepts have been practically applied.
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 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”.
Born from the revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe, Marxism sought to end the class struggles that were destroying the continent. The solution to the problems of all nations occurred to Marx to be Socialism, a branch that is presently known as Marxism. Under this seemingly “utopian” socioeconomic system, equality was granted to all citizens who were in essence a community of one. “. . . universal free education; arming of the people; a progressive income tax; limitations upon inheritance; state ownership of banks. . .”(Palmer 506). These rights of which constituted Marxism eventually went on to be incorporated in Leninism and modern-day socialism. At least in its beginning, the intent of Marxism and the Communist League were noble towards the goal o...
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:
As a matter of fact, his teachings can definitely be applied to today’s society. This paper will give a summary of Marx’s political philosophy. It will also discuss a contemporary issue: the current economic crisis— and how Marx believed racism played a crucial role in it. Finally, through the lens he has developed, I will explain how Marx would analyze this issue and how one can argue that it spurred the current movement known as Occupy Wall Street. Karl Marx was a German philosopher and political theorist.
Politics and many aspects of society today have been heavily influenced by political thinkers and scholars from ages before our time. Whether their ideas were implemented or avoided, society today has learned and grown from these influenced; there has been societal adaptions and changes with every success and failure. One important philosopher that is still widely talked about today is Karl Marx. His theories and ideas are still studies, discussed and utilized today. Some aspects of Marxism is relevant to modern day but there are still some major critiques to his opinions that prove there in inconsistencies with the relevance of Marxism. This is a result of his failure to predict how advanced and revolutionized society would be in modern day.