SCUM Manifesto Historical Parallels
The 20th century was a very dynamic period of history, from rapid advancement in technology, to world changing wars, to social upheaval the world was scarcely recognizable in the year 2000 from what it was in 1900. Like many time periods, the 20th century can be analyzed from a historical perspective as well as through its contemporary literature. Literature which is controversial is particularly exemplary of the discord in the 20th century. One such example is Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 1967. The overall political statement of the manifesto is representative of the various social movements of the 20th century, specifically socialism/communism and feminism. Its discourse on war is immensely influenced
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The SCUM Manifesto has roots in both feminism and communism. Solanas’s manifesto is more tied to misandry than true feminism, but she does have the same end goal of creating a better society for women, or at least the “groovy” and “free-wheeling” ones (Solanas, 13-16). In Solanas’s idea of society capitalism would be nonexistent. Solanas never explicitly says capitalism herself, instead she calls it “the money-work system”; she says, “what will liberate women, therefore, from male control is the total elimination of the money-work system (Solanas, 3).” It’s possible that Solanas consciously chose to avoid using the word capitalism because she did not want her ideas to be labeled as communistic. Public opinion of communism in the U.S. was very low in the 1960s when Solanas was writing. Her ideas have similarities and differences to Communist doctrine. A key component of communism is the belief that “productive resources should be owned by the people as a whole, and that the working classes...[share] ownership (White, 1).” Solanas is in agreement with the principle of communism that believes employers paying people to work for them instead of producing things themselves is exploitive. However, …show more content…
Solanas wrote in her section of the manifesto on war that men wage war in order to prove their manliness so as to compensate for not being women (Solanas, 2). It makes sense for Solanas to blame men for war considering that until the 20th century women were not even officially allowed to enter the military. Women’s role defending the country increased dramatically in the 20th century. World War II had a huge impact on gender roles for the United Sates. During WWII a significant portion of the labor force had to leave the country to fight in the war (Timeline, 1). This left a lot of jobs that needed to be filled and many of them were filled by women. Women developed a more important role in society during WWII. Although WWII isn’t directly referenced in the manifesto it is important to mention because it gave women in the U.S. a larger voice, which Solanas takes full advantage of. Another war that influenced the SCUM Manifesto is the Vietnam War. Unlike many previous wars which inspired nationalism, many Americans opposed the war because there was no direct threat to America and the violence was much more well documented than previous wars. Solanas’s stance on war and killing reflects opinion of many 20th century
The book we read in class was called Anthem by Ayn Rand. This book is about a society that is corrupt in many ways. A couple of ways it’s corrupt is because there is no individualism and they are a very slowly moving society. It took them a long time just to make candles, nowadays candles are made very fast and simple. The government has made it so that the progress of technology is slow and not progressing. None of the people in the town have an actual name, they are known as robots or as a group. Like one of the main characters name is Equality 7-2521. Equality is a street sweeper in this society and is not like any of the other people. He is smart, strong, self-centered and curious. Another character that Equality falls in love with is Liberty 5-3000. She is a peasant that gives Equality water when they are not supposed to talk to each other. Equality’s best friend and only friend is International 4-8818. He helped Equality find the tunnel and kept it a secret from the rest of the society. Equality later names himself Prometheus and Liberty, The Golden One and later on at the house Gaea. Ayn Rand renames them Prometheus and Gaea because they are very much like these gods from Greek mythology. Later on, they run into the Forbidden Forest together to start a new life for them and for the future. They find a house with many books and Equality reads them to discover “I”. That is when Equality 7-2421 renames himself Prometheus and Liberty 5-3000, Gaea.
Before World War I, equality for woman and men were very unfair. Woman weren’t even legally “persons”; they weren’t allowed to join parliament or the senate because they weren’t legally “persons”, therefore these jobs were occupied by men only. During World War I and World War II, many men had left for war, thus meaning there were many job openings that needed to be occupied as soon as possible, women then began to take on stereotypical male jobs which men thought women couldn’t do or couldn’t do as well. Women showed their capabilities and realized they shouldn’t be considered less than men. In retaliation of not being considered “persons”, women decided to take action.
The time frame of this article is in 1946, a year after World War 2 has ended. Orwell takes the current situation into consideration when he appeals to his audience. Therefore, he addresses areas of politics in combination with recent events to try to persuade his audience while inducing a connection between the reader and his article. Orwell writes, “Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face…”. The reader makes a connection with the article because they can remember the previous experience of the topics in their time frame. However, Orwell uses pathos to finally convince the audience of his argument when he writes “Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, and the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets”. This technique is highly effective because readers automatically feel a sense of pity and sadness which in turn persuades the audience of the argument and convinces them to agree with Orwell’s
Regarding the autobiographical nature of Kira, the main character in We the Living, Ayn Rand said "The specific events of Kira's life were not mine; her ideas, her convictions, her values were and are." (xvii) So by examining Kira's views on different things one can conclude Rand most likely shares the same views. If one reads We the Living it is very evident what Rand's views of Communism are: she is out rightly opposed to it and its core values.
The end of 19th century, Western Society was changing physically, philosophically, economically, and politically. It was an influential and critical time in that the Industrial Revolution created a new class. Many contemporary observers realized the dramatic changes in society. Among these were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels who observed the conditions of the working man, or the proletariat, and saw a change in how goods and wealth were distributed. In their Communist Manifesto, they described their observations of the inequalities between the emerging wealthy middle class and the proletariat as well as the condition of the proletariat. They argued that the proletariat was at the mercy of the new emerging middle class, or bourgeoisie, and could only be rescued by Communism: a new economic form.
The Communist Manifesto responded to the situation and created a vision of an equal communist society. The Communist Manifesto was defined by the abolishment of the bourgeois sovereign rule that followed a revolution against capitalism to create communism. This is because it allowed for the emergence of the powerful Bourgeoise, "In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.” As Marx explained, the Bourgeois exploited the Proletariats through the means of the long hours the laborers had to endure to receive very low wages, which maximized Bourgeois profits.
The idea of a society where there is no freedom and the people have no rights, can be described through the warning foresights of a dystopia. In the novel, 1984, a country has lost all liberties to their government and war is commonly used as a political tool, as our government has done in the past. As our country continues down the path to becoming the dystopia described by George Orwell, it is seen that war is used as a political tool to help the government’s own agenda. By using wars to control the social views of the people, the products and wealth of the country, and the opinions of politicians and government officials, the governments of the United States and the country of Oceania can promote their own ideologies on others.
Karl Marx is living in a world he is not happy with, and seems to think that he has the perfect solution. I am a strong believer in his ideas. We are living in a time period with a huge class struggle. The Bourgroise exploits and the proletariat are being exploited. Marx did not like the way this society was and searched for a solution. Marx looked for “universal laws of human behavior that would explain and predict the future course of events" (36). He saw an unavoidable growth and change in society, coming not from the difference in opinions, but in the huge difference of opposing classes. He speaks of his ideal society and how he is going to bring about this utopia in his book The Communist Manifesto. I am going to share with you more on his ideas of this “world-wide revolution” (36) that would put an end to social classes and allow people to live with equal sharing which would result in a harmonious and much peaceful world.
Out of some of the most turbulent times in history have come the greatest ages of success and prosperity. The 1920’s and 1950’s are two eras that exemplify the spirit of triumph and wealth. In both decades, a nation thrilled by the victorious conclusion of war and the return of their loved ones from war entered into an age of capitalism and materialism, bolstering the economy and with it national pride. Some of features most common to the 20’s and 50’s were consumerism and the accompanying optimistic mindset, the extent to which new ideas entered society, and discrimination in terms of both sexism and racism.
Communist Manifesto has been taught in school by the teachers, historians, scientists, and politicians. It is written by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels late 1847 and first published 1848 and is one of the world’s most influential pieces of political literature that have made affects in the world and attempt to explain the goals of communism, the theory of the communist movements, and the ideals of societies. Freidrich Engels and Karl Marx exchanged letters and decide to meet Tuesday of November 24 and discussed the title of the book that they have been planning. This book is broken down to 4 parts; Bourgeois and Proletarians, Proletarians and Communists, Socialist and Communist Literature, and Position of the Communists in relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties. The publication of the book gave Marx the proper name of prominent sociologist and theorist of politics. The purpose of the Communist Manifesto is to outline “Communist league”. What this book show is the ideal of Communism work and what part of political act count as communism. If the communist revolution as outlined by Marx/Engels were to be successful, it would have changed the lives of many and the experience of people in the pre-revolutionary era would differ from their experiences in the post-revolutionary era with regards to society, politics, and the economy.
One argument in favour of women shows pictures of what men could be: A convict, lunatic, owner of white slaves, unfit for service and a drunkard. This portrayed men as being responsible, but they still could vote. Then it shows what women could achieve: Mayor, nurse, mother doctor or teacher or a factory hand, which showed them as responsible but they still couldn't the vote.1 Men's attitude towards women during the First World War was still negative. The ability of women to take on the roles of men meant that increasing numbers of men were vulnerable to conscription.2 The women were told that they couldn't vote because they weren't fighting for their country. They couldn't fight because they weren't allowed to.
The dystopian novel “1984” and the movie “V for Vendetta”, share a variety of differences and similarities. Both have a totalitarian government in which they have absolute power over politics, religion and human rights. Extensive speech, critical thinking, thoughtful writing, and voice of opinion has either been restricted or limited in 1984’s Oceania and V for Vendetta’s future London. The protagonists in both novels and films have “resisted” their government. However, the methods used to employ their “rebellion” are quite different.
Gloria Steinem, a renowned feminist activist and co-founder of the women’s rights publication Ms. Magazine, gives a commencement speech at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, on May 31, 1970. Steinem’s speech “Living The Revolution” is delivered to the graduating class of Vassar College, founded in 1865 as a liberal arts college for women and then became coeducational a year before the speech was delivered in 1969. The intent of this speech is to inform the listeners and to shed light on the fact that women are not treated equally to their white male counterparts, though society has been convinced otherwise and to argue that it is crucial for all minorities, and even white males, to be relieved of their “stereotypical” duties in order for balance to exist. Steinem executes her speech’s purpose by dividing it up into four parts to explain the four different “myths” put against women while using a few rhetorical strategies and logical, ethical, and emotional appeals.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto explores class struggles and their resulting revolutions. They first present their theory of class struggle by explaining that “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx 14), meaning that history is a repeated class struggle that only ends with a revolution. Marx and Engels’ message in The Communist Manifesto is that it is inevitable for class struggles to result in revolutions, ultimately these revolutions will result in society’s transition to communism.
The second section of The Communist Manifesto is the section in which Karl Marx attempts to offer rebuttals to popular criticisms of his theory of governance. These explanations are based upon the supposition that capitalists cannot make informed observations upon communism as they are unable to look past their capitalist upbringing and that capitalists only seek to exploit others. Though the logic behind these suppositions are flawed, Marx does make some valid points concerning the uprising of the proletariat.