Inspired by the works of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin nonetheless drew his ideology from many other great 19th century philosophers. However, Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” was immensely important to the success of Russia under Leninist rule as it started a new era in history. Viewed as taboo in a capitalist society, Karl Marx started a movement that would permanently change the history of the entire world. Also, around this time, the Populist promoted a doctrine of social and economic equality, although weak in its ideology and method, overall. Lenin was also inspired by the anarchists who sought revolution as an ultimate means to the end of old regimes, in the hope of a new, better society. To his core, a revolutionary, V.I. Lenin was driven to evoke the class struggle that would ultimately transform Russia into a Socialist powerhouse. Through following primarily in the footsteps of Karl Marx, Lenin was to a lesser extent inspired by the Populists, the Anarchists, and the Social Democrats. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...nt the works of Marx. The result became a system where emotion triumphed over practicality, and the central message was blurred by the overthrow of the old regime. Thus, Lenin followed Marx in the general ideas of socialism, where everyone was equal under the law, and worked for each other and the common good. While Lenin’s system did manage to create a proletariat class, it also evoked the formation of the corrupt and power hungry Bolshevik Party. With regard to the Populists and Anarchists, Lenin was transformed into a revolutionary who would not stop at anything in the pursuit of Communism. Furthermore, Lenin followed to a lesser extent the Social Democrats and their views on the threat of the peasantry if they were not properly maintained. It is clearly evident that in following other philosophies, Lenin mutated Communism into a form unrecognizable to true Marxism
Karl Marx 's writing of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in 1848 has been documented by a vast number of academics as one of the most influential pieces of political texts written in the modern era. Its ideologically driven ideas formed the solid foundation of the Communist movement throughout the 20th century, offering a greater alternative for those who were rapidly becoming disillusioned and frustrated with the growing wealth and social divisions created by capitalism. A feeling not just felt in by a couple of individuals in one society, but a feeling that was spreading throughout various societies worldwide. As Toma highlights in his work, Marx felt that ‘capitalism would produce a crisis-ridden, polarized society destined to be taken over by
...se to power and implemented War Communism. Communism on its own is a salacious subject. It is the manner in which he won victory in comparison to Tsar Nicholas II who was repeatedly defeated and yet with both rulers the people of Russia still suffered, this is what drew my attention. However Lenin is humble enough to realise the problem and corrects it with the New Economic Policy, this shows good leadership indeed. I chose this topic to explore the thoughts that possibly went through Lenin’s mind, why there was a need to adjust from War Communism to the New Economic Policy and whether this change beneficial to Russia. I aim to show the conditions of Russia during both policies, and highlight what the people and the government wanted in comparison to what was needed. I shall also discuss why War Communism failed and why the New Economic Policy was more successful.
The Bolshevik Party’s power was based on the support of the Russian proletariat. Its ideology was based on Marx’s theory of the stage development of modern society- from feudalism to capitalism to socialism and finally to capitalism. The Bolsheviks believed that all power should belong with the Soviets. Soviets were made up of workers and peasants organizations whose party membership ( members were diverse from Independents to Mensheviks to Socialist Revolutionaries to Bolsheviks) was less important than the fact that they were the body that represented the proletariat and the peasantry’s needs in the USSR. They were elected by their co-workers in order to best politically represent the community and its needs. This was to create a clear power hierarchy that was based on the Marxist theory of the worker government.
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.
Marx’s ideas of communism grew from a time of turmoil and change such as had not been experienced previously in the world. The industrial revolution saw mass produced low quality work and a disconnection from both life and the natural beauty in the world. There were numerous responses to the societal upheaval, from the realist painters who unapologetically painted the harsh realties of the time, to Ruskin and Morris who worried people were becoming machine like themselves and pushed for a return to the traditional trades and held a nostalgic desire for the past, to Karl Marx who looked for a better society as a whole. The main ideas of communism, that everyone should share equally in labor and the fruits of the labor, as well as share in the decisions, were of a different world than that of the industrialized world of the 18th century.
Lenin was an incredible historical figure. He founded a powerful communist faction, the Bolsheviks, the party that caused the October Revolution of 1917. Under his rule, the world’s first socialist state was proclaimed. This state, the core of what eventually became the USSR, survived against all odds. Lenin and the communist leadership pulled Russia out of the First World War and overcame its first civil war. By setting up the Communist International, Lenin imprinted himself upon politics in the entire continent for eternity. The USSR became a beacon to socialists and a threat to conservatives and liberals. Lenin interpreted the doctrines of Marx and Engels, and his writing became a sacred text for communists everywhere. Thus, at his death, it was dubbed Marxism – Leninism. After the Second World War, the communist model (the one-party state, the monopolization of ideology, the elimination of rival authority, and ruling by fear) was adopted by Eastern Europe, China, South eastern Asia, and eventually parts of Africa and the Caribbean. Communism was overruled in Europe in 1989 and in the USSR in 1991. However, no one had a greater impact on the development of communism than Vladimir Lenin.
was the cause for the split in the Social Democratic party into the Bolsheviks (followers of Lenin) and the Mensheviks. The major dispute that Lenin’s pamphlet brought about was a dispute in basic Marxist theory. Marx said that in order for Communism to come into realization, the world had to go through a full Capitalistic phase where industrialization would grow and the Proletariat would form. Russia was still a feudal society, so it would have been fifty years at least before a Communist Revolution was even possible. The Mensheviks believed the Social Democrats would need to wait until Russia went through its Capitalist phase, Lenin and the Bolsheviks did not wish to wait and instead proposed immediate action and the overthrow of Tsarism. As Lenin put it, “The greater the spontaneous upsurge of the masses and the more widespread the movement, the more rapid, incomparably so, the demand for greater consciousness in the theoretical, political, and organizational work of Social Democracy” (Lenin 53). He wanted an active and proactive Social Democrat party and in the end, he succeeded and became dictator of a Bolshevik government (Hosking 395-396). One of Lenin’s key ideals was that a “Dictatorship of the Party” was necessary in the interim while the Proletariat was forming and strengthening itself in order to take power as the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”. He claims that, “Social Democracy represents the working class…in
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party Karl Marx created a radical theory revolving not around the man made institution of government itself, but around the ever present guiding vice of man that is materialism and the economic classes that stemmed from it. By unfolding the relat...
Two years later Karl and Friedrich received a request to write “The Communist Manifesto” from the Communist League in London. “In it, the two philosophers depicted all of history as a series of class struggles (historical materialism), and predicted that the upcoming proletarian revolution would sweep aside the capitalist system for good, making the workingmen the new ruling class of the world,” (“Karl Marx”). This book would cause social uprising across Europe. Now being kicked out of Belgium, Karl moved to London where he struggled to make a livable wage. He would eventually write “Das Kapital” his most famous work in economic theory. “In it he expressed a desire to reveal “the economic law of motion of modern society” and laid out his theory of capitalism as a dynamic system that contained the seeds of its own self-destruction and subsequent triumph of communism,” (“Karl Marx”). However, Karl’s ideas were stopped by the powerful governments of his time. He died in 1883 with little change on the world. But he did leave a seed, a seed that would grow and eventually sprout. This came in 1917 with the Russian Revolution. The revolution was based off of Karl’s ideas of society.”The revolution’s leader, Vladimir Lenin, built his new proletarian government based on his interpretation of Marxist thought, turning Karl Marx into an internationally famous figure more than 30 years after his
As the ideas of Karl Marx swept through Europe in the late 1800s, they found their way into Russia. Russia at the time was ruled by an anti-democratic Tsar who refused to share power, believing his power to control Russia came directly from God. “This made Russia a magnet for political radicalism and revolutionary ideas” (Alpha History, 2018). In 1898 a newly group formed called the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (SDs) whom embraced the Marxist theory. Few years later the group split into two parties called the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Soon after the split the leader of the Bolsheviks was named as Vladimir Lenin a young lawyer who wanted a small but disciplined group of “professional revolutionaries” (Alpha History, 2018). The
Wherever one stands on the ideological scale, it is hard to refute the influence Karl Marx, and his subsequent theories and doctrines, have had on the world at large. Some, like Vladimir Lenin, took Marx’s ideals and turned it into a political party and system of government, while others, like Mao Zedong, have simply used it as a basic foundation to further their own ideological and political ambitions. But in its truest essence, based on the writings and subsequent comments made by Marx and others, Marxism is a view of the world, offering both resources to scholars and laymen alike. To further understand Marxism Paul Blackledge states that “it would be a mistake to equate Marxism with the Soviet System”, with the later being a strictly separate entity from the theories originated from Marx. With regards to Marxist Historiography, it has been said by Benedetto Croce, that the “doctrine of [Marx] … has revivified and influenced almost all modern historical research”.
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.
The writings of Karl Marx spell out the philosophic foundations of his radicalism. Marx’s philosophy is complicated and detailed. However, the central theme to Marx’s theories was his view that economic forces were increasingly oppressing human beings and his belief that political action and change were necessary. Marx’s thinking is a reaction to the industrial society of the mid ninete...
The Manifesto of the Communist Party is a call to political action by the working class. German philosopher Karl Marx (May 5, 1818-March 14,1883) advocates a revolution of the working class, which involves a turn to communism in order for the working class to gain their financial and political freedom from the hands of the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx, in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, criticizes capitalism and places a deeper focus on class struggle. He offers suggestions that the working class should make in rebellion against the bourgeoisie class. In order for the proletariats to gain their financial freedom, Karl Marx asserts that the workers of the world must adopt a society of communism.
Workers of the World Unite: You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Chains. Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx had very strong viewpoints in regards to capitalism, making him a great candidate for this assignment. People constantly debate over whether his ideology holds any grain of truth to them. I believe that although not everything Marx predicted in his writings has come true (yet), he was definitely right on a lot of issues.