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[[File:Portraits of Marx and Engels handcolored.jpg|thumb|[[Karl Marx]] (right) and [[Friedrich Engels]] (left), the original [[Classics of Marxism|founders]] of Marxism.]] | [[File:Portraits of Marx and Engels handcolored.jpg|thumb|[[Karl Marx]] (right) and [[Friedrich Engels]] (left), the original [[Classics of Marxism|founders]] of Marxism.]] | ||
'''Marxism''' is a [[ | '''Marxism''' is a [[science|scientific]] framework for understanding human society, sociology, history, economics, and many other subjects. It was founded in the 19th century by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Frederick Engels]] after synthesizing and developing existing ideas such as [[French]] [[utopian socialism]], [[British]] [[political economy]], and [[German]] [[Dialectics|dialectical]] philosophy. Marxism includes [[dialectical materialism]] in its understanding of the natural world, and [[historical materialism]] for its understanding of society and history.<ref>Vladimir Lenin (1913). [https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/x01.htm ''The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism''.] Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.</ref> | ||
Marxism was developed in a time when the [[industrial revolution]] was in full force and [[class struggle]] between the [[proletariat]] and [[bourgeoisie]] in the emergent [[capitalism|capitalist]] system was beginning. Marxism has been continuously advanced in accord with changing circumstances, the most major leap being with the development of [[Marxism–Leninism]] in the early 20th in response to the rise of moribund, [[imperialism|imperialist capitalism]] and era of [[socialist revolution]]. | Marxism was developed in a time when the [[industrial revolution]] was in full force and [[class struggle]] between the [[proletariat]] and [[bourgeoisie]] in the emergent [[capitalism|capitalist]] system was beginning. Marxism has been continuously advanced in accord with changing circumstances, the most major leap being with the development of [[Marxism–Leninism]] in the early 20th in response to the rise of moribund, [[imperialism|imperialist capitalism]] and era of [[socialist revolution]]. | ||
==Theory== | |||
The basis of Marxism can be divided into three parts — dialectical and historical materialism, Marxist political economy, and scientific socialism. | |||
===Dialectical materialism=== | |||
{{Main|Dialectical materialism|Historical materialism}} | |||
Dialectical materialism is the world outlook of Marxism. It is dialectical in that its means of studying and understanding the world are premised on a dialectical outlook (i.e. understanding the relationship between things) and its interpretation of phenomena is materialist (i.e. understanding the material world, not human ideals, as being the source of truth and starting part of analysis). | |||
The application of dialectical materialism to the field of social science — economics, sociology, politics, etc. — is known as historical materialism. Historical materialism in particular provided Marxism with the analytical framework for understanding the [[Class struggle|class antagonisms]] and development of human society, both past and present.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1938). [[Library:Dialectical and Historical Materialism|''Dialectical and Historical Materialism'']].</ref> | |||
===Political economy=== | |||
{{Main|Marxist economics}} | |||
The Marxist school of political economy enumerates the basis of [[exploitation]], [[exchange]], and other concepts relevant a [[mode of production]]. Karl Marx formulated a critical discovery relating to the dependence on the extraction of [[surplus-value]] from the [[proletariat]] as the foundation of capitalist production in works such as ''[[Das Kapital]]''.<ref>Friedrich Engels (1878). [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ ''Anti-Dühring'']. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.<br><blockquote>''"These two great discoveries, the materialist conception of history and the revelation of the secret of capitalistic production through surplus-value, we owe to Marx. With these discoveries socialism became a science. The next thing was to work out all its details and relations."''</blockquote></ref> | |||
===Scientific socialism=== | |||
Marxism differs from all prior schools of socialism in that it is scientific in its outlook, not [[Utopian socialism|utopian]]. Unlike the utopian tendencies of socialism, Marxism understands the primary role of [[class struggle]] in modern [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] society and the necessity of a [[Socialism|transitional stage]] and [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|revolutionary state]] on the basis of its understanding of historical trends and material conditions.<ref>Frederich Engels (1880). [[Library:Socialism: Utopian and Scientific|''Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'']], Ch. I, "The Development of Utopian Socialism".<br><blockquote>The demand for equality was no longer limited to political rights; it was extended also to the social conditions of individuals. It was not simply class privileges that were to be abolished, but class distinctions themselves. A Communism, ascetic, denouncing all the pleasures of life, Spartan, was the first form of the new teaching. Then came the three great Utopians: Saint-Simon, to whom the middle-class movement, side by side with the proletarian, still had a certain significance; Fourier; and Owen, who in the country where capitalist production was most developed, and under the influence of the antagonisms begotten of this, worked out his proposals for the removal of class distinction systematically and in direct relation to French materialism.<br><br> | |||
One thing is common to all three. Not one of them appears as a representative of the interests of that proletariat which historical development had, in the meantime, produced. Like the French philosophers, they do not claim to emancipate a particular class to begin with, but all humanity at once. Like them, they wish to bring in the kingdom of reason and eternal justice, but this kingdom, as they see it, is as far as Heaven from Earth, from that of the French philosophers."</blockquote></ref> | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
* [[Marxism–Leninism]] | * [[Marxism–Leninism]] | ||
* [[Marxist economics]] | |||
* [[Classics of Marxism]] | * [[Classics of Marxism]] | ||
* [[Dialectical materialism]] | * [[Dialectical materialism]] | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Latest revision as of 03:34, 14 March 2025
Marxism is a scientific framework for understanding human society, sociology, history, economics, and many other subjects. It was founded in the 19th century by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels after synthesizing and developing existing ideas such as French utopian socialism, British political economy, and German dialectical philosophy. Marxism includes dialectical materialism in its understanding of the natural world, and historical materialism for its understanding of society and history.[1]
Marxism was developed in a time when the industrial revolution was in full force and class struggle between the proletariat and bourgeoisie in the emergent capitalist system was beginning. Marxism has been continuously advanced in accord with changing circumstances, the most major leap being with the development of Marxism–Leninism in the early 20th in response to the rise of moribund, imperialist capitalism and era of socialist revolution.
Theory
The basis of Marxism can be divided into three parts — dialectical and historical materialism, Marxist political economy, and scientific socialism.
Dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is the world outlook of Marxism. It is dialectical in that its means of studying and understanding the world are premised on a dialectical outlook (i.e. understanding the relationship between things) and its interpretation of phenomena is materialist (i.e. understanding the material world, not human ideals, as being the source of truth and starting part of analysis).
The application of dialectical materialism to the field of social science — economics, sociology, politics, etc. — is known as historical materialism. Historical materialism in particular provided Marxism with the analytical framework for understanding the class antagonisms and development of human society, both past and present.[2]
Political economy
The Marxist school of political economy enumerates the basis of exploitation, exchange, and other concepts relevant a mode of production. Karl Marx formulated a critical discovery relating to the dependence on the extraction of surplus-value from the proletariat as the foundation of capitalist production in works such as Das Kapital.[3]
Scientific socialism
Marxism differs from all prior schools of socialism in that it is scientific in its outlook, not utopian. Unlike the utopian tendencies of socialism, Marxism understands the primary role of class struggle in modern bourgeois society and the necessity of a transitional stage and revolutionary state on the basis of its understanding of historical trends and material conditions.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ Vladimir Lenin (1913). The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.
- ↑ Joseph Stalin (1938). Dialectical and Historical Materialism.
- ↑ Friedrich Engels (1878). Anti-Dühring. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.
"These two great discoveries, the materialist conception of history and the revelation of the secret of capitalistic production through surplus-value, we owe to Marx. With these discoveries socialism became a science. The next thing was to work out all its details and relations."
- ↑ Frederich Engels (1880). Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Ch. I, "The Development of Utopian Socialism".
The demand for equality was no longer limited to political rights; it was extended also to the social conditions of individuals. It was not simply class privileges that were to be abolished, but class distinctions themselves. A Communism, ascetic, denouncing all the pleasures of life, Spartan, was the first form of the new teaching. Then came the three great Utopians: Saint-Simon, to whom the middle-class movement, side by side with the proletarian, still had a certain significance; Fourier; and Owen, who in the country where capitalist production was most developed, and under the influence of the antagonisms begotten of this, worked out his proposals for the removal of class distinction systematically and in direct relation to French materialism.
One thing is common to all three. Not one of them appears as a representative of the interests of that proletariat which historical development had, in the meantime, produced. Like the French philosophers, they do not claim to emancipate a particular class to begin with, but all humanity at once. Like them, they wish to bring in the kingdom of reason and eternal justice, but this kingdom, as they see it, is as far as Heaven from Earth, from that of the French philosophers."