Introducing Marxism : a graphic guide

205 Pages·2014·47.93 MB·English

by  Woodfin

Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road,
London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.introducingbooks.com

ISBN: 978-184831-763-5
Text and illustrations copyright © 2013 Icon Books Ltd The author and artist
have asserted their moral rights.
Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
The Origins
The Communist Manifesto
Brief Life of Marx
Meeting Engels
The Exile, Agitator and Writer
Understanding Marx’s Theories
Three Roots of Marxian Theory
Hegel’s View of History
The Reality of Ideas
The Philosopher’s Role
The Dialectic
The Dialectic in Practice
The Dialectic in Progress
Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis
The First Law
The Second Law
The Third Law
The Marxian Dialectic
A Materialist World
Modernist Optimism
Dialectical Materialism
The Three Stages
The Productive Forces
The Productive Relations
Class Antagonisms
Substructure and Superstructure
A Question of Economics
Classical British Economics
What is a Commodity?
The Means of Production
The Problem of Profit
The Production System
Variable Capital and Labour Exploitation
Absolute Surplus Value
Relative Surplus Value
The Contradiction of Capitalism
The Prophecy
Organizing Capitalism’s Downfall
Consciousness of Alienation
The Nature of Alienation
Understanding Alienation
The Fetish Concept
The Categorical Imperative
Money Speaks for Us
Birth of the Communist Party
Is Marxism really “Scientific”?
The Evolution of Capitalism
The Long Road to Revolution
The First International
The Paris Commune, 1871
End of the International
Towards the Second International
The Second International Membership
Weaknesses of the Second International
The Phase of Economism
Russian Marxism
Looking Ahead
Russia’s Revolutionary History
Lenin’s Bolshevik Faction
Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution
Lenin’s Revolutionary Marxism
The Age of Imperialism
A New Theory of International Revolution
Experience of Imperialism at War
The Two Revolutions of 1917
The October Revolution
The Vanguard Communist Party
The Reality of Communist Control
The Struggle for Leadership
Stalin’s Dictatorship
Why Did It “Go Wrong”?
Democracy Aborted
Lenin’s Legacy
The Conditions of Russia
The Soviet Bloc
Socialism in One Country
Stalin’s Conception of Marxism
The Cold War
Third World Marxism
The Failure of Marxism
Gramsci Confronts Fascism
Ideology and Hegemony
Culture, Ideology and Hegemony
Control of Hegemony
Revolution and Democratic Society
The Frankfurt School
Critical Theory in Dark Times
Critical Theory of the Media
Social Research for Revolution
The Hegemonic Role of Culture
Althusser’s Anti-Humanism
The Shift to Postmodernism
The Turning-Point in Marxism
“Is Anyone There?”
In a Post-Industrial Era
Seeing the Patterns
The End of History
Conflicts are in Progress
Deconstructing the End
Against “Truth Claims”
The Spirit of the Letter
Raising Marx’s Ghost
Marxism as an Ethical Programme
Defining Post-Marxism
By Way of Difference
The Dance of Différance
Post-Marxist Antagonisms
Antagonisms are Situated
The State and Civil Society
Natural “Agonistic Pluralism”
Where do we end?
Key Words in This Text
Further Reading
About the Author
Index
The Origins
In February 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist
Manifesto, on behalf of a group of idealistic workers. Originally drafted as a
programme for an international “Communist League” which had its roots in the
19th-century tradition of workers’ mutual improvement societies, it became one
of the most important political documents of all time. It has been as influential as
the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Declaration
of Rights (1789).
WORKERS OF THR WORLD, UNITE! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS ...
The Communist Manifesto
The Manifesto has left an indelible mark on human progress and still today
forms the basis for a system of political beliefs that motivates millions. Even
after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the collapse of Communism in
Russia and Eastern Europe, its authority and prestige remain for many. What did
it say that seemed so important and revolutionary? The key demands, in the
authors’ own words, were ...
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public
purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank
with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of
the state.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the
bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil
generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially
for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition
of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of
the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s
factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial
production, etc.