POLI 1100 Lecture Notes - The Communist Manifesto, Utopian Socialism, Political Economy
Document Summary
Karl marx"s political theory: 4 common misconceptions of marx"s thought, that he is a theorist of simple equality (leveling of incomes) and not of freedom. He"s primarily a theorist of freedom, but of the equal freedom of all, but he conceives of freedom differently than most liberals (although not so diff from mill). He does not simply oppose all liberal ideals; instead, he is building on and radicalizing liberal ideals & freedom, equality (and democracy) and arguing that they cannot be fully realized for all under capitalism. His ideal (manifesto, in love, p. 266): a society in which the free development of each is the condition of the free development of all. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs! (simon, p. 321/ kamenka, p. 541 [2]) Marx borrowed this notion from utopian socialists in 1875, while criticizing other german socialists who sought a fair distribution of income & wealth.
