POLI 243 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Classical Marxism, Bourgeoisie, Social Democracy
15 Jan 2019
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Marx versus liberalism: marx criticized liberal policies for failing to deliver the promised results a. His arguments used dialectical logic (events are driven by contradictions) i. Collisions of thesis and antithesis creating synthesis b. c. Contradictions are defined as logically identified inconsistencies which may or may not appear obvious. Marx used the labor theory of value (labor is responsible for every value) Surplus value is created (labor not paid enough) i. Unemployment: creation of "reserve army" of labor i. ii. Concentration of capital per worker, higher capital input vs labour input b. 1870s britain had the most surplus value, huge amount of capital invested elsewhere; imperialism; (lenin) major power at the bottom suffers the most, which is economic crisis/revolution, which is russia. Each state acts in the interests of its own national capitalist class. Policies reducing revolutionary pressures: social democracy a. b. c. Social democrats: my job is to improve life.
