POL SCI 140L Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Marxism, Feudalism, Industrial Revolution
9 Feb 2018
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Marxism is a theory of past, present and future. Freedom, for us, meant insight into historical necessity. mcadams. Humanist theory: grew out of anguish of suffering of exploited working class during the industrial revolution. People are inherently creative, ambitious and cooperative. These good traits have been repressed by class structure. If you overthrow class structure, good traits will reemerge. History proceeds through stages based on class relations. No one will willingly give up power. Have to accept revolutionary upheavals to reach each stage. Enormous competition among marxists at the end of the 19th century. In the capitalist stage, the proletariat will rise to create socialism. Elitist interpretation of marxism by lenin, mao, etc. Marx and engels tended to denigrate historical leaders. Usually leaders have a bad sense of timing. But also fear complacency: leaders excite passion and action. Marx got cold feet in his final years. (maybe a peaceful transition through parliamentary means undercut a big chunk of his theory)
