The basis of Marxism is. The emergence of Marxism. The doctrine of socialism

philosopher. and sots.-political. doctrine, the founder of which K. Marx (1818-1883), in collaboration with F. Engels (1820-1895), combined dialectics with materialism, applied the materialist method to the cognition of social phenomena, criticized capitalist society from the standpoint of proletarian socialism and substantiated the need for its revolutionary transformation through the transitional period of the dictatorship of the proletariat into a communist classless society.

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Marxism

the system of philosophical, economic and socio-political views developed by K. Marx and F. Engels, including:

Philosophical materialism and dialectics;

Materialistic understanding of history (the theory of socio-economic formations);

Substantiation of the economic laws of the development of capitalist society (the theory of surplus value, etc.);

The theory of classes and class struggle;

The theory of the proletarian - socialist revolution and the transition to a communist society.

Marxism is a teaching about bourgeois society in the 19th century, about the ways and means of its revolutionary transformation into a new socio-economic formation - communism; theory of practical change in the human world. At the same time, it is a deep socio-philosophical study of human history, its essence, contradictions, driving forces and development trends.

The ideological sources of Marxism were: English political economy, German classical philosophy and French utopian socialism.

Marxism is a definite model of the global reorganization of the world, including the idea of a general social, spiritual and ideological revolution.

Classical Marxism is distinguished by a sense of historical optimism and the extreme peremptory character, uncompromisingness, and rigidity in resolving the issue of the social costs of the project being implemented, which it engenders.

In principle, Marxism defended the idea of democracy as a just social order associated with the liberation of man. At the same time, democracy was interpreted as a political and legal system designed to guarantee the security and efficiency of a class capable of ensuring such freedom, that is, the proletariat. Hence the thesis about the inevitability of the dictatorship of the proletariat is quite natural for Marxism.

Originating as a theory, Marxism has undergone practical testing since the revolutions of 1848-1849. v Western Europe... After these revolutions, K. Marx and F. Engels focused their activities on promoting the ideas of scientific communism, training cadres of proletarian revolutionaries in all countries, and rallying the forces of the international proletariat for a new revolutionary struggle. This period was marked by the creation, under the leadership of K. Marx and F. Engels, of a revolutionary international party of the working class, called the International Workingmen's Association (First International, founded on September 28, 1864). In the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, mass social democratic parties of the proletariat were formed in a number of European countries.

Marxism is a philosophical, political and economic doctrine developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels with the aim of transforming society and its transition to a higher stage of its development. Marxism is not just an ideology or a peculiar view of the world, it is a whole scientifically grounded doctrine that explains the development of society and the possibility of transition to a new model of social relations - communism. The popularity of this doctrine today is very insignificant, but its followers actually predetermined the history of the entire twentieth century. Marxism will be briefly described in this article.

Karl Marx as the founder of the doctrine

The author of the theory, which followers will call Marxism, was the German journalist, economist and philosopher Karl Heinrich Marx. The public figure was born in the city of Trier in 1818, had a brilliant talent for science, and in 1841 he graduated from the University of Berlin, so to speak, as an external student. At the age of 23 he defended his doctoral dissertation on ancient philosophy. He was fond of the teachings of the classic of German philosophy G. Hegel, who was an idealist. Over time, Marx took a materialist position, but borrowed from Hegel the philosophical method of dialectics. Thus, the theory of Marxism appeared, the provisions of which were originally spelled out in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" (1848). The following works belong to the pen of this genius thinker and public figure: "Capital", "German Ideology", "Critique of the Gotha Program", "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts". Karl Marx died on March 14, 1883 in London.

Sources of Marxism

Marxism is an integral system of views on all social processes. But this system can be conditionally divided and its main components and sources can be determined. The famous Russian revolutionary Marxist V. I. Lenin in one of his works identified three sources on which the ideas of Marxism are based.

English political economy

The teaching of Marx is primarily a teaching about economic theory. Therefore, the source of this doctrine is the economic concepts that preceded Marxism, including the English political economy. Adam Smith and David Ricard pioneered modern political economy by creating the labor theory of value. K. Marx took the works of the English economists as the basis of his theory.

German classical philosophy

In the idealistic dialectic of Georg Hegel, Marx saw the basis of his philosophical thinking. But after reading the works of Ludwig Feuerbach, the philosopher begins to understand that the idealist position is very shaky and not even correct. Marx develops a new method, combining the philosophy of materialism and dialectics. As he himself stated, "We have put Hegel's dialectics upside down ...".

Utopian socialist thought

Long before the appearance of Marxism in Europe, there were many utopian teachings. Their representatives tried to find a way out of the current situation of total social injustice. Among the more famous utopian socialists are Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Henri Saint-Simon and others. Karl Marx critically analyzed their works and brought socialist thought from the utopian stage to the scientific stage.

Thus, the versatility of the theory gave it tremendous popularity. The development of Marxism was conditioned by the broad labor movement during the years of the birth of political ideology.

The main postulates of the theory of Karl Marx

In Marxism, it is practically impossible to single out an idea that could be considered the main one. Marxism is a multifaceted, clearly structured teaching.

Dialectical materialism

The entire teaching of Marxism is based on the philosophical position of materialism, the main position of which is the assertion that matter is primary in relation to consciousness. Consciousness is just the property of organized matter to reflect reality. But consciousness as such is not matter, it only reflects it, and also changes it.

Materialistic dialectics considers the world around us as a whole, where absolutely all phenomena and objects are interconnected. Everything in this world is constantly in constant motion and change, birth and death.

The theory of Marxism understands by dialectics the general laws and development of nature, human thinking and society.

Three dialectical laws are fundamental for the philosophy of Marxism (dialectical materialism): the unity and struggle of opposites, the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, the denial of negation.

Materialistic understanding of history

Marxism views a person not as something separate, but as a social being, as a product of social relations and connections. All types of human activity create a person only insofar as he himself creates them.

The principles of historical materialism are as follows:

the primacy of material life over cultural life;
it is production relations that are fundamental in any society;
the whole history of human society is the history of the struggle of classes (that is, one social group with another);
recognition that history is a constantly moving process of changing socio-economic formations (primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist).

In every socio-economic formation there is a class of oppressors and a class of the oppressed. These antagonistic classes are defined in their relation to the means of production (land - under feudalism, factories and factories - under capitalism). Under the capitalist formation, there is a class of the bourgeoisie and a class of wage workers (proletariat). The classes are in constant struggle, and, as Marx suggested, the proletariat must overthrow the exploiters and establish its dictatorship. As a result, a new just society should emerge and the next social formation - communism. It should be noted that Marxism is not always communism, many use this doctrine not for political, but for scientific purposes.

The political economy of Marxism

The political economy of Marxism studies the historical, alternating modes of social production, or the system of production relations. All the ideas of Marxism, and political economy is no exception, are based on a dialectical understanding of the nature of society.

The central theme of criticism of K. Marx in the field of economics was the theme of the capitalist mode of production. This concept and its study, Marx devoted his main work - "Capital". In the work, he revealed the basic laws of the existence of modern society and criticized them as inhuman and exploitative. To this day it is rather difficult to dispute this position of Marx. Many people are forced to work day after day in order not to starve to death, while others live from this work, and they themselves practically do not work.

We have considered Marxism briefly, and many of its provisions have been ignored. But it is already quite clear that this is not only not an empty and utopian doctrine, but a whole scientific method for solving many social contradictions. Marxism is not the dogma of Soviet textbooks; it is a living, dynamically developing thought. In the West and in Russia, many intellectuals adhere to the teachings of Karl Marx and his many successors.

Marxism is a teaching that influenced scientific concepts in economics, sociology, political science and other sciences;

Marxism - This is a political trend that asserts the inevitability of a civil war and social revolution, as well as the leading role of the proletariat in the revolution, which will lead to the destruction of commodity production and private property, which form the basis of capitalist society and the establishment, on the basis of public ownership of the means of production, of a communist society aimed at all-round development every member of society;

Marxism emerged at the end of the 19th century in Europe. This materialistic teaching was developed in England by German scientists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

The foundation of Marxism is the multivolume work of Karl Marx "capital", the core of which is the doctrine of surplus value. According to Marx's theory, material production is reduced to the exploitation of labor by capital, in the course of which the labor of workers is added to the means of production belonging to the capitalists, as a result of which a product is formed, the value of which is higher than the sum of the wear and tear of the means of production and the value of their labor paid by the working people.

According to Marxism, the capitalist pays the worker only the amount that is minimally necessary for the physical survival of the worker himself and his family members (the principle of the reproduction of labor power). The surplus value appropriated by the capitalist by right of ownership of the means of production arises because for a shift the worker is able to produce such a quantity of output that its value exceeds the cost of the labor force expended (the minimum amount necessary for the reproduction of labor force).

Marx's doctrine was very popular in Europe at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries because of the conflicting relations between labor and capital that reigned at that time (at the initial stage of the development of capitalism). From the middle of the 20th century, Marxism lost its appeal, as capital went to cooperate (social partnership) with the working class. In our time, Marxism enjoys success only in Russian Federation, North Korea and a number of other underdeveloped countries of the world.

The history of the 19th century is rich in various philosophical ideas, trends that subsequently changed the entire social structure up to the present. Among the outstanding philosophical ideas separate doctrine (especially for our country) are ideas of Marxism. The influence of the theories and philosophy of Karl Marx on world historiography is undeniable and among many prominent historical figures it is considered the most outstanding in the history of society, not only in the 19th and 20th centuries, but throughout the entire period of the existence of civilization.

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The rise of Marxism

The theory of a new economic mode of production emerged as a natural phenomenon of production processes and the economic structure of the then Europe.

The emergence and significant spread of a new class - workers in factories and plants - has significantly changed the kind of social and.

The development of capitalism was expressed in the active exploitation of workers, starting from the 30s of the 19th century. This phenomenon was accompanied not by an improvement in the standard of living of the working class, but by the desire to obtain as much profit as possible and increase the productivity of production. Capitalism, with the main goal of making a profit, did not take into account the rights and needs exploited class.

The social structure itself and the presence of insoluble contradictions between classes required the emergence of a new theory of relationships in society. This is Marxism. Followers of Marx naturally were called Marxists. The most famous followers of this movement were V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin, Mao Zedong, F. Castro. All these politicians contributed to the active development of the idea of Marxism in society and the construction of socialism in many countries.

Attention! Marxism is the prevalence of economic relations in comparison with all other aspects of the development of social relations - materialism.

Philosophy of Marxism

Marx's ideas were consolidated in the middle of the 19th century. It was an era of rapid development of capitalism, a giant leap forward in German industry (Karl Marx was a German) and the complication of social relations between various segments of the population.

As a brilliant and unsurpassed philosopher, Marx consolidated the main provisions of the theory in his work "Capital".

This work consolidated the basic ideas of materialism and the economic substantiation of the new social order, which subsequently changed the world - communism. Classical Marxism was characterized by special postulates. The main the provisions of Marxism are short and clear:

The thinker's teachings were based on the materialism of society. This theory meant the primacy of matter over consciousness, and is a purely philosophical category of understanding of being. However, not excluding, but supplementing their views with theories of dialectics in the future, the philosophy of Marxism acquired a materialistic-dialectical character.
The division of society not into social groups and estates, as was previously accepted in most sociological teachings, but into strata, that is, classes. It was Karl Marx the first to introduce this concept, as a kind of division of the entire social order. This term is closely related to materialism, and is expressed in a different classification of social relations between various representatives of society. The sociology of Marxism in this teaching is understood, first of all, two main types - this is the class of workers (exploited) and the class of capitalists (exploiters) and the interaction between them on the basis of commodity-money conditions;
A new way of understanding economic relations between classes, based on dialectical materialism, as the application of production relations of a new formation (with the direct participation of workers).
The economy forms society. It is economic (industrial relations) are the basis for the whole society, the primary source of human relations. Simply put, commodity-money and production relations between people (production, distribution, sale) are the most important in relations between different classes and strata of people. This postulate was subsequently consolidated and actively developed in a new teaching - economic communism.

Division into economic formations

One of the most important postulates in the teachings of Marx was the division of the entire historical period of human development into several basic economic and production formations.

Some historians have called them classes, some have called them stratification.

But the meaning did not change from this - at the heart of economic philosophies is the division of people into classes.

It is also noteworthy that formations are based on the principle of production of goods, adaptations on the basis of which society developed. It is customary to highlight 6 such formations:

Primitive communal system. The very first historical period in the development of human society. With the formation of the initial period of accumulation, there is no division into any classes or estates. All property of the community (collective) is universal, and does not have a specific owner. At the same time, taking into account only the initial stage of development of human society, the tools of extraction and production were at a purely primitive level and did not allow producing or collecting enough products, except for what was necessary only for survival. This formation was named primitive communism precisely because property was in the hands of the community and there was no exploitation of the population, the whole of society took part in the gathering.
Asian formation. Also, such a period in history sometimes called the state-communal system, since later, with the development of mining tools and the improvement of production methods, people managed to get a surplus product, that is, hoarding took place in society and surplus values began to appear. In order to distribute products and exercise centralized control in society, a management class began to emerge, which carried out only managerial functions and was not directly involved in the production of products. Subsequently, he (nobility, priests, part of the army) formed the elite of the state. This formation also differs from the previous one by the presence and appearance of such a concept as private property; later, it was with this formation that centralized states and an apparatus of management and coercion began to appear. This meant the economic and subsequently political consolidation of the stratification of the population and the emergence of inequality, which served as prerequisites for the emergence of a new formation.
Slave system. Characterized strong social stratification and further improvement of mining tools. The accumulation of initial capital ended, and the size of the surplus product increased, which led to the emergence of a new class of people - slaves. V different states ah, the situation of the slaves was different, but the general was complete lack of rights. It was in this era that the idea of the exploited class was formed as a mute instrument for fulfilling the will of the masters. Despite the fact that it was slaves who were engaged in production in that era, they did not have any property and did not receive any privileges or dividends from the work performed.
Feudalism. A period in history that is distinguished by the appearance of various classes, however, also mainly the division took place not into slaves and masters, but into dependent peasants and representatives of the nobility and clergy. During this period, the legislative consolidation of the dependence of the peasants takes place, however, during this era, the peasants had a minimum set of rights and received a small part of the product they produced.
- characterized by a significant development of the means of production and the development of social relations. At that time there is a significant stratification of society and distributed benefits in social structure... A new class is emerging - workers who, having social consciousness, will and self-perception, do not have social rights and are alienated from the distribution and use of basic public goods. The capitalist class is small in number, but at the same time it dictates its will and uses the absolute majority of the surplus product. Power is being reformed and transformed from the power of the monarchy, as in the period of feudalism, to various forms of election. Also, the position of the workers was distinguished by the impossibility of accumulating initial capital without forced labor;
Communism is the highest form of social development. The essence of this formation was that the means of production must reach a level at which all property, regardless of its value, becomes public (general) however, the level of production can meet the needs of all citizens. Classes with such a formation disappear, all people have the same rights and social status, while fulfilling their function. These were the main features of the communist system.

Important! No one has succeeded in achieving communism in history, despite numerous attempts by various states, therefore it is often called a utopia.

What is Marxism, in brief

Philosophy and approaches of Marxism

Conclusion

The emergence and subsequent development of Marxism served as one of the obvious reasons for global social changes in the life of mankind. With the emergence of the USSR, Marx's theories received their applied significance, which were improved and within 70 years our the country was moving towards building communism, however, such attempts were unsuccessful. In general, Marx's ideas positively influenced the position of workers around the world, despite the social order, and forced the capitalists to improve their social status, albeit to a small extent.

a set of Marxist-oriented teachings (Soviet Marxism, Freudomarxism, anti-humanist Marxism, "critical theory"), which does not form a definite unity. The teachings of Marx himself are the product of heterogeneous (economic, historical, political, methodological) research and assumptions. The breadth of these studies and the interests embodied in them do not fit into a rigid scheme or unambiguous definition without damage and loss. Until now, they retain their significance: Marx's analysis of classical capitalism, the prospects of scientific and technological progress, its development of the logic of deriving theoretical schemes of the existence of special historical systems, attempts to characterize the special logic of special objects, the scheme of periodization of social forms depending on the individual development of people and the corresponding mechanisms of social ties ...

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Marxism

theoretical and ideological system of revolutionary views of the working class, representing the laws of the development of society and generalizing the experience of the class struggle of the masses against exploitation. The theoretical sources of M. are classical German philosophy, English political economy, and French utopian socialism. The main goal of M. is the struggle against capitalism, the accomplishment of the socialist revolution, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is necessary for the building of communism. M.'s program document was the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" by Marx and Engels, whose main tasks were to develop a scientific proletarian worldview, program, strategy, and tactics of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat. M. consists of three organically interrelated parts: dialectical and historical materialism (Marxist philosophy), political economy, and scientific communism. Marxist philosophy is the science of the universal laws of the development of nature, society and thought, the theoretical substantiation of the proletarian worldview. Marxist political economy arose as a result of a dialectical-materialist analysis of the capitalist economy, which allowed Marx in his work "Capital" to reveal the essence of capitalist exploitation, to prove the inevitability of the death of the capitalist social system and the transition to a higher communist formation. The most important driving force of progressive social development is the struggle of classes, and the way of transition from one socio-economic formation to another is social revolution. The Marxist theory of scientific communism examines the laws governing the transition to a communist society, which is carried out through the proletarian revolution, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the construction of a society that harmoniously combines the freedom of society and the freedom of the individual. The struggle to build communism is carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party, which organizes the revolutionary practice of the proletariat on the basis of the scientific theory of social development. Revisionism became a peculiar ideological reaction to the spread of M. in the labor movement. In philosophy, revisionism strove to replace dialectical materialism with subjective idealism; in the field of political economy, the theory of organized capitalism is created as an alternative to M., which proves the organic unity of capitalism and socialism and denies the need for a socialist revolution. On this basis, the dictatorship of the proletariat is denied and the idea of class cooperation and harmony of class interests is being developed. Revisionist ideas weaken the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat and split the labor movement. Further development(Lenin's stage, Leninism) M. received in the works of V. Lenin, who applied the basic principles of M. to analyze capitalism at its highest and last stage - the stage of imperialism. Lenin's works became the theoretical substantiation of the program for accomplishing the proletarian revolution and building socialism in Russia. M. developed in accordance with the practice of building socialism in the countries of the socialist camp in the program documents of the communist parties, the world communist movement, and in the works of theorists and ideologists of communism. With the collapse of the world socialist system and Soviet Union M.'s ideas, although they have lost their ideological monopoly, in a modernized form remain the ideological and theoretical basis of the activities of the communist parties.

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