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Introduction to IRCommunism

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Communism

At most basic level: It may definedas an ideology that seeks to create

human equality by eliminating private

property and market forces.As a political theory and ideology

can be traced back to the German

philosopher Karl Marx(1818-1883)

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Karl Marx

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HOMO LABOURANS

Materialistic interpretation of History.

Human beings are not essentially rational creatures, or children ofgod, or political animals. By contrast, human beings are not

essentially anything; they are what they doand what they do is

work to derive a life for themselves from the world around them.

Everything about them, including their consciousness of

themselves and their understanding of nature and their belief in

God is a direct product of what they physically do in their dailylives. For Marx, the human beings is homo laborans [a working

human].

Thus, for Marx alienation is a physical and psychological

condition which arises out of the conditions of modern work.

Since the worker does not own what he produces, since he livesas an extension of the machine, since he hates what he does, then

the worker does not own his own life, he is in a basic sense simply

a human machine.

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surplus value of labor

Starts with a simple observation; humanbeings are able to creat objects of value byinvesting their own time and labor in theircreation.

o surplus value of labor Stays with the object and can be useful to

anyone apart from market

An opportunityfor those with politicalpower; to extract the surplus value at littlecostto enrich themselves by usingcoercionto acquire them

While impoverishingothers

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For Marx:

Worldunderstood properly in economicterms

That all human action flowed from therelationship between the haves andhaves-not

Structures are important, in makinghuman history

Based on base and superstructure Base;system of economic production,

level of technology and kind of classrelations

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false consciousness

Superstructure:represents all humaninstitutions-politics and state, nationalidentity and culture, religion and gender

Createdessentially to justify and

continue the existing order Consequentlypeople suffer from false

consciousness Meaning:belief that they(the people)

understood the true nature of the worldaround them but in reality they aredeluded by the superstructureimposed by capitalism

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The True Picture

if you ask a good liberal, like me, for a descriptionand justification of, say, Liberal Studies, I wouldgive you all sorts of labels like Critical Thinking,learning community, friendship, general skills,learning for its own sake, the pursuit of truth, andso on. For the Marx those are simply the "official"

veil thrown over the economic realities by the rulingclass. What is really going on at the material level isthat, for example, students are being forced to carryout obediently a series of meaningless tasks, tomeet deadlines, to comply with authority, to writeofficial standard prose, to come to classes on time,

to sit passively through boring lectures in freezingrooms--in short they are being required to turnthemselves into people eminently well suited for acareer as a mindless servant of the capitalistsystem and to call this a valuable education

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Marx and Revolution:

Human history developed in specificphases

Driven by particular nature ofexploitation; build around existing levelof technologyavailable

For Example: early agrarian societies,feudalismwas the dominant political

and economic order; availabletechnologywas used to tie theindividuals to the land so that their laborcould be exploited by the aristocracy

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Cont

The relationshipbetween the haves andhaves- notis stable, but the technologyitself isdynamic

Changes in technologywould increasetensionsbetween the rulers and ruled,as new

from of technology empowered new groups whoclashed with the base and superstructure

Again, in case feudalism, emergingtechnologyempowered an early capitalist,property owning middle class or bourgeoisie,

whose members sought political powerforthemselves and remakingof the economic andsocial orderin a way that better fits capitalistambitions

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dialectical materialism

This tensionwould lead torevolution; those in power would beoverthrown, a new ruling class would

come to power This change would be sudden and

violent,and would pave the way fornew economic base and

superstructure Termed as dialectical materialism

Revolutionscome about as a result

of this tensionbetween the

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Marxs Conclusion:

On this basis, the capitalist democracy,which has displaced feudalism, woulditself be overthrown by its internalflaws

As capitalism developed, competitionbetween firms would intensify Working classwould find itself on the

loosingend of this process and firms

introducemore and more technologyto reduce the number of workers Similarly, unprofitable businesses

would began to go bankruptin the face

of intense competition

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Cont

The bourgeoisiewould grow smallerand wealth concentratedin fewer

hands

Large monopolies would come todominate the economy

Wages of the working class would

declinein the face of competition andranks of unemployedwould swell

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gain consciousness

Alienated and driven to desperation bythese conditions, proletariat would gainconsciousness

Realizing the true source of their

povertyand rise up inrebellion Seizing control of state and economy Marx, saw this phenomena not as a

national but as an international one When the conditions are right,

revolutionwill spread all over thecapitalist world, in a short period oftime

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dictatorship of the

proletariat Temporary dictatorship of the proletariat During which , last vestiges of capitalist, the

old remnants of the superstructure, wouldbe swept away

After the elimination of the capitalistinstitutions, the institutions of the statewouldwither away

Their would be no need for laws and police,armies and flags

As people would be united in equalityratherthan blinded by the falseconsciousnessofnationalism

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Age of communism

People would live in stateless word Exploitation and class strugglewould

come to an end Marx: only then one can speak of

communism(which is why communist parties speak

of their countries as being socialist,since they were still controlled by the

state) For communists, socialism is a

transition phase;an outcome whereprivate property no longer exists

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"Religion is the opium of the

people." Religion, for example, is an invaluable tool in keeping the

toiling dissatisfied masses persuaded that their harsh

conditions are ordained by God; liberal democracy is an

invaluable means of persuading the people that they are

"free," that in the "progressive unrolling of the historical

development of freedom" they are precisely where they

ought to be and have no right to complain, that in the

concept of "progress" they are on the right track, and so on.

To the extent that capitalism can persuade people that free

speech is an essential duty, it will further persuade them to

purchase newspapers full of advertisements which will be

important stimulus to a more energetic participation incapitalism itself.