Foundations of Marxism: Alienation, Historical Materialism, and Class Struggle
Block III (Marx): The Genesis of Marxism
The German Classical Philosophy: Marx was deeply influenced by Hegel’s dialectical method of analysis. However, Marx, along with other Left Hegelians like Feuerbach, reacted against Hegel’s idealism by postulating materialism. Marx adapted Hegel’s dialectic as a framework for understanding reality, including human practice, but from a materialistic perspective.
The English Political Economy: Marx critiqued the classical capitalist economy theories of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, shaping his understanding of society.
Utopian Socialism: Marx considered the ideas of Owen, Fourier, Proudhon, and Saint-Simon, who aimed to change society. However, he criticized their idealistic and impractical approaches. In contrast, Marx proposed scientific socialism.
The rise of the industrial proletariat and the emerging trade union movement also significantly influenced Marx’s thought, necessitating a cultural and political theory for analysis.
Marx’s philosophy aimed not just to interpret but to transform the world, emphasizing the unity of theory and practice.
Marxism encompasses three dimensions:
- A conception of humanity and society.
- A method for analyzing reality and history.
- A revolutionary project for societal transformation.
Economic Alienation
Alienation is fundamental to Marx’s critique of capitalism. It originates in the nature of wage labor, where the worker becomes estranged from:
- The Product of Their Labor: The worker’s product becomes capital owned by others, appearing as an alien power. The more the worker produces, the less they possess.
- Their Own Activity: Work becomes a denial of self, bringing misery rather than fulfillment. The worker only feels free outside of work, reducing human functions to animalistic levels.
- Nature: Nature becomes alien, treated as the property of another.
- Other People: Alienated labor severs the connections between individuals and humanity.
Alienation stems from private property and, in turn, causes it. Abolishing private ownership of the means of production is essential to overcoming alienation in capitalism.
Historical Materialism
Marxist historical materialism studies history through the lens of the production process. Each society is defined by its productive activity. Different forms of social life throughout history are called modes of production. Key modes in Western history include slave, feudal, capitalist, and communist. Marx’s Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859) elaborates on this. Key concepts include:
Economic Structure and Infrastructure
The economic structure (infrastructure) determines the ideological superstructure. Infrastructure comprises productive forces and relations of production.
Relations of Production
These are the relationships between actors in the production process, such as owners of the means of production and direct producers. In capitalism, workers own only their labor, while employers own the means of production.
Productive Forces
These are the elements of economic production: means of production (tools, machines) and labor power.
Superstructure
The superstructure consists of representations, ideas, legal, and political structures shaped by the infrastructure. The relationship between infrastructure and superstructure is one of determination or conditioning, not strict causality. There is an interplay, but infrastructure has a strong influence.
Mode of Production
This refers to the entire social whole, including both infrastructure and superstructure.
Class and Class Struggle
Classes are groups with conflicting social positions defined by their place in the economic structure. Class struggle is the driving force of history, leading to shifts in economic and social structures.
Social Revolution
Conflict arises from the development of productive forces, which eventually outgrow existing relations of production. History is driven by the development of productive forces, primarily human labor.