Marx and the march of history
Revolutionary socialism rests on a theory of history. Money and class, not ideas, drive change, and capitalism is just one stage on the way to communism.
Historical materialism
Marx argued that the economy is the base of society. The way things are made, and who owns them, shapes everything built on top: law, politics, religion and ideas. Change the base and you change the whole of society.
The superstructure
Law, politics, religion, culture and ideology, all shaped by the economy.The economic base
The forces of production and the social relations of production: who owns, who works."It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but their social being that determines their consciousness."
The five stages of history
Driven by rising productivity, a deeper division of labour, alienation, exploitation and class conflict, each stage ends in revolution and gives way to the next.
The key concepts
Alienation›
Under capitalism we lose our true creative selves. Marx describes four breaks: from the product of our work, from the act of working, from other people, and from our own human potential. The fix is to end the system that causes it.
Surplus value and exploitation›
Workers are paid less than the value they create. That gap is surplus value, taken by owners as profit. A reserve army of labour keeps wages down, because any worker who refuses low pay can be replaced. Exploitation is built into the system, not a matter of cruel individuals.
Class analysis›
The bourgeoisie own the means of production; the proletariat sell their labour to survive. Between and below sit the petit-bourgeoisie and the lumpenproletariat. Class is a consequence of the mode of production, and the proletariat are "the gravediggers of capitalism".
Dictatorship of the proletariat›
Once the capitalist state is overthrown there is a temporary proletarian state. Because the proletariat is the universal class, it acts for everyone, and the state then withers away, leaving a classless, stateless society.
Key ideas in Capital›
The labour theory of value, surplus value, capital as a social relation, the commodification of labour, the fetishism of commodities, relentless accumulation and inequality, a tendency to crisis, and the claim that capitalism is historical, not eternal: it will be replaced, just as feudalism was. Social democrats and the Third Way accept some of this but argue capitalism can be reformed rather than abolished.
A socialism timeline
Roll through the moments that shaped the ideology, from the Communist Manifesto to the Third Way.
Match the stage to its feature
Quick check
Draw the history
Sketch the base and superstructure, or the five stages, in your own hand. Share it in a room to work on it together.