Home / Summaries / Class notes - History of Political Thought / marx-workers-political

Marx & Engels

Q: What was the point Feuerbach and Marx were both interested in?

The processes of 'alienation'. The aspects of human life through which people could potentially express themselves or their common humanity are instead confronted as external phenomena opposed to self-expression

35 important questions on Marx & Engels

What is the origin of Karl Marx?

He was born in Trier, in a Prussian province along the Rhine. His family was upper middle class, nominally Protestant but ethnically Jewish

Which important philosopher did he follow at first?

Hegel, he saw history as the rational development of the idea of freedom through the generation and resolution of contradictions

Why was his Prussian newspaper shut down in 1841?

Because of his investigations of poverty among the Rhenish peasantry

What were communists when Marx met them in Paris?

Advocates of communal ownership and the leveling of economic differences who had begun to attract a working-class following in France and Germany.

What was the point Feuerbach and Marx were both interested in?

The processes of "alienation". The aspects of human life through which people could potentially express themselves or their common humanity are instead confronted as external phenomena opposed to self-expression

Where does Marx trace alienation to?

The necessity that wage earners face of selling their life activity as a commodity in order to survive

What was the cure of alienation according to Marx?

Not mere removal of political restrictions bu the creation of a new kind of economy, based on common control of production in the interest of reciprocity, expressive work, and the satisfaction of the needs characteristic of cooperation human beings

What happened when Marx got expelled in 1845?

He got expelled by the French government under pressure from the Prussian monarchy to Brussels. Here he met Friedrich Engels which whom he had become friends in Paris

What was the origin of Engels and why was he so committed to factory workers?

He was born in a wealthy Pietist family about 100 miles north of Marx' Trier, also in Prussian territory near the Rhine. The family business was an international textile manufacturing firm. He was appalled by the conditions he saw with the factory workers and he read a lot of philosophy and political economy

What was the conclusion of Marx and Engels in their first book?

They propose that the pursuit of enhanced powers of material production has the unintended consequence of creating a new social relations of production, which, in turn, mold the political and cultural features of an era.

What is the difference between the workers and the bourgeoisie?

The two classes are "two great hostile camps" since the competitive bourgeois drive for profits creates relentless pressure to reduce wages and to eliminate ways of working that conflict with industrial routines

Why are the bourgeois their own grave-diggers?

Economic interdependence, reduced importance of craftsmanship, mass literacy and the ease of communication; they have fixed it and it will be used against them

What was the ultimate goal for Engels and Marx?

Stateless society in which work is motivated by a desire for mutual benefit.

What is the surplus value?

The value of the use of a worker's labor power for that time will be the labour time needed to provide for the worker's existence for the day. This difference is the surplus

What are the wheels which political economy sets in motion according to Marx?

Greed and the war amongst the greedy; competitoin

What is the consequence of the fact that the product of labor is independent of the producer?

The worker will become poorer the more wealth he produces.

What constitutes to the alienation of labour?

It is external; doesn't belong to his essential being. He is forced, because he needs the wages to stay alive. He is not from himself but someone else's

Where does a man feel free?

In his animal functions; eat, drink and have sex

Where does a man get estranged from just like nature and himself?

His life activity: his work becomes his existence.

What is the forth consequence next to nature, himself and life activity?

The enstrangement from man of man

What would higher wages do according to Marx?

It would be nothing more but better payment for the slave, it would do nothing for status or dignity

What is the most important cause for the inevitable conflict that will arise?

The class struggle; the oppressor vs the oppressed etc.

Which two hostile camps does Marx see in history also?

The serfs of the Middle Ages, the discovery of America, the East Indian and Chinese markets, the feudal system of industry and the steam and machinery revolutionized production

Why were monarchies so good to keep these class struggles?

Because they served the nobility, they were the cornerstone of monarchies in general

What did the bourgeoisie do that upset the workers?

Put an end to all feudal patriarchal idyllic relations, drowned religious favors and set up free tradee

Why is there a commercial crisis each time more threatening to the existence of the entire bourgeois society?

Too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry and too much commerce.

How does the bourgeoisie get over these crises?

By enforced destruction of mass production forces and by the conquest of new markets and the more thorough exploitation of old ones.

How should the workers break free from this?

They have to form combinations (trade unions) against them, where they fight for the wages and these contests break into riots. Then these form a political party too

What does the bourgeoisie do to stop the riots?

Give the workers elements of political and general education; weapons for fighting them eventually

Why are the bourgeoisie their own gravediggers?

The essential condition for their existence is wage labour and capital, which rests on the competition between laborers, but this falls away when they unite and the industrialization goes. They try to keep them quiet but that is their grave, they will be overthrown due to new knowledge and power of the proletariat

How are communists distinguished from other working-class parties?

Communists look at the common interests of the whole proletariat, regardless of nationality. And they always and everywhere represent the interests of them whole

How can communists be summed up in one sentence?

Abolition of private property

What is the difference in labour in capitalist and communist countries?

In capitalism labour wage suffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence, communism is it to widen and enrich the existence of the laborer

Why are communist movements active in national politics when they want to be international?

They first need to rise to be leading class of the nation, and then it can have influence internationally

How do communists look at different movements that are for the workers or left-wing?

They support every revolutionary movement against the existing and social order of things, but do take a critical position when the position is not in line with those from the Great Revolution

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

History of Political Thought

View summary

A unique study and practice tool
Never study anything twice again
Get the grades you hope for
100% sure, 100% understanding

Remember faster, study better. Scientifically proven.