Marxism

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This page is about the ideology used as the core value for modern Communism. For other uses, see Communism.

Marxism
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Basic Information
Aliases	Karl Marx Thought Orthodox Marxism Classical Marxism Classical Communism Classical Socialism Communism Scientific Socialism Engelsism Revolutionary Marxism Marxism-Engelsism Confused Hegelian Progressive-Hegelian-Socialism Santa Claus Capitalism for the poor
Alignments	Left Unity  Socialists  Communists  Culturally Revolutionary  Internationalists
Ideological Influences
Influenced by	Anti-Capitalism Anti-Civilization Anti-Feudalism Anti-Nationalism Anti-Imperialism Aristotelianism Babouvism Chartism Darwinian Theory of Evolution Enlightenment Thought Epicureanism Fourierism French Materialism Hegelianism Humanism (Some interpretations) Anti-Humanism (Some interpretations) Indigenism Industrialism Internationalism Jacobinism Kantianism Mazdakism Mutualism Revolutionary Progressivism Ricardian Socialism Rousseauism Ruthless criticism of all that exists Saint-Simonianism Socialism Stirnerism Utopian Socialism Thompsonism Young Hegelianism
Influenced	Acid Communism Anarcho-Communism Autonomism Barracks Communism Capitalist Communism Classical Social Democracy Communization Theory Council Communism Cybercommunism De Leonism Ergatocracy Frankfurt School Gentileanism Impossibilism Left Communism Leninism Liberation Theology Libertarian Marxism Libertarian Municipalism Lincolnism (Kinda influenced) Lordon-Friot Communism Machajskism Marxism–Leninism Marxist Feminism Neo-Marxism Nomadology Reaganism Reformist Marxism Revolutionary Democratic Socialism Situationism Socialist Transhumanism Syndicalism Traoréism Trotskyism Vperedism
Ideological Information
Notable Theorists	Orthodox/Classical Marxism Karl Marx (1818-1883) Germany Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) Germany Karl Kautsky (1854-1938) Czechia Georgi Plekhanov (1856-1918) Russia James Connolly (1868-1916) Ireland Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) Germany Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919) Germany José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930) Peru Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) Martinique, France Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928-) Peru David Harvey (1935-) UK Richard D. Wolff (1942-) USA John Bellamy Foster (1953-) USA Carlos Latuff (1968-) Brazil Jonas Čeika (?) Norway Abigail "Philosophy Tube" Thorn (1993-) UK Daniel Foley (2004-) USA Leninism Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) Russia/ USSR Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) USSR Yakov Sverdlov (1885-1919) Russia Nikolai Bukharin (1888-1938) USSR Tomas Garrido Canabal (1891-1943) Mexico Valery Sablin (1939-1976) USSR Marxism–Leninism Josip Broz Tito (1891-1980) Yugoslavia Mikhail Suslov (1902-1982) USSR Enver Hoxha (1908-1985) Albania Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) Gus Hall (1910-2000) USA Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (1912-1994) East Germany Luis Taruc (1913-2005) Philippines (formery) Fidel Castro (1926-2016) Cuba George Habash (1926-2008) Palestine Che Guevara (1928-1967) Argentina Michael Parenti (1933-) USA Maurice Rupert Bishop(1944-1983) Grenada Angela Davis (1944-) USA Fred Hampton (1948-1969) USA Thomas Sankara (1949-1987) Burkina Faso Daniel Jadue (1967-) Chile Western/Heterdox Marxism Georges Sorel (1847-1922), France György Lukács (1885-1971) Hungary Karl Korsch (1886-1961) Germany Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) Italy Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) Germany Max Horkheimer (1895-1973) Germany Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) Germany Erich Fromm (1900-1980) Germany Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) France Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) Germany Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) France Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) France Louis Althusser (1918-1990) France Nicos Poulantzas (1936-1979) Greece Mark Fisher (1968-2017) UK Srećko Horvat (1983-) Croatia Trotskyism Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) Russia C. L. R. James (1901-1989) Trinidad and Tobago J. Posadas (1912-1981) Argentina Ted Grant (1913-2006) UK Tony Cliff (1917-2000) UK Tariq Ali (1943-) UK Maoism Mao Zedong (1893-1976) China Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) China Jiang Qing (1914-1991) China Hua Guofeng (1921-2008) China Chin Peng (1924-2013) , Federated Malay States, UK Pol Pot (1925-1998) Cambodia Samir Amin (1931-2018) Egypt Abimael Guzmán (1934-2021) Peru Wang Hongwen (1935-1992) China Jose Maria Sison (1939-) Philippines Huey Newton (1942-1989) USA Ibrahim Kaypakkaya (1949-1973) Turkey Left-Communism Daniel De Leon (1852-1914) USA Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952) Russia Antonie Pannekoek (1873-1960) The Netherlands Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) UK Amadeo Bordiga (1889-1970) Italy Paul Mattick (1904-1981) Germany Jacques Camatte (1935-) France Libertarian Marxism Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997) Italy Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) UK E. P. Thompson (1924-1933) UK Guy Debord (1931-1994) France Antonio Negri (1933-) Italy Michael Hardt (1960-) USA Revisionist Marxism Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932) Germany Otto Bauer (1881-1938) Austria Sanzō Nosaka (1892-1993) Japan Salvador Allende (1908-1973) Chile Enrico Berlinguer (1922-1984) Italy José Mujica (1935-) Uruguay Post-Marxism Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), France Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) France Félix Guattari (1930-1992) France Ernesto Laclau (1935-2014) Argentina Jacques Rancière (1940-) France Göran Therborn (1941-) Sweden Chantal Mouffe (1943-) Belgium Ernesto Screpanti (1948-) Italy Slavoj Žižek (1949-) Slovenia
Variations
Sub-Ideologies	Communism Anti-Capitalism Anti-Feudalism Anti-Imperialism Anti-Nationalism Babouvism Enlightenment Thought Humanism Industrialism Materialism Proletarian Internationalism Socialism Stirnerism Young Hegelianism
Character Information
Likes	The Proletariat Proletarian revolution Theory Internationalism Science and philosophy Working
Dislikes	The Bourgeoisie The Lumpenproletariat Private, or "bourgeois" property Religions and superstitions Metaphysics Patriots Crapitalism Anarchists (historically)
Song	L'internationale Darum Laßt Uns Alles Wagen Construção Mises vs. Marx

Marxism, commonly called Classical Marxism or Orthodox Marxism, also called Marxist Socialism or Scientific Socialism, is an economically far-left and (most of the time) culturally progressive ideology and polictial philosophy that is based on the analysis and ideology of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and looks to achieve a communist (stateless, classless, moneyless) society. According to Marx and Engels, in a communist society, nationality, families, private property, commodities, division of labor, cities and countryside, religion, ideology, and markets would be abolished or become obsolete and fade away. Communism operates on the principle "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need". Marxists believe that due to inherent contradictions in the capitalist mode of productions, material conditions will become so bad that there will be a proletarian revolution which will create a socialist state that transitions to a communist society.

He believes that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, and history can be viewed in stages of development based on which class holds a dictatorship over the other classes, and that today (with this stage starting around the English Civil War, 1642–1651) the world is under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

While Marxism acknowledges the revolutionary role that the bourgeoisie have played in history, tying all corners of the world together in a global web of industry and consumption and revolutionizing the of production creating tools and machinery capable of producing far beyond the necessary requirement to sustain society, he believes that the forces of production are now constrained by the mechanics of capitalism, just as they were constrained by the mechanics of feudalism in the previous stage of development.

On top of that, he believes that how capitalists extract surplus value from the labor of their workers creates an irreconcilable conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (working class), that can only be ended either through the overthrow of the bourgeoisie or the ruination of both classes. Following the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, Marxism believes that a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" must be established to eradicate capitalism and begin the transition to communism. What is meant by a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" varies depending on who you ask, but to put it simply it means a society where the working class has absolute power over all other classes, and not a literal dictatorship.

Another thing worth noting is that Marxism does not differentiate between "socialism" or "communism" very much, calling them "lower- stage Communism" and "higher- stage Communism" respectively, and the different names for those stages is an idea that his son Leninism came up with. What is consistent, however, is that both communism and socialism are stateless and classless, with only the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, preceding both, requiring a "commune state" akin to the Paris Commune at most. The only times he differentiates between the two is when referring to socialist tendencies he disagrees with, such as "Proudhonian socialism" or "reactionary socialism".

History

A sketch by Fredrich Engels of the young Hegelians.

Before Marxism

Prior to the start of 'proto-Marxism', the concept of proto-communism was somewhat popular in the form of Primitive Communism as many early Marxists took inspiration from primitive societies and the two concepts functioned similarly.

Proto-Marxists can be found in the 'Young Hegelian' school. The Young Hegelians, also known as the Left Hegelians or the Hegelian Left was a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in 1831, reacted to and wrote about his ambiguous legacy. Often expanding on the idea of a 'dialectic'. This is where dialectical materialism find's its roots, particularly in the works of Ludwig Feuerbach. The Young Hegelians drew on Hegel's idea that the purpose and promise of history was the total negation of everything conducive to restricting freedom and reason; and they proceeded to mount radical critiques, first of religion and then of the Prussian political system. They rejected anti-utopian aspects of his thought that "Old Hegelians" had interpreted to mean that the world has already essentially reached perfection.

However, Marx later became disillusioned with many of the Young Hegelians. He and Fredrich Engels would go on to co-write The Holy Family, and The German Ideology as a critique of the Young Hegelians. The latter majorly consists of a refutation of Max Stirner's "Der Einzige und Sein Eigentum", which allowed Marx to abandon the Young Hegelian concept of humanism for his 'Dialectical Materialism'.

Some of the many other influences on Marxism can be found in classical economics such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo who created the labor theory of value (LTV), and the " utopian socialists" such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Étienne Cabet, Henri de Saint-Simon.

Prior to the publishing of the Communist Manifesto, Marx himself was into the philosophy of Epicurus.

Marx and Engels

In 1844, on the way to Germany, Fredrich Engels stopped in Paris to meet Karl Marx, with whom he had an earlier correspondence. Marx had been living in Paris since late October 1843, after the Rheinische Zeitung was banned in March 1843 by Prussian governmental authorities. Prior to meeting Marx, Engels had become established as a fully developed materialist and scientific socialist, independent of Marx's philosophical development.

A depiction of Marx and Engels writing.

In Paris, Marx was publishing the Deutsch–Französische Jahrbücher. Engels met Marx for a second time at the Café de la Régence on the Place du Palais, 28 August 1844. The two quickly became close friends and remained so their entire lives, cowriting staples of Marxist literature such as The Communist Manifesto, The German Ideology, Anti-Dühring, and many more. Engels actually provided the funding for a substantial amount of Marx's work as Engels was born into a wealthy family with deep roots in the yarn and cloth industry.

First International

Following the January Uprising in Poland in 1863, French and British workers started to discuss developing a closer working relationship. Henri Tolain, Joseph Perrachon and Charles Limousin visited London in July 1863, attending a meeting in St. James's Hall in honour of the Polish uprising. They discussed the need for an international organisation, which would amongst other things prevent the import of foreign workers to break strikes. In September 1864, French and British delegates again met in London, this time to set up an organization for sharing labor information across borders. This organization was the International Workingmen's Association.

The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trade unions that were based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded in 1864 in a workmen's meeting held in St. Martin's Hall, London. Its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.

A depiction of the founding of the First International.

Due to the wide variety of philosophies present in the First International, there was conflict from the start. The first objections to Marx's influence came from the mutualists, who opposed communism and statism. However, shortly after Mikhail Bakunin and his followers (called collectivists while in the International) joined in 1868, the First International became polarized into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads. Perhaps the clearest differences between the groups emerged over their proposed strategies for achieving their visions of socialism. The anarchists grouped around Bakunin favored (in Peter Kropotkin's words) "direct economical struggle against capitalism, without interfering in the political parliamentary agitation". Marxist thinking at that time focused on parliamentary activity. For example, when the new German Empire of 1871 introduced male suffrage, many German socialists became active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread Revolutions of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the IWA in 1864. At its peak, the IWA reported having 8 million members while police reported 5 million. In 1872, it split in two over conflicts between Marxist and anarchist factions and dissolved in 1876. The Second International was founded in 1889.

Paris Commune

The Paris Commune was the main insurrectionary commune of France in 1870-1871, based on direct democracy and established in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871.

A photo of the Paris Commune.

During the events of the Franco-Prussian War, Paris had been defended by the National Guard, where working class radicalism grew among soldiers. In March 1871, during the establishment of the Third Republic under French chief executive Adolphe Thiers, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city and then refused to accept the authority of the French government, instead attempting to establish an independent government.

The Commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of social democracy, including the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent during the siege, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner. Feminist, socialist, and anarchist currents played important roles in the Commune. However, they had very little time to achieve their respective goals.

The Commune was eventually suppressed by the national French Army during La semaine sanglante ("The Bloody Week") beginning on 21 May 1871. Between 6,000 and 7,000 Communards are confirmed to have been killed in battle or executed, though some unconfirmed estimates are as high as 20,000. The Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, and other hostages were shot by the Commune in retaliation. Debates over the policies and outcome of the Commune had a significant influence on the ideas of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, who described it as the first example of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Second International

After the dissolution of the First International in 1876, the Second International was formed years later in 1889. Much like the First, it was an organization of socialist and labor parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued the work of the dissolved First International, though excluding the powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement. While the international had initially declared its opposition to all warfare between European powers, most of the major European parties ultimately chose to support their respective states in the First World War. After splitting into pro-Allied, pro-Central Powers, and antimilitarist factions, the international ceased to function. After the war, the remaining factions of the international went on to found the Labor and Socialist International, the International Working Union of Socialist Parties, and the Communist International.

October Revolution and Soviet Union

In November 7, 1917. The communists had started taking over Petrograd, including many other areas. Alexander Kerensky also fled form Petrograd to Pskov, before they were going to take over the city, so he was not captured by the Red Army. Before the Red Army was going to take Pskov when Alexander Kerensky told troops to re-take the city, Kerensky fled to France, which later Pskov was seized to the Reds.

A couple of days later after November 7, Moscow was taken. It would later be the capital of the Russian SFSR in March 1918...

Third International

the Third International, was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism, controlled by the Soviet Union. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the 1916 dissolution of the Second International.

Beliefs and Ideas

Communism

To Marx, a communist society is the solution to the riddle of history and knows itself to be the solution. It is a system where the productive forces became so advanced that a post-scarcity economy emerges as the result, where all the aspects of capitalism(money, state, classes, commodities, markets, family structure, etc) have been abolished. The means of production are owned in common, and individuals have free access to consumer goods based on needs. They're also free to pursue their own interests, making this system highly individualistic.

Materialist dialectics

Materialist dialectics is a method of analyzation developed by the works of Friedrich Engels. It has three main laws:

Transformation of quantity into quality: The great basic thought that the world is not to be comprehended as a complex of ready-made things, but a complex of processes, in which things apparently stable…, go through an uninterrupted change of coming into being and passing away. The transformation of quantity into quality=“mechanical” world outlook, quantitative change alters quality.

The unity of opposites: Objects and processes in nature are composed of paired "opposites". Example:we have positive and negative electric charges, the North and South magnetic poles, male and female organisms, and so on.

Negation of the negation: When something ceases to be, it is "negated". However, this negation emerges into something brand new, something higher than before.

Law of value

The core theory of the law of value is that the value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary (this is actually a subjective judgment) labor time put into it. Rejecting the idea of labor being the source of all wealth, the theory says that nature is an equally important contributor to wealth as labor. According to the law, homogeneous human labour, expenditure of one uniform labour power is the form of labour that forms the substance of value. The value of one commodity is to the value of any other, as the labour time necessary for the production of the one is to that necessary for the production of the other.

Exploitation Theory

The exploitation theory is the theory that profit is the result of the exploitation of wage earners by their employers. It rests on the law of value which claims that value is intrinsic in a product according to the amount of labor that has been spent on producing the product.

Worker Alienation

Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the social alienation of people from aspects of their human nature as a consequence of living in a society of stratified social classes. The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of a social class, the condition of which estranges a person from their humanity.

Base and Superstructure

In Marxist theory, society consists of two parts: the base (or substructure) and superstructure. The base comprises the forces and relations of production (e.g. employer-employee work conditions, the technical division of labour, and property relations) into which people enter to produce the necessities and amenities of life. The superstructure determines society's other relationships and ideas to comprise its superstructure, including its culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. The relation of the two parts is not strictly unidirectional, Marx and Engels warned against such economic determinism as the superstructure can affect the base. However the influence of the base is predominant.

Materialist conception of history

Historical materialism is a theory ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life(think of the economy). The theory posits that the sum of productive forces, capital funds and social forms of intercourse, which every individual and generation finds in existence as something given, is the real basis of our ideas.

Workers' Revolution and Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Marxism believes that before a communist society can develop, a state in which the workers are the ones in power must be created. This is called a "Dictatorship of the proletariat" which refers to the absolute authority of the working class, not of an individual.

Early on, Marx and Engels thought that the working class could take the existing state machinery and wield it in order to create the Dictatorship of the proletariat, (as was said in the communist manifesto), but after the Paris Commune Marx changed his mind, now believing that the working class could not simply lay hold of the existing state machinery.

It is as a result that Marxism is usually revolutionary.

Views on Religion

Marx viewed religion as "the soul of soulless conditions" or the "opium of the people". According to Karl Marx, religion in this world of exploitation is an expression of distress and at the same time it is also a protest against the real distress. In other words, religion continues to survive because of oppressive social conditions. When this oppressive and exploitative condition is destroyed, religion will become unnecessary. At the same time, Marx saw religion as a form of protest by the working classes against their poor economic conditions and their alienation. Some Marxist scholars have classified Marx's views as adhering to Post-Theism, a philosophical position that regards worshipping deities as an eventually obsolete, but temporarily necessary, stage in humanity's historical spiritual development. Marx's views adhere to Post-Theism most likely because he wanted to compete with the established religion in Germany (predominantly Christianity) to disseminate pro-worker social teachings.

Schools of Thought

Leninism

Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party, as the political prelude to the establishment of communism. The function of the Leninist vanguard party is to provide the working classes with the political consciousness (education and organisation) and revolutionary leadership necessary to depose capitalism in the Russian Empire (1721–1917). Leninist revolutionary leadership is based upon The Communist Manifesto (1848) identifying the communist party as "the most advanced and resolute section of the working class parties of every country; that section which pushes forward all others." As the vanguard party, the Bolsheviks viewed history through the theoretical framework of dialectical materialism, which sanctioned political commitment to the successful overthrow of capitalism, and then to instituting socialism; and, as the revolutionary national government, to realize the socio-economic transition by all means.

Marxism–Leninism

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. It was the formal name of the official state ideology adopted by the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various self-declared scientific socialist regimes in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War as well as the Communist International after Bolshevisation. Today, Marxism–Leninism is the ideology of many communist parties. Generally, Marxist–Leninists support proletarian internationalism and socialist democracy, and oppose anarchism, fascism, imperialism, and liberal democracy. Marxism–Leninism holds that a two-stage communist revolution is needed to replace capitalism. A vanguard party, organised hierarchically through democratic centralism, would seize power "on behalf of the proletariat", and establish a communist party-led socialist state, which it claims to represent the dictatorship of the proletariat. The state controls the economy and means of production, suppresses the bourgeoisie, counter-revolution, and opposition, promotes collectivism in society, and paves the way for an eventual communist society, which would be both classless and stateless.

Trotskyism

Trotskyism, also known as "Bolshevik-Leninism", is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and by some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a revolutionary Marxist, and Bolshevik–Leninist, a follower of Marx, Engels, and of 3L: Lenin, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg. He supported founding a vanguard party of the proletariat, proletarian internationalism, and a dictatorship of the proletariat (as opposed to the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” which Marxists argue defines capitalism) based on working class self-emancipation and mass democracy. Trotskyists are critical of Marx-Leninism as they oppose Joseph Stalin's theory of socialism in one country in favor of Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution. Trotskyists also criticize the bureaucracy and anti-democratic current that developed in the Soviet Union under Stalin.

Maoism

Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought (Chinese: 毛泽东思想; pinyin: Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng) by the Communist Party of China, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed for realising a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Republic of China. The philosophical difference between Maoism and traditional Marxism–Leninism is that the peasantry are the revolutionary vanguard in pre-industrial societies rather than the proletariat. This updating and adaptation of Marxism–Leninism to Chinese conditions in which revolutionary praxis is primary and ideological orthodoxy is secondary represents urban Marxism–Leninism adapted to pre-industrial China. The claim that Mao Zedong had adapted Marxism–Leninism to Chinese conditions evolved into the idea that he had updated it in a fundamental way applying to the world as a whole. Another fundamental difference between Marxism-Leninism and Maoism is that traditional Marxist-Leninists support the idea that basic contradiction in imperialist relations of production is singular, while Maoists see it as multiple contradictions.

Western Marxism

Neo-Marxism is a Marxist school of thought encompassing 20th-century approaches that amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis, or existentialism (in the case of Jean-Paul Sartre).

As with many uses of the prefix neo-, some theorists and groups who are designated as neo-Marxists have attempted to supplement the perceived deficiencies of orthodox Marxism or dialectical materialism. Many prominent neo-Marxists, such as Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt School, have historically been sociologists and psychologists.

Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Weber's broader understanding of social inequality, such as status and power, to Marxist philosophy. Examples of neo-Marxism include analytical Marxism, French structural Marxism, critical theory, cultural studies, as well as some forms of feminism. Erik Olin Wright's theory of contradictory class locations is an example of the syncretism found in neo-Marxist thought, as it incorporates Weberian sociology, critical criminology, and anarchism.

Frankfurt School

The Frankfurt School (German: Frankfurter Schule) was a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), during the European interwar period (1918–1939), the Frankfurt School comprised intellectuals, academics, and political dissidents dissatisfied with the contemporary socio-economic systems (capitalist, fascist, communist) of the 1930s. The Frankfurt theorists proposed that social theory was inadequate for explaining the turbulent political factionalism and reactionary politics occurring in 20th century liberal capitalist societies. Critical of both capitalism and of Marxism–Leninism as philosophically inflexible systems of social organization, the School's critical theory research indicated alternative paths to realizing the social development of a society and a nation.

Structural Marxism

Structuralist Marxism disputes the instrumentalist view that the state can be viewed as the direct servant of the capitalist or ruling class. Whereas the instrumentalist position is that the institutions of the state are under the direct control of those members of the capitalist class in positions of state power, the structuralist position is that state institutions must function so as to ensure the viability of capitalism more generally. In other words, state institutions must reproduce capitalist society as a whole.

Structuralists view the state in a capitalist mode of production as taking a specifically capitalist form, not because particular individuals are in powerful positions, but because the state reproduces the logic of capitalist structure in its economic, legal, and political institutions. Hence, from a structuralist perspective one would argue that state institutions (including legal ones) function in the long-term interests of capital and capitalism, rather than in the short-term interests of members of the capitalist class. Thus the state and its institutions have a certain degree of independence from specific elites in the ruling or capitalist class.

Situationism

The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution in 1972. Overall, situationist theory represented an attempt to synthesize this diverse field of theoretical disciplines into a modern and comprehensive critique of mid-20th century advanced capitalism.

Essential to situationist theory was the concept of the spectacle, a unified critique of advanced capitalism of which a primary concern was the progressively increasing tendency towards the expression and mediation of social relations through objects. The situationists believed that the shift from individual expression through directly lived experiences, or the first-hand fulfilment of authentic desires, to individual expression by proxy through the exchange or consumption of commodities, or passive second-hand alienation, inflicted significant and far-reaching damage to the quality of human life for both individuals and society. Another important concept of situationist theory was the primary means of counteracting the spectacle; the construction of situations, moments of life deliberately constructed for the purpose of reawakening and pursuing authentic desires, experiencing the feeling of life and adventure, and the liberation of everyday life.

Left Communism

Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically Marxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the Communist International after its Bolshevization by Joseph Stalin and during its second congress.

In general, there are two currents of left communism, namely the Italian and Dutch–German left. The communist left in Italy was formed during World War I in organizations like the Italian Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Italy. The Italian left considers itself to be Leninist in nature, but denounces Marxism–Leninism as a form of bourgeois opportunism materialized in the Soviet Union under Stalin. The Italian left is currently embodied in organizations such as the Internationalist Communist Party and the International Communist Party. The Dutch-German left split from Vladimir Lenin prior to Stalin's rule and supports a firmly council communist and libertarian Marxist viewpoint as opposed to the Italian left which emphasised the need for an international revolutionary party.

Libertarian Marxism

Libertarian Marxism is a broad scope of economic and political philosophies that emphasize the anti-authoritarian and libertarian aspects of Marxism. Early currents of libertarian Marxism such as left communism emerged in opposition to Marxism–Leninism.

Libertarian Marxism is often critical of reformist positions such as those held by social democrats. Libertarian Marxist currents often draw from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' later works, specifically the Grundrisse and The Civil War in France;emphasizing the Marxist belief in the ability of the working class to forge its own destiny without the need for a state or vanguard party to mediate or aid its liberation. Along with anarchism, libertarian Marxism is one of the main currents of libertarian socialism.

Revisionist Marxism

Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.

Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eventually lead to fundamental changes in a society's political and economic systems. Reformism as a political tendency and hypothesis of social change grew out of opposition to revolutionary socialism, which contends that revolutionary upheaval is a necessary precondition for the structural changes necessary to transform a capitalist system to a qualitatively different socialist system. Responding to a pejorative conception of reformism as non-transformational, non-reformist reform was conceived as a way to prioritize human needs over capitalist needs.

As a doctrine, centre-left reformism is distinguished from centre-right or pragmatic reform which instead aims to safeguard and permeate the status quo by preventing fundamental structural changes to it whereas leftist reformism posits that an accumulation of reforms can eventually lead to the emergence of entirely different economic and political systems than those of present-day capitalism and bureaucracy.

Post-Marxism

Post-Marxism is a trend in political philosophy and social theory which deconstructs Karl Marx's writings and Marxism proper, bypassing orthodox Marxism. The term post-Marxism first appeared in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theoretical work Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. It can be said that post-Marxism as a political theory was developed at the University of Essex by Laclau and Mouffe. Philosophically, post-Marxism counters derivationism and essentialism (for example, it does not see economy as a foundation of politics and the state as an instrument that functions unambiguously and autonomously on behalf of the interests of a given class). Recent overviews of post-Marxism are provided by Ernesto Screpanti, Göran Therborn and Gregory Meyerson.

Although there is no single definition or approach to post-Marxism, it generally involves a series of common characteristics and debates in the political and academic spheres. The following are some of the key aspects of post-Marxism:

• Critique of Orthodox Marxism: Post-Marxism is distinguished by its critique of classical or orthodox Marxism. It criticizes the rigidity and economic determinism that characterized traditional Marxism. Post-Marxists argue that Marxism often underestimated or simplified the complexity of contemporary society.

• Focus on Culture and Ideology: A central feature of post-Marxism is its emphasis on the importance of culture, ideology, and symbolic dimensions in understanding power and political struggle. It is argued that ideas, discourses, and culture play a crucial role in shaping political consciousness and in reproducing power structures.

• Pluralism and Diversity: Post-Marxism tends to be more receptive to the diversity of social struggles and acknowledges the existence of multiple oppressions (such as racism, sexism, colonialism) that may not be fully addressed by an exclusively Marxist perspective.

• Rejection of Economic Determinism: Unlike classical Marxism, post-Marxism tends to reject economic determinism and the concept of the inevitability of proletarian revolution. Instead, it focuses on the importance of human agency and the possibility of social change through various strategies and movements.

• Theory of Hegemony: The theory of hegemony, developed by the Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci, is fundamental to post-Marxism. It argues that power is exercised not only through force but also through the shaping of ideology and culture in society. Post-Marxists explore how elites maintain their power by constructing consensus and directing social norms.

• Intersectionality: Post-Marxism also incorporates concepts of intersectionality, which highlight the interaction of multiple forms of oppression and inequality, such as the intersection of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and more.

Personality

Marxism will usually be portrayed as an amalgamation of Communist archetypes, and of the personality of Karl Marx himself. He will also occasionally be seen educating his various children and the socialist family in general on theory and philosophy.

How to Draw

Main design

[!] Note: While most designs on Polcompball are forbidden to have hair by community rules, Marxism has become an exception.

Marxismball

1. Draw a ball
2. Color the ball Navy Red
3. On the ball, draw a long puffy Gray beard extending from the ball's bottom, and turning into balding hair on top
4. Add a Dark Grey mustache on the front of the ball
5. Draw two eyes
6. (Optional) Give the ball a "Communist Manifesto"

You are done!

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	Navy Red	#C1272D	193, 39, 45
	Dark Gray	#2C2C2C	44, 44, 44
	Grey	#7F7F7F	127, 127, 127

Flag Design

Flag of Marxism

1. Draw a ball
2. Color the ball red
3. Draw a silhouette of Carl Marx's head using black, as seen on the flag design
4. Add two eyes

You're done!

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	Red	#DE0000	222, 0, 0
	Black	#141414	20, 20, 20

Alternative design

Marxismball (Alternative)

1. Draw a ball with eyes.
2. Draw a silhouette of Marx's head. The face and beard should be outlined in grey, with the mustache a darker grey.
3. Make the remaining skin of the ball deep red.

You're done!

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	Deep Red	#ED1D26	237, 29, 38
	Dark Grey	#2C2C2C	44, 44, 44
	Grey	#7F7F7F	127, 127, 127

Relationships

Proletariat

• Socialism - Father knows best.
• Guevarism - Liberty warrior, Latin American son
• Industrialism - We need an industrial society to achieve communism.
• Rosa Luxemburg - You carry my ideas so well! If only the Spartacist revolt had been successful...
• Council Communism - The creation of worker's councils as a basis for the DotP is a great idea!
• Marxist Feminism - My daughter, who recognizes that women can only be free without Capitalism!
• De Leonism - My union-focused nephew who shares most of my ideals.
• Leninism - My son who created the first proletarian revolution, and brought my ideas to the next level
• Accelerationism - Progressing Capitalism to its breaking point to motivate the working class to revolt is a brilliant idea!
• Babouvism - My inspiration!
• Revolutionary Progressivism - Bourgeois society must be done away with if the proletariat is to be liberated!
• Situationism - An unconventional grandnephew of mine who uses fancy language and criticizes consumerism. I'm not quite sure what he's saying, but he seems reasonable.

Lumpenproletariat

• Anarchism - We both agree that the state is bad and should eventually be abolished, but the revolution needs a state, and we disagree on what the state even is.
• Anarcho-Communism - I respect your desire to overthrow capitalism, but a revolution needs a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat. And why do you like B*kunin? Liking both me and him is contradictory.
• State Socialism - Speaking of such, a transitional state is needed in order to fully achieve communism, but should wither away once it is done.
• Hegelianism - One of my greatest teachers who taught me dialetcs, but your idealism won't work.
• Democratic Socialism - Your hearts are in the right place, but socialism is not achievable by electoralism. I remember when Allende tried to get me implemented but got overthrown by neocuck and its helicopter man puppet.
• Neo-Marxism - Good job expanding on my theories. Though some of you are rather liberal, and to be frank, water down my work
• Georgism - He was the founder of a land reform movement; one among many transitional measures. Still a capitalist, however.
• Classical Liberalism - Bourgeois ideology, but good job of unleashing the 1848 revolutions as my ideas can now be practiced in Europe.
• Ricardian Socialism - Massive influence on me and modern socialism in general, but I don't know about markets, and labor isn't the source of all wealth.
• Agrarian Socialism - To give up the soil to the hands of associated rural laborers, would be to surrender society to one exclusive class of producers.
• Christian Socialism - "Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church? Christian Socialism is but the holy water with which the priest consecrates the heart-burnings of the aristocrat."
• Petit Bourgeois Socialism - You're getting there! Reject the third position and embrace my ideas!
• Capitalist Communism - Uhhhh... I don't care to explain.
• Barracks Communism - You are too bureaucratic and fixated on asceticism.
• Dengism - Revisionist but he helps promote me I guess.
• Left-Wing Nationalism & National Communism - "The working men have no country. We cannot take what they do not have. Since the proletariat must, first of all, acquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class of the nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is so far, itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word."
• Egoism - Saint Max, helped me break away from idealism. But I wrote the German ideology specifically for you.
• Scientocracy - I sent you many things and I thought you'd appreciate them! I too seek to utilize evolution for materialism like you, why aren't you a fan of scientific socialism?
• Posadism - Say that again, grandson? Aliens? Nukes? Wait, what?!
• Bio-Posadism - Worldwide revolution isn´t outdated, and you think instead of that communists should release a super-virus that wipes out the majority of human population for collapsing global capitalist system? Well... Ok then.
• Libertarian Marxism - You follow a clear cut revision of marx, furthermore decentralized economics is not the way, and is a inherent product of capitalism not socialist.

Bourgeoisie

• Crapitalism - Understand that your time has come and you are no longer useful or preferable. STOP HANGING ON TO POWER! STOP EXPLOITING THE PROLETARIAT!
• Reactionary Libertarianism - Oh, come on! Capitalism and Feudalism are incompatible by the way.
• Utopian Socialism - Fake socialist.
• National Bolshevism - Uses my ideas, but for absolutely the wrong purposes.
• Neoliberalism - The global dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
• Third Way, Social Capitalism, Social Liberalism, etc. - "I cAn TotAlLY ChAnGe cApITaLiSm i SwEaR!!1" Stop diverting support from me with your welfare and basic worker rights. Capitalism needs crappy conditions for an uprising.
• Social Democracy - You are a disgrace to the family. Not only do you undermine me by saving capitalism, but you murdered my granddaughter. You are hereby disowned, you bourgeoisie traitor. Also Lassalle is a Jewish [REDACTED].
• Russia - Most counter-revolutionary country in the world! Oh wait-
• Pan-Slavism - You are just the tool of the counter-revolutionary Russians! Oh wait-
• Neoconservatism - So... why is being communist a bad thing? You seem to blow things a lot of the time out of proportion.
• Pinochetism - You killed some of my followers, sure. But that clearly doesn't measure up to any of the classicides does it?
• Plutocracy - I don't like to strawman people, it pollutes discourse. But really?
• Neoreactionaryism - You have created an entire system based upon exploiting the worker and acquiring as much capital as possible, and you are proud of it? Really?
• Reactionary Socialism - You forget that you, too, used to be the oppressors and the bourgeoisie exist because of you.
• Bismarckism - You brought me so much struggle.
• Hayekism - An idiot who doesn't understand the difference between price and value.
• Feudalism - Fuck off and and never return!
• Bourgeois Nationalism - Actively divides the working class!
• Bourgeois Reactionary - MY GOD! An even worse version of the other guy...
• Authoritarian Capitalism - A dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and doesn't even attempt to hide it behind liberal rhetoric.
• Right-Wing Populism - Can you stop with all the conspiracy theories about how I'm corrupting the West? It's really embarrassing.
• Pol Potism - WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU TRIED TO PUT MY THEORIES IN PRACTICE WITHOUT EVER FULLY READING MY BOOKS?!
• Nazism - Socialist in name only. Stop burning my books and executing my supporters.
• National Capitalism - Your mask slipped by now.
• Anarcho-Collectivism - Have these gentlemen ever seen a revolution?
• Blanquism - Fake socialist elitist who doesn't care about the proletariat.

Further Information

For overlapping political theory see:

Leninism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism, Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, Trotskyism, Left Communism, & Anarcho-Communism

Literature

• The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
• Capital: Volume 1 by Karl Marx
• Capital: Volume 2 by Karl Marx
• Capital: Volume 3 by Karl Marx
• Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Friedrich Engels
• Critique of the Gotha Programme by Karl Marx
• The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
• The Principles of Communism by Friedrich Engels
• The German Ideology by Karl Marx
• Anti-Dühring by Friedrich Engels
• Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 by Karl Marx
• Political Economy:A Marxist Textbook by John Eaton
• Essays on Marx's Theory of Value by I.I. Rubin
• From Class Society to Communism: An Introduction to Marxism by Ernest Mandel
• The Inevitability of Communism by Paul Mattick
• Marx and Keynes by Paul Mattick
• Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg
• The Accumulation of Capital by Rosa Luxemburg
• Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin
• Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses by Louis Althusser
• For Marx by Louis Althusser
• The State in Capitalist Society by Ralph Miliband
• The Sublime Object of Ideology by Slavoj Žižek
• Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
• An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Marx's Capital by Michael Heinrich
• How to Philosophize With a Hammer and Sickle. by Jonas Ceika
• Marxism: Philosophy And Economics by Thomas Sowell

Wikipedia

• International Workingmen's Association
• Young Marx
• Marxism
• Orthodox Marxism
• Classical Marxism
• Dictatorship of the Proletariat
• Communism
• Labor Theory of Value
• Marxian Economics
• Paris Commune
• Commodity (Marxism)
• Economic Determinism
• Historical Materialism
• Dialectical Materialism
• Capital Accumulation
• Mode of Production
• Scientific Socialism
• Metabolic Rift
• Proletariat
• Marxist State Theory
• Proletarian Internationalism
• Base and Superstructure
• Communist Society
• Class Struggle
• Ideology (Marxism)

People

• Karl Marx
• Friedrich Engels
• Eduard Bernstein
• Rosa Luxemburg
• Karl Kautsky
• Daniel De Leon
• Vladimir Lenin
• Alexandra Kollontai
• Leon Trotsky
• Nikolai Bukharin
• Amadeo Bordiga
• Antonio Gramsci
• Enrico Berlinguer
• Herbert Marcuse
• Theodor W. Adorno
• Louis Althusser
• Ralph Miliband
• Salvador Allende
• José Mujica
• David Harvey
• Slavoj Žižek
• Mark Fisher
• Mansoor Hekmat

YouTube

Videos

• What Is Marxism? by Ryan Chapman
• Karl Marx: The Socialist Revolutionary by Biographics
• THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO SUMMARY | Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels explained with quotes by Halim Alrah
• Why Communism is a Failed Religion by Whatifalthist

Channels

• azureScapegoat
• Hakim
• Red Plateaus
• Jonas Čeika - CCK Philosophy
• História Cabeluda
• Philosophy Tube

Gallery

Portraits and Artwork

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  Prominent portrait

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  Ancient portrait

• 

  9x9 Compass

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  "Ideological World Map 1939" by u/duy_physics, Source

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  9x9 Compass by TheLegend2T, Source

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  "If leftist ideologies were RPG characters" by Roxxagon, Source

Alternative designs

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  Hairless design

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Comics

• 

  Credit: OzymandiasFR, Source

• 

  Credit: u/Ioseb_Besarionis, Source

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  Credit: u/Left-Alex, Source

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  "Ideological history of France" by K-Tech, Source

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