Hawk1981
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- Apr 1, 2020
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In America it proved to be very difficult to instill class consciousness in Marxist terms. Perplexed Marxist theoreticians repeatedly asked why there should be no socialism in the United States, one of the most industrialized nations. They could only speculate that American labor was "backward" in lacking a sophisticated sense of its own proletarian status, as a consequence of which it could not appreciate the logic of socialist doctrine. Such an analysis implied that a primary task of American socialists must be educational.
Karl Marx derived from the philosopher Hegel the idea that the historical process is a basic dimension of reality and that this process should be guided towards the realization of ideals of brotherhood, justice, and equality. Marx stated his ethical ideal in the doctrine: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." The possibilities of change were limited by the existing conditions at any moment because change must develop out of these conditions. Marx was a close student of his contemporary society in Western Europe, especially of what he took to be its dominant feature, the institutions of industrial capitalism.
Rejecting the enlightened ideals of rational accommodation, harmony of interests, and individual fulfillment, Marx emphasized a romantic glorification of conflict. All history, he taught, is the history of class struggle. He would foment conflict by setting employee against employer, and wherever it did not exist he would attempt to stimulate it by awakening a sense of class consciousness and teaching people to perceive the conflict of interests of which they had previously been aware.
Industrialism in Europe had grown up within traditional class structured societies. Industrial capitalists (bourgeoisie) readily accommodated themselves to the existing class structure, assuming a privileged position and often intermarrying with aristocrats. At the same time, the new industrial labor (proletariat) had no difficulty in perceiving their lowly status in traditional class terms. American socialist thought in the early 20th century now appears as a kind of political interlude closely related to the last generation of massive European immigration. For it was immigrants who brought Marxian socialism to America, and whose children and grandchildren failed to perpetuate it.
Perceptive radical leaders sadly noted that immigrants who brought to America their sense of class distinctions often found that attractive career opportunities were open here to them or their children, tempting them to put personal goals ahead of class solidarity.
Marxist theory affirmed that the industrial mode of production was the determinative social relationship, and that the national state was one of its products. But during the century between 1850 and 1950 most industrialized states did not behave as though their governments were committees of the bourgeoisie. On the basis of his theory Marx could hardly have predicted one of the great facts of the twentieth century, namely that successful socialist revolutions would without exception occur in economically underdeveloped countries. The economic evolution of capitalism did not bring the crisis of class conflict and revolution in highly industrialized countries that Marx had predicted.
Karl Marx derived from the philosopher Hegel the idea that the historical process is a basic dimension of reality and that this process should be guided towards the realization of ideals of brotherhood, justice, and equality. Marx stated his ethical ideal in the doctrine: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." The possibilities of change were limited by the existing conditions at any moment because change must develop out of these conditions. Marx was a close student of his contemporary society in Western Europe, especially of what he took to be its dominant feature, the institutions of industrial capitalism.
Rejecting the enlightened ideals of rational accommodation, harmony of interests, and individual fulfillment, Marx emphasized a romantic glorification of conflict. All history, he taught, is the history of class struggle. He would foment conflict by setting employee against employer, and wherever it did not exist he would attempt to stimulate it by awakening a sense of class consciousness and teaching people to perceive the conflict of interests of which they had previously been aware.
Industrialism in Europe had grown up within traditional class structured societies. Industrial capitalists (bourgeoisie) readily accommodated themselves to the existing class structure, assuming a privileged position and often intermarrying with aristocrats. At the same time, the new industrial labor (proletariat) had no difficulty in perceiving their lowly status in traditional class terms. American socialist thought in the early 20th century now appears as a kind of political interlude closely related to the last generation of massive European immigration. For it was immigrants who brought Marxian socialism to America, and whose children and grandchildren failed to perpetuate it.
Perceptive radical leaders sadly noted that immigrants who brought to America their sense of class distinctions often found that attractive career opportunities were open here to them or their children, tempting them to put personal goals ahead of class solidarity.
Marxist theory affirmed that the industrial mode of production was the determinative social relationship, and that the national state was one of its products. But during the century between 1850 and 1950 most industrialized states did not behave as though their governments were committees of the bourgeoisie. On the basis of his theory Marx could hardly have predicted one of the great facts of the twentieth century, namely that successful socialist revolutions would without exception occur in economically underdeveloped countries. The economic evolution of capitalism did not bring the crisis of class conflict and revolution in highly industrialized countries that Marx had predicted.