Q. How were the ideas of Marxism derived from French Revolution,
social
and economic conditions of the time, and German philosophy?
There are many different ways to approach this question, I am
providing you with what may be considered a general approach to
history.
Marx wrote in the historical context of two major historical events,
political and economic, that together set the stage for a social
transformation.
The political events were revolutions, including the English and
French revolutions.
The French revolution capped a period of revolution (including the
English revolution) that transformed society from a "religious"
society organized and led by the clergy and the aristocracy, to a
society organized and led by other groups (or classes), including a
more independent military, a merchant class, the peasants and the
artisians.
Perhpas the most common and traditional traditional interpretation of
history, with respect to the relationship between Marx and the French
Revolution is echoed by Steven Kreis, who writes,
"The French Revolution did not directly produce the 19th century
ideologies known as socialism or communism. But the Revolution did
provide an intellectual and social environment in which these
ideologies, and their spokesmen, could flourish."
In effect, the author assumes that the French revolution was directed
at political and social change against the notion that an aristocracy,
including a King, had a divine right to rule (in everyday language,
you might think of it the French revolution as a coalition of the
clergy and aristocracy versus the rest of society, i.e., peasants,
artisians and merchants). The revolution brought forth the idea that
peasants, artisians and the merchant (to some degree) had a right to
determine their lives and the shape of their society. As society
became more open, the idea of critiquing society and seeking social
change became a more accepted part of the mainstream.
At the same time, the move to an industrial based (versus agriculture)
society set in motion economic changes that would spur continued
criticisms that linked Marx's thoughts with the earlier and later
forms of socialist thinking. Before going down that route, I would
like to present a brief outline of Marx's relationship to German
Philosophy.
Marx himself, contrasted his approach to philosophy and history to the
German philosopher Hegel. Marx was a materialist in the sense that he
saw history in terms of the material forces of society as the
governing factors that organized society. Hegel took the opposite view
and believed there were ideas, (non-material entities) that were the
guides for history. Hegel thought that there was what might be
considered a perfect state of reason that governed reality.
There is a good page from Case Western Reserve University that talks
about the differences between Marx and Hegel that says,
"Marx adopted Hegel’s notions of evolution through history, and the
idea of the dialectic. Marx saw himself as furthering these notions,
by separating them from Hegel’s idealism. In an effort to be more
empirically based, Marx replaced Absolute spirit with human material
desire, and reinterpreted Hegel’s dialectic. "The way things are"
became a given thesis, "the conflict," became it’s antithesis, and
"resolution," became a synthesis of both. The epochs which Hegel
supposed to be stages of consciousness in Absolute mind become for
Marx economically based stages of evolution in human society."
Useful Resources:
The French Revolution and the Socialist Tradition: Early French
Communists
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture19a.html
Philosophical Notes on Hegel and Marx
http://home.cwru.edu/~ngb2/Pages/Impor_Phil_Notes.html
Q. "What relationship did Marxism have to earlier and later forms of
socialism?"
Again this is another highly debated question. One of the most common
"general" ways to approach the question is to consider Marx's work as
a critique of the social system in the wake of the rise of the
industrial revolution. His opposition to a capitalistist system was
similar to the writings of earlier socialists such as Charles Fourier,
Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon, the Utopian Socialists of the
early 19th century.
In a collective sense, the Utopian Socialists were also critical of
the effect that the move to an industrial society had on the common
man, the worker, and on society as a whole.
Again, I would like to refer to the work of Steven Kreis, who writes,
"Although there were those thinkers who were critical of the
Industrial Revolution and wanted to return to some pre-modern state of
existence, there were other critics who saw that industry and
industrial capitalism were here to stay. For these individuals, it was
a forward-looking socialism which would help make sense of all these
changes for the benefit of mankind."
The question of Marx's relationship to later socialists becomes a bit
more difficult to explain because of the range of "socialist" thinking
that srpung up after Marx.
You could, for example, think of "socialist" thinking in economic,
political or social terms. From an economic standpoint, some
socialists would think the primary question of importance would be for
government to own the factors of production, i.e., government
ownership of industry. The Socialism Web Site takes that approach by
saying,
"In a socialist society the means of production [1] are owned by the
workers rather than by a rich minority of capitalists or
functionaries. Such a system of ownership is both collective and
individual in nature."
On the other hand, you have political movements in Europe known as
"social democrats" that clearly accept the notion of private property
and private ownership of industry, but at the same time they look to
use the power of the state to build legislation that favors workers
rights and generally redistributes wealth in society.
There is a good essay called "The various ways of social democracy in
Europe" that says,
"In Western Europe at least four different paths can be identified
that represent a distinct programmatic, strategic and political
profile: the market-oriented way of New Labour, the market and
consensus-oriented way of the Dutch polder model, the reformed-welfare
state way of the Swedish (and Danish) social democrats, and the
statist way of the French socialists".
The Utopian Socialists: Charles Fourier
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture21a.html
The Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen and Saint-Simon
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture22a.html
Internet History Sourcebook: Socialism
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook33.html
What is Socialism
http://www.historyexplained.com/index.php/ebook/main/14/event=read
The Socialism Web Site
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dmcm/
The various ways of social democracy in Europe
http://www.fes.or.kr/Publications/pub/The%20Third%20Ways/TW3.html
To later communism?
Again the question is a bit broad. We've seen two large states, China
and the Soviet Union adopt a Marxist ideology. Neither state followed
the tradition revolutionary path outlined by Marx of a worker's
revolution. Rather it was a peasant revolution. The same can be said
for more contemporary Marxist states such as Cuba.
The general theme tying all the post-Marxist communist ideologies was
the idea that the state should own the means of production and that a
centrally planned economy is the way to promote economic development
(as opposed to the capitalist idea of private ownership of property
and the idea that market forces determing demand and supply of goods).
On the other hand, you could identify a common theme of Marxist
thinking in terms of social criticism. Marx's pholisophy was a
critique of capitalism as it developed in the age of political and
social revolution. An extension of this type of critical thinking in
terms of political, economic and social change comes from a group of
scholars collectively known as the Frankfurt School.
They were intellectuals who gathered together between the two world
wars to reflect on social changes of the day. According to the Web
site "An Introduction to the Frankfurt School"
"They formed reactions that were attempts to reconcile Marxist theory
with the reality of what the people and governments of the world were
going through. Each member of the Frankfurt school adjusted Marxism
with his additions, or "fix" if you will. They then used the "fixed"
Marxist theory as a measure modern society needed to meet. These ideas
came to be known as "Critical Theory."
Additional Resources:
Marxism and the Fundamental Problems of the 20th Century
http://www.wsws.org/exhibits/iss-98.htm
An Introduction to the Frankfurt School
http://home.cwru.edu/~ngb2/Pages/Intro.html
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