An outline history of the Communist movement of the world - Book excerpts & review - part 2
An outline history of the Communist movement of the world - Book excerpts & review - part 2
Thesis on Feuerbach- early ideas
In his Thesis on Fauerbach, young Marx wrote that it was not enough to understand the earthly
basis of religions and the condition for elimination of religion was the revolutionary removal of the social contradictions. Eleventh thesis was considered to be very important wherein he says: "The philosophers
have only interpreted the world in various ways and the point is to change it. So the understanding here is
that it is not enough to interpret the world, but it has to be changed by revolutionary force".
The communist league
In the year 1847, Marx and Engels became part of a workers alliance called League of the just
organization which was based in Paris and London. It was a secret communist commune in those days.
In its Congress on 2.6.1847, Engels' document in the name of 'Draft of Communist Confession of Faith' was adopted and the name of the orgn. was also changed into Communist League. Motto of the orgn was " Workers of the world, unite " which was suggested by Marx & Engels.This was the first international working class orgn which openly advocated scientific communism and proletarian internationalism.Definition of many communist terminologies like proletariat, communists were coined in the document.
Communist Manifesto
Communist League's 2nd Congress which was held in London in Nov 1847 requested Marx and Engels to write a Program for the League in the form of a Manifesto and the Manifesto is the now famously called Communist Manifesto.The manifesto was an improvement to the already existing communist document
"Communist confession of faith". It was to be the first document in the world to extensively deal with
Capital and labor, production, competition in businesses, effects of industrial revolution in transforming society, the role of machines and other mechanical devices, how these developments delivered the entire
industry into the hands of a few capitalists and how the workers were left with nothing.
The manifesto not only identified the evolution of developments in the society in historical perspective
but also gave its prescriptions for solving the problems created due to those developments. Abolition of private property is the most vital solution prescribed for eradication and removal of all the contradictions in the society. The manifesto notes that it would just be impossible to abolish all private property at one stroke and it has to be done gradually and the revolution of the proletariat will achieve the necessary means of production. With the result of Industrial revolution and free competition, scale of production increased manifold disproportionate to the needs of the society which would result in prosperity and crisis every
5-7 years.
Whenever crisis hits industry, it will result in suffering of toiling masses and full scale poverty.
The bouts of prosperity and crisis will make the proletariat's condition more miserable and unendurable.
For the sake of increase in profits, the bourgeois class will suck them clean and dry. Eventually proletarian revolution will happen thereby all private ownership will first be curtailed through heavy taxation, high inheritance taxes and abolition of inheritance where there are no direct heirs to property. Competition in all areas of production will also be removed. Education, health, transport services will be in the hands of nation. If it is not possible to carry out all these things in one go, one will lead to another. Division of labour and Urban and Rural divide will also be done away with. Proletariat classes of all the countries will have links and so this revolution will impact the whole world. With the abolition of private assets, the dependence on existing system of marriage will get destroyed. All children will be educated communally.The manifesto says that community of women belong to bourgeois society which is the root cause of prostitution. The communist organisation puts an end to it.
(My take - It was a brilliant idea of Marx to clearly distinguish through a new scientific theory, the
toiling workers as Proletariat and the people who employ them as bourgeois. Proletarians
were identified as the oppressed classes or labor. That was the first time such a clear cut definition was
made and Marxism was the major factor for unifying these classes for larger goals like better working conditions, fixed hours for work and other benefits. Even though trade unions existed before them, they had no proper direction and successes were only a few and far between.Millions and millions of people were connected resulted in the dawn of new history in the lives of poor and marginalized people who started to unite like never before and it changed the course of history. Before Marx and communism, there were only two classes of people, the aristocrats, the governing class and the governed. There were aristocratic and noble classes in society who were not doing anything and it was considered a virtue those days and doing work was frowned upon by them as low class. Only after the advent of Marxism in the world, worship of
any work is considered to be sacred and to be idle is looked down upon as lazy and indecent
The communist ideas hastened democratization of many countries. In the many newly born democratized countries, new intermediary class called middle class have grown massive in number as well as in strength.We will discuss later the impact of communism in the countries where it was implemented. Only due to the impact of communist ideas a very large number of poor countries became independent which also inspired the then semi barbaric- in the words of Marx-countries like India and china.
It is well known that in capitalistic countries like US, France, UK,Germany etc, workers are well paid today to lead a very decent standard of living. I read in an article that we can hear someone say in London, " It is better to be a Plumber than a doctor in London", because plumbers are so well paid than even Doctors in UK these days. Minimum wages are strictly adhered to. We all know the plight of Indian diplomat in US Devyani Khobrabade for not paying the minimum wage to her maid. In the US, if one earns below $ 11490 he will be considered a poor man. In rupee terms, it is more than 7 lakhs. Even middle class income levels do not touch that figure in India. Do these indicate success of free market capitalism? Many would say yes. I think these countries have not come to these level of wages for their workers in one day. It has been made possible not due to benevolence of capitalist masters but on account of the continuous struggle made by proletariat class inspired by Marxian ideology all over the world, the fruits of better wages and working conditions are reaped by the working class in these countries. We must remember Trade Unions still function actively in these countries taking care of the needs of working population)
Thesis on Feuerbach- early ideas
In his Thesis on Fauerbach, young Marx wrote that it was not enough to understand the earthly
basis of religions and the condition for elimination of religion was the revolutionary removal of the social contradictions. Eleventh thesis was considered to be very important wherein he says: "The philosophers
have only interpreted the world in various ways and the point is to change it. So the understanding here is
that it is not enough to interpret the world, but it has to be changed by revolutionary force".
The communist league
In the year 1847, Marx and Engels became part of a workers alliance called League of the just
organization which was based in Paris and London. It was a secret communist commune in those days.
In its Congress on 2.6.1847, Engels' document in the name of 'Draft of Communist Confession of Faith' was adopted and the name of the orgn. was also changed into Communist League. Motto of the orgn was " Workers of the world, unite " which was suggested by Marx & Engels.This was the first international working class orgn which openly advocated scientific communism and proletarian internationalism.Definition of many communist terminologies like proletariat, communists were coined in the document.
Communist Manifesto
Communist League's 2nd Congress which was held in London in Nov 1847 requested Marx and Engels to write a Program for the League in the form of a Manifesto and the Manifesto is the now famously called Communist Manifesto.The manifesto was an improvement to the already existing communist document
"Communist confession of faith". It was to be the first document in the world to extensively deal with
Capital and labor, production, competition in businesses, effects of industrial revolution in transforming society, the role of machines and other mechanical devices, how these developments delivered the entire
industry into the hands of a few capitalists and how the workers were left with nothing.
The manifesto not only identified the evolution of developments in the society in historical perspective
but also gave its prescriptions for solving the problems created due to those developments. Abolition of private property is the most vital solution prescribed for eradication and removal of all the contradictions in the society. The manifesto notes that it would just be impossible to abolish all private property at one stroke and it has to be done gradually and the revolution of the proletariat will achieve the necessary means of production. With the result of Industrial revolution and free competition, scale of production increased manifold disproportionate to the needs of the society which would result in prosperity and crisis every
5-7 years.
Whenever crisis hits industry, it will result in suffering of toiling masses and full scale poverty.
The bouts of prosperity and crisis will make the proletariat's condition more miserable and unendurable.
For the sake of increase in profits, the bourgeois class will suck them clean and dry. Eventually proletarian revolution will happen thereby all private ownership will first be curtailed through heavy taxation, high inheritance taxes and abolition of inheritance where there are no direct heirs to property. Competition in all areas of production will also be removed. Education, health, transport services will be in the hands of nation. If it is not possible to carry out all these things in one go, one will lead to another. Division of labour and Urban and Rural divide will also be done away with. Proletariat classes of all the countries will have links and so this revolution will impact the whole world. With the abolition of private assets, the dependence on existing system of marriage will get destroyed. All children will be educated communally.The manifesto says that community of women belong to bourgeois society which is the root cause of prostitution. The communist organisation puts an end to it.
(My take - It was a brilliant idea of Marx to clearly distinguish through a new scientific theory, the
toiling workers as Proletariat and the people who employ them as bourgeois. Proletarians
were identified as the oppressed classes or labor. That was the first time such a clear cut definition was
made and Marxism was the major factor for unifying these classes for larger goals like better working conditions, fixed hours for work and other benefits. Even though trade unions existed before them, they had no proper direction and successes were only a few and far between.Millions and millions of people were connected resulted in the dawn of new history in the lives of poor and marginalized people who started to unite like never before and it changed the course of history. Before Marx and communism, there were only two classes of people, the aristocrats, the governing class and the governed. There were aristocratic and noble classes in society who were not doing anything and it was considered a virtue those days and doing work was frowned upon by them as low class. Only after the advent of Marxism in the world, worship of
any work is considered to be sacred and to be idle is looked down upon as lazy and indecent
The communist ideas hastened democratization of many countries. In the many newly born democratized countries, new intermediary class called middle class have grown massive in number as well as in strength.We will discuss later the impact of communism in the countries where it was implemented. Only due to the impact of communist ideas a very large number of poor countries became independent which also inspired the then semi barbaric- in the words of Marx-countries like India and china.
It is well known that in capitalistic countries like US, France, UK,Germany etc, workers are well paid today to lead a very decent standard of living. I read in an article that we can hear someone say in London, " It is better to be a Plumber than a doctor in London", because plumbers are so well paid than even Doctors in UK these days. Minimum wages are strictly adhered to. We all know the plight of Indian diplomat in US Devyani Khobrabade for not paying the minimum wage to her maid. In the US, if one earns below $ 11490 he will be considered a poor man. In rupee terms, it is more than 7 lakhs. Even middle class income levels do not touch that figure in India. Do these indicate success of free market capitalism? Many would say yes. I think these countries have not come to these level of wages for their workers in one day. It has been made possible not due to benevolence of capitalist masters but on account of the continuous struggle made by proletariat class inspired by Marxian ideology all over the world, the fruits of better wages and working conditions are reaped by the working class in these countries. We must remember Trade Unions still function actively in these countries taking care of the needs of working population)
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