Russian HistoryRussian HistoryQuestionsQuestions

By: Jenny Zhao and Chris Zhu

Who was Karl Marx?Who was Karl Marx?

Karl Marx was a Prussian-German philosopher

• very significant role in the creation of social sciences and the development of the socialist movement• came up with theories about society, economics and politics which are collectively known as Marxism• Marx also stated that socialism would eventually be replaced by a stateless, classless society (communism)

MarxisMarxismm

Karl MarxKarl Marx

Summary of the Summary of the Communist Manifesto’s Communist Manifesto’s main pointsmain points

•Introduction: states that Europe fears communism, should put forward their ideas•Section 1 – Bourgeois and Proletarians: All societal history is a history of class struggles

•The working class (proletariat) are exploited by the owners of the means of production (bourgeois) through low wages and private property•The proletariat gain power through revolutions, and this class struggle will always exist as long as there is capitalism

• Section 2 – Proletarians and Communists: communists will do everything in their power to help the proletarians' goals/needs

• will not form a separate group from the proletarians, or oppose them• continues to defend communism, made lists of short-term goals/demands like, remove inheritance, equal responsibility to work

• Section 3 - Socialist and Communist Literature: distinguishes communism from all other kinds of socialism•Section 4 or Ending - “Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Opposition Parties”: Talks about communist position in other countries (France, Switzerland)•Predicts world revolution against the bourgeois•“Workers of the world, unite!”

Summerize the main idea of Das KapitalSummerize the main idea of Das Kapital

•an analysis of political economy

•Volume 1 - meant to reveal contradictions of the capitalist production method and that the class struggle was caused by those social relations in production

•Volume 2, The Process of Circulation of Capital - explains main ideas behind the marketplace

•explains how value and surplus-value are created•in this volume, proletariat and the bourgeois, but the money owner, merchant, trader and entrepreneur (hence the marketplace)

•Volume 3, The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole - essentially says that as the fixed capital (monetary) requirements of production increase the rate of profit begins to fall

•Due to this trend/pattern, there will be an eventual collapse of capitalism•This collapse then needs that a completely new form of production must be created•Has 7 sections in this volume dividing each subjects

DefinitionsDefinitionsCapitalism: an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, with the goal of making a profit (America, Germany, India)

Socialism: an economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy (China, Finland, Denmark)

Totalitarianism: a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and has control of all aspects of public and private life (North Korea, Soviet Union, Nazi Germany)

Fascism: a form of radical authoritarian nationalism, seeking to unify the nation through a totalitarian state that promotes the mass mobilization of the national community (Italy, Indonesia, Syria)

Democracy: a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives (Canada, France, Australia)

Proletariat: a term used to describe the lower social class, usually the working class

Capitalism