The Problem of Global Capitalism

After one hundred and fifty years, Avineri’s reassessment of The Communist Manifesto’s close minded view of capitalism as an unchanging industry “dependent largely on machinery that was powered by steam derived from burning coal” raises interesting issues. The Communist Manifesto presents a compelling and eloquent argument misused by power-hungry oligarchs of history and Avineri asserts [...]

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Leveling the Playing Field: Marx and Modern Technology

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels explored the struggle and inequality between social classes in The Communist Manifesto as on of the major faults of capitalism.  The Manifesto focus on the distinction between the upper-class, capital-owning bourgeoisie and the working-class proletariat – two classes sustained by a capitalist society.  The inequality encompasses the exploitation of the [...]

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Marx and Globalization

The idea of a communist revolution happening here and now seems ridiculous to us. Why? Because we believe that capitalism has evolved to a point at which there is no longer a bourgeoisie oppressing the proletariat, and instead, a large middle class that functions without oppression, through the principles of self-advancement, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Jobs [...]

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Worshipping Poverty in America

The undeniable fact is that poverty is worshipped in America. While class mobility is held as the highest regard in American ideals, it is hardly a reality for the vast majority of those that fall below the poverty line. Ignoring the rich who worship the separation between the masses and themselves, the fact of the [...]

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Two-Face Marx

               Karl Marx can be seen two people, one who documented history as it was, and the other who was a political activist. The two, however, seem to be disjointed at times in his writings. Marx says in The Communist Manifesto, “…We traced the more or less veiled civil war…up to the point where that war breaks out into [...]

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The German Ideology and Japan

After reading Marx and Engles The German Ideology it was apparent that based on their definition of a tribes, ancient communal and feudal systems still existed even in this fast paced so called modern world. Most people would tend to assume that these kinds of systems are in place in third world countries in places [...]

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The Instruments of Production: Marx & The Music Industry

A specter looms over the Music Industry—threatening the present social order of proletariat artist and the bourgeoisie record executive. Like many of the products we buy, music is something that we enjoy every day, but are completely oblivious to the exploitative systems by which it is created. The glimmering facade of wealth, power, and happiness [...]

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Marxist Communism and Freud

Who leads Marx’s communist state? From the limited Marx and Engels readings that we have covered in our class, I have come to understand Marx’s idea of the communist state as, if not naïve, at least an incomplete one.  I base this analysis particularly on pages 808 and 809, in the “Communist Manifesto” section of [...]

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Rousseau and Marx on Inequality

I actually started writing this a while ago, not long after we finished reading Rousseau, so some of this may seem fairly obvious now that we’ve begun reading Marx. Either way, I think this should be helpful for drawing parallels between the two writers. ———————— The issue of inequalities between people has been the focus [...]

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Social Class and further Education

Marx brings up the subject of social class. In fact, he stresses it. Social class is a huge part of what defines us as a person. He breaks it down to what we do for a living, where we live. I think we break it down to how much money we make. Marx thinks that [...]

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