Marxism: 7 Important Writers and Concepts

Marxism is a political philosophy and socioeconomic analysis method that was developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century. It is based on the principles of dialectical materialist interpretation of historical development and is also known as historical materialism.

The main ideas of Marxism are:

• Class struggle: The conflict between different classes in society
• Alienation: The estrangement of people from their humanity
• Critique of capitalism: The belief that capitalism is unsustainable and cannot improve living standards
• Historical materialism: The idea that history is driven by conflict between different classes in society

The important concepts associated with Marxism are:

• Dialectical materialism: A dialectical materialist interpretation of historical development.
• Materialism: The base/superstructure problem.
• Commodities, capital, capitalism: Concepts that shape human life in the 21st century.
• Labour and surplus-value: Labour is the source of value, and the capitalist class exploits the working class by paying them less than the value of their labour in the form of surplus-value.
• The working class: The class that does not own the means of production and has to sell its labour power to survive.
• Alienation: The estrangement of people from their humanity.
• Means of communication and the general intellect: The means of communication are at the heart of the capitalist mode of production, and the general intellect refers to the collective knowledge and skills of the working class.
• Ideology: A system of ideas that justifies the rule of the capitalist class.
• Socialism and communism: Socialist and communist societies are based on the collective ownership of the means of production, and the goal of communism is to create a classless society.
• Class struggles: The fundamental driving force of history is the struggle between different classes within society who contradict one another.
• Historical materialism: The economic structure of society is the real foundation on which the legal and political superstructure rises.
• Economic structure: The economic structure includes the material forces of production and the relations of production.
• Superstructure: The superstructure consists of legal and political forms of social consciousness that correspond to the economic structure.

Here are some literary works related to Marxism:

• The German Ideology: This book was written by Marx in 1845 and explains his theory.
• Grundrisse: This book was written by Marx in 1858 and explains the fundamentals of Marxism.
• A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy: This book was written by Marx in 1859 and explains the economic aspects of Marxism.
• The Civil War in France: This book was written by Marx and Engels and explains the Marxist belief in the ability of the working class.
• The Communist Manifesto: This book was written by Marx and Engels and explains the principles of Marxism.
• Das Kapital: This book was written by Marx and explains how capitalism works and how it will inevitably lead to a proletarian revolution.

7 writers and their works associated with Marxism:

• Karl Marx
  o The German Ideology
  o Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
  o The Communist Manifesto
  o Capital
• Friedrich Engels
  o The Communist Manifesto
  o The Condition of the Working Class in England
  o Dialectics of Nature
  o The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
• Vladimir Lenin
  o What is to be Done?
  o Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
  o The State and Revolution
  o Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder
• Leon Trotsky
  o The Permanent Revolution
  o The History of the Russian Revolution
  o The Revolution Betrayed
  o In Defense of Marxism
• Mao Zedong
  o Quotations from Chairman Mao
  o On New Democracy
  o On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
  o Critique of Soviet Economics

• Louis Althusser

He was a French Marxist philosopher who made significant contributions to Marxist theory. His contributions include:

• Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs): Althusser argued that ideology is not just a reflection of economic conditions but is also a material force that shapes social relations. He introduced the concept of ISAs, which refers to institutions such as education, media, and religion that perpetuate dominant ideologies.
• Interpellation: Althusser developed the concept of interpellation, which describes how individuals are “hailed” or addressed by ideology, and how they respond to this hailing by recognizing themselves as subjects of the ideology.
• Overdetermination: Althusser argued that social and economic contradictions are overdetermined, meaning that they are the result of multiple causes and cannot be reduced to a single factor.
• Aleatory Materialism: Althusser developed a philosophical approach that emphasizes the role of chance and unpredictability in history. He argued that historical events are the result of a complex interplay of factors and cannot be reduced to deterministic or mechanistic explanations.
• Critique of Humanism: Althusser criticized humanist interpretations of Marxism, arguing that they obscure the scientific and revolutionary aspects of Marxist theory. He advocated for a more scientific and theoretical approach to Marxism.
• Structuralist Marxism: Althusser’s work is associated with structuralist Marxism, which emphasizes the structural relationships between social and economic phenomena. He argued that social and economic structures are more important than individual actions or events in shaping historical development.

• Fredric Jameson

He is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist, known for his work on contemporary cultural trends, postmodernity and capitalism. His contributions to Marxism include:

• Marxist literary theory: His research on Marxist literary theory led to the establishment of a Marxist Literary Group at the University of California in 1969.
• Dialectical perspective: He viewed postmodernism from a dialectical perspective in his work “Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (1991).
• Critique of postmodernism: He critiqued postmodernism, arguing that it is the cultural logic of late capitalism.
• Artistic mode of production: His book “The Political Unconscious” (1981) established Marxian literary criticism, centered in the notion of an artistic mode of production.
• Ideologeme: He described the ideologeme, or “the smallest intelligible unit of the essentially antagonistic collective discourses of social classes.”
• Impact in China: His work “Postmodernism and Cultural Theories” had an influence on Chinese thinkers and scholars.

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