MARXISM
Class • Exploitation • Revolution • Historical Materialism
1️⃣ WHAT IS MARXISM?
Marxism is a revolutionary political ideology developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Core belief: Economic structure determines political and social structure.
- Class struggle is central to history
- Capitalism exploits workers
- Revolution is necessary
- Final aim → Classless society
2️⃣ HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
History moves through material (economic) forces, not ideas.
- Primitive Communism
- Slave Society
- Feudalism
- Capitalism
- Socialism
- Communism
Change happens through class conflict.
3️⃣ BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE
Base = Economic structure (mode of production) Superstructure = State, law, religion, ideology
Economic base shapes political institutions.
4️⃣ THEORY OF EXPLOITATION
Workers create surplus value. Capitalists appropriate surplus value.
This leads to alienation and inequality.
5️⃣ ALIENATION
- Alienation from product
- Alienation from process
- Alienation from others
- Alienation from self
6️⃣ STATE IN MARXISM
State is an instrument of class domination.
In capitalism → State protects bourgeoisie. After revolution → Dictatorship of the proletariat. Final stage → Withering away of state.
7️⃣ REVOLUTION
Workers will develop class consciousness. Revolution is inevitable due to contradictions of capitalism.
8️⃣ LATER DEVELOPMENTS
🟣 Lenin
Vanguard party leads revolution.
🟣 Gramsci
Hegemony – ruling class controls through consent.
🟣 Althusser
Ideological State Apparatus.
9️⃣ CRITICISMS
- Economic determinism
- Failed communist states
- Ignores middle class
- Underestimates nationalism
📝 UPSC MAINS QUESTIONS
- Explain historical materialism and its relevance today.
- Is the state merely an instrument of class domination?
- Discuss alienation in Marx.
- Evaluate Gramsci’s theory of hegemony.
QUICK REVISION MAP
- Core → Class struggle
- Method → Historical materialism
- Capitalism → Exploitation
- Revolution → Proletariat uprising
- End → Classless society
Marxism critiques capitalism deeply — but practice and theory diverge.
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