4.3 Rejection of Liberalism: Soviet Union

Is resistance to liberalism justified?



Big Ideas:

  • Appreciate how citizens and citizenship are affected by the promotion of ideological principles.
  • Appreciate that individuals and groups may adhere to various ideologies.
  • Analyze ideological systems that rejected liberalism.
  • Evaluate the extent to which resistance to liberalism is justified.

Karl Marx and Communism

    In Unit 3, you learned how classical liberalism introduced rights, freedoms, and equality, both politically and economically, during the 19th century (1800s). As you well know, not everything about classical liberal ideology was viewed as beneficial. In fact, as liberalism developed and evolved, liberal ideology produced several negative conditions that did not benefit society, especially the workers.

    Robert Owen and Charles Fourier argued for communities in which individual rights and freedoms existed beside capitalist industry, but they were moderated by collective values. Owen and Fourier were utopian socialists who believed that the common good was served best by introducing peaceful reforms to classical liberalism that would benefit society and not just the rich capitalists.

    Karl Marx, a socialist thinker, argued that laissez-faire capitalism resulted only in slavery for the working classes. Marx rejected liberalist values and promoted wholly collectivist values. Marx developed the socialist ideology of communism. Until about 1990, communism existed in the former Soviet Union (now Russia) and in most Eastern European countries. Today, communism exists in China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba.


    Karl Marx (1817-1883)

    Marx, along with other thinkers of the 19th century, experienced the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution in his native Germany. Industrialization brought about terrible living and working conditions. Men, women, and children worked long hours in unhealthy conditions for minimal pay. The utterly desperate conditions of the large numbers of working class poor were in stark contrast to the wealth of the few capitalists. It was a time characterized by inequality in which only the wealthy were really free


    Please watch the following video explaining Karl Marx:


     



    Please watch the following video explaining Karl Marx and Communism:


     



    Marxism—Karl Marx and His Theory of Communism

    In the Communist Manifesto, Marx called upon workers everywhere to get together and rid themselves of capitalists and capitalism:

    " Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains! "

    According to Marx, workers are individually enslaved, but together they are a force that could change the world. The workers would develop a new society based on equality and freedom. The first step towards that society would be violent revolution. Revolution would occur not because conditions were really bad and needed improving, but because it was inevitable. Nothing could stop it.

    Marx believed that human history was an ongoing class conflict. That is, history was a struggle between the class of people who owned the means of production (the bourgeoisie—capitalists who owned the means of production) and the class of people that did not (the proletariat—the workers). According to Marx, this conflict would result in a revolution of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, producing a new communist society.

    If a new classless society based on cooperation were constructed, government would be unnecessary. Simple worker's organizations would ensure the communist goal: "...from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." In other words, the common good would be taken care of collectively because each worker would provide for society according to their skills and then take back from society what he or she needed.

    Would revolution create a classless society? No, Marx believed it would just be the first step. In the beginning, the proletariat would take over the government and control the means of production while changing private property into public property. This would be a period of socialism that would move eventually towards the true state of communism. At that point, government would cease to exist and society would be run by collective groups of workers.


    What do you think?

    • Was Karl Marx's rejection of liberalism justified?                      

    • Was his solution of communism a valid one?


    On the spectrum, communism would be located as shown in the diagram below:

    continum showing the position of communism on the far left of the collective


    Read "Understandings of Communism" on pages 161-162 of your textbook, Understandings of Ideologies. These pages will further your understanding of the concept of Soviet communism's rejection of liberalism.

    You should make notes, either on paper or on your computer, about what you have read. You may want to read the tutorial How to Make Notes. When you are finished the tutorial, return here to continue this unit.

    Basic Ideas of Marx's Communism

    Watch the video below on The Political Spectrum.