Karl Marx

Karl Marx

iconic historical characters

ESP CLASSES

start

Answer the questions

• Do you know what Marxism is?

• Do you agree or oppose the positions of Marxism?

• What do you think Karl Marx wanted to achieve by proposing a new socio-economic system?

Did you know...

Karl Marx was born in 1818, one of nine children. His family lived in the Rhineland region of Prussia, previously under French rule. Both of his parents came from Jewish families with distinguished rabbinical lineages. Following an unexceptional school career, Marx studied law and philosophy at the universities of Bonn and Berlin. His doctoral thesis was in ancient philosophy, comparing the philosophies of nature of Democritus and Epicurus

Info

Watch the video

and answer the questions

• The video changed your opinion of Marxism?

• If we applied Marxist theories, do you think our society would be better? In what sense?

• Do you think Marx's theories are outdated?

VOCABULARY

exercise

Put in the space of the right the principles of Marxism with which you agree.

• Marxism rejects capitalism and advocates the construction of a society without classes(End of the class struggle).
• Expropriation of the means of production(The means of production will be property of the State.
• Historical materialism
• NO economic exploitation.
• Abolition of the bourgeois property system and the free market in goods and services.

Now compare your answers with those of a classmate and answer. Why do you agree with the principles you selected?

thank you!

See you next class...

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CAPITALISM

Meaning:

1) An economic and political system in which property, business, and industry are controlled by private owners rather than by the state, with the purpose of making a profit.

Capital

A Critique of Political Economy

Marx moved to London in early June 1849 and would remain based in the city for the rest of his life. At this time, however, Marx regarded his studies in economic and social history at the British Museum as his main task, he was busy producing the drafts of his magnum opus, which was to be published later as Das Kapital. In its preface he again summarized his materialistic conception of history, his theory that the course of history is dependent on economic developments. Some of these drafts, including the Outlines and the Theories of Surplus Value, are important in their own right and were published after Marx’s death.

MARXISM

Meaning:

1) A social, political, and economic theory based on the ideas of Karl Marx, who imagined a society where the methods of production would be owned and controlled by all its members

BOURGEOISIE

Meaning:

1) (in Marxism) The part of society, including employers and people who run large companies, that has most of the money and power which it gets from the work of ordinary people. 2) The middle class ( the social group between the rich and the poor), especially the people thought to have a strong interest in supporting traditional customs and values.

CLASS STRUGGLE

Meaning:

1) In Marxism, the constant economic and political struggle held to exist between social classes regarded as exploiting and those regarded as exploited. 2) In capitalist countries, the struggle between capitalists (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat)

EXPROPRIATION OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

Meaning:

1) The process by which the producing class takes 'possession in common of the land and means of production produced by labour itself', transforming them from means of exploitation and enslavement into 'instruments of free and associated labour'.

ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION

Meaning:

1) Economic exploitation refers to forced labor in traditional economic sectors mostly in agriculture.

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM

Meaning:

1) Historical materialism posits that history is made as a result of struggle between different social classes rooted in the underlying economic base.

STATE

Meaning:

1) A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory.