Marxism by Karl Marx

Marxism – Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Consciousness does not determine life, life determines consciousness.

                                                                              

Introduction of Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was his complete name. He was born in Trier, Germany, on May 5, 1818. He was German and attended the Berlin University of Economics and Philosophy. He was also a journalist and a revolutionary.

His most well-known writings include Das Kapital, which served as the theoretical cornerstone of communist philosophy, economics, and politics, and the Communist Manifesto, which he co-authored with his friend Friedrich Engels in 1848 and which is one of the most significant political works in history.

His contributions to economics provided the framework for comprehending the relationship between labour and capital. Marx is regarded as the founding figure of contemporary sociology.

Philosophers have only ever interpreted the universe in different ways, according to Karl Marx. However, changing it is the point. He wrote three different kinds of writing: a political polemic (controversial), journalism, and analysis of society and culture.

Finally, he passed away on March 4th, 1883 in London, and eleven people attended his funeral. 

Marxism

A political and economic system in which there are no classes and everyone contributes to the betterment of society. George Hegel was an influence on him (his famous work is Dialectal Materialism).

Marx primarily addressed the issues of class conflict, rich/poor, owner and worker.

Marx argues that every literary work mirrors the author's social institution or place in society (the place of his or her birth). Our physical surroundings shape our awareness, which in turn shapes man. Our identities, subjectivities, and states of consciousness are shaped by material circumstances. People in a similar material situation will likely have a similar type of consciousness, which could lead to the formation of a class. Therefore, he identified various social classes, including the Proletariat (have not; according to them, the world is hell), The Working, the bourgeois: (have; the world is paradise in their eyes), the middle class, and the wealthy middle class.

Marx argues that there are prevailing ideologies and dominant groups in every society, which are upheld by the police, by force, by the law, and even by the arts or literature. Marxism as a literary theory contends that literature and social science are closely related fields of study. A literary theory should therefore be more than just a critique of literary themes, literary styles, plots, or characters. We should consider how that literary work relates to society. Additionally, he believed that writers should have some sort of ideological purpose or ideals to change society. Consequently, base/infrastructure creates the superstructure (society, culture, world of ideas). Marx argued that the foundation determines the superstructure.

Marxist Critic has three points

1. How the characters, setting, and society of a novel reflect the author's ideas.

2. A critic might start an inquiry into the author's socioeconomic class and how it affected the author's society.

3. A critic may look at how the history and culture of the time are depicted in the book, as well as how accurately or inaccurately the author portrays his historical era.

Marxist Criticism

Marxists and other academics contend that literature both reflects the social institutions from which it develops and simultaneously functions as a social institution with a specific ideological purpose. Literature thus depicts materialism and class conflict.

Marxists typically see literature as "products" of the economic and ideological causes unique to that period, rather than as works produced in line with timeless artistic requirements."

Literature, no matter how incisive or superficial, reflects an author's own class or perception of class connections.

Simply put, a Marxist critic is a vigilant reader or spectator who considers questions of authority, wealth, and any of the following:

• What part does class play in the story; what analysis of class connections does the author offer?

• How are oppressions overcome by characters?

• In what ways does the work attempt to challenge the status quo or act as propaganda for it?

• What does the piece of writing say about oppression? Are social conflicts downplayed or attributed to other factors?

• Does the work offer a utopian vision of sorts as a solution to the issues it raises?

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