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Assess The Difference Between Karl Marx And Vladimir Lenin

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Within Karl Marx’s theories many beliefs differ. Between the figures Eduard Bernstein and Vladimir Lenin, their differences resided in social policies and how they affected society. The problems were found within class structure and the desire for a socialist society, where everyone could be equal. The speed and manner at which change was to take place plays a large role in their different views.
The two historical figures, Eduard Bernstein and Vladimir Lenin, differed in many ways based on Marx’s theories. Eduard Bernstein was a revisionist. This did not mean he fully disagreed with what Karl Marx had to say, in fact, Eduard Bernstein was a Marxist. He supported the views of a social democracy brought on by evolution and agreed that class struggle would diminish eventually. However, it would not be brought on by a revolution of the working class. Eduard Bernstein’s work was devoted to the establishment of ideas. He wrote to the German Social Democratic Party at Stuttgart, in …show more content…

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s believe social change would come about through a violent revolt of the proletariat. Karl Marx support the use of violence and it was inevitable in order to diminish class struggle. Karl Marx’s ideas were a means of explaining social phenomena by scientific means. Overtime the original theories of Karl Marx were questioned. This is where Eduard Bernstein comes in. He developed a form called social democracy. In this revision, Eduard Bernstein rejected the use of violence. He believed that g a democratic system would help with social change, yet it would be peaceful. The opposing review of Eduard Bernstein’s peaceful change, was Vladimir Lenin. He thought that Bernstein and his supporters we opportunists. This meant that they would manipulate the process of democracy for their own gains. Vladimir Lenin agreed with Karl Marx, that a catastrophic event was needed to attain

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Revolutionists explanation of October Revolution is based on the importance of the force of the masses which created the revolutionary nature of the society leading to cardinal reforms. Lenin was indeed a key figure and the Bolshevik party was able to meet the demand of the masses which raised their popularity. This view shows a direct conflict between a revolutionist and liberal ‘totalitarian’ schools that implements Lenin and Stalin as the only people that caused terror and emplaced control over

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Marx & Engels: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were the writers of “Manifesto of the Communist Party” which scorned socialist and capitalists. They believed that the social problems of the 19th century were the result of a capitalist economy. The doctrines of Marx and Engels came to dominate European and international socialism. The American Revolution: The British tightened the control of the American colonies.

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This was the solution that Marx and Engels had offered, so instead of violence they had offered a new system. Although they had different solutions, the thing that they had in common was that they were fighting off the new system or modernization of the world around them. These men were leaders that were fighting for their cause and had a great influence on the people around them. These men were from different parts of the world and different times but were still fighting against the modern world. There is another man, Zapata, who advocated against the modern forces trying to invade his land, similarly to Tecumseh, and gave his take on what solution would lead the world to a better

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Although Karl Marx died x number of years before the Russian Revolution, he still had a major impact on the event. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, discovered Karl Marx’s theories and philosophies, which inspired him to adopt several of Marx’s philosophies. The most popular of Marx’s political statements that Stalin embraced was Capitalism and Marxism. Marx referred to Capitalism as a system where a society was based off strenuous labor in order to earn an income, whereas Marxism was based off of the idea that there would be a world socialist revolution. Without Karl Marx’s observations and compositions, the Russian Revolution may not have occurred.

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Now some people would argue that Marx had his shot and that his system of government will never work. They would point to the failures of the Russian Revolution in 1917. However, I would argue that Lenin did not hold Marx’s ideals; instead he acted at his own self-interest and gave birth to a totalitarian state instead of following Marx and giving rise to a communism form of government. Vladimir Lenin founded the Russian Communist Party, lead the Bolshevik Revolution, and was know as the successor to Karl Marx’s works (Vladimir). Born on April 22, 1870, in Russia, Lenin had a mixed childhood growing up.

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647 Words | 3 Pages

During the 19th and early 20th century there were many great social thinkers who bought different opinions about significant historical events happening during these times. These social thinkers were Karl Marx, Emilie Durheim and Marx Weber. Each social thinker made great contributions to society today where sociologist still use their theories. For this question, I will be focusing on Karl Marx and how Modernity, Alienation and the European Enlightment impact Marx’s writing. It was Karl Marx who witnesses for himself the “chaotic social change marked by industrialization and urbanization”(Bratton and Denham 2014:25).

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Andre Abi Haidar PSPA 210 INTRODUCTION It is always difficult to write about and discuss Karl Marx, or more importantly the applications of Marx’s theories, due to the fact that he inspired and gave rise to many movements and revolutionaries, not all of which follow his theories to the point. Although Marx tends to be equated with Communism, it might not seem righteous to blame him for whatever shortcomings occurred when his theories were put to the test; Marx passed away well before the revolution in Russia, and he played no role in the emergence of the totalitarian regime at the time. When discussing Marx, however, Vladimir Lenin is one of the biggest highlights when it comes to studying the outcomes of Marx’s theories.

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Marx theorized that we need to overthrow capitalism and a global revolution needs to transpire to overcome some of society’s conflicts and struggles (3/22). Durkheim and Weber contradict this theory by not advocating to overthrow capitalism, but in other words deferring it (3/17). However, all three theorists did want to come up with an explanation of how to minimize social order and that industrialization can also lead to unhappiness. Marx and Durkheim are similar in the aspects of how society develops. They both used a linear approach, which results in one thing leading to another.

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In Lenin’s words, “We must bear firmly in mind that we have never set ourselves ’insoluble’ social problems.” (“Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?” Sept.

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He felt previous revolutions, e.g. The revolution that swept Europe in 1848 had only substituted one tyrant for another. And as stated in the Communist Manifesto, “The modern bourgeois society has not done away with the struggle of classes, it has formed new classes and new struggles in place of old ones”. (Manifesto, 1848). Marx however felt a complete change was in order. He was in favour of having elections and votes for power, whereas the bourgeois only took power for themselves.

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Marx sees change through capitalism and conflict and Weber sees change through rationalisation and bureaucracy. Both have differing views about social change and the outcome of such change. Marx’s views are much more optimistic than Weber’s idealistic pessimistic views. Karl Marx Marx’s theory of social change is entwined with his idea of social classes and class conflicts.

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Marx saw capital and liberal democracies as the fundamental reasons for the low standards of living and the low social conditions of workers. Karl Marx in particular is especially concerned with the political assumptions behind these two ideologies. According to him, these two types of government should be replaced by communism, since communism would provide a more equal and socially just society. Although this statement may seem unusual, since we tend to associate communism with Stalin and China, the type of communism implemented in these countries is different from the communism that Marx and Engels envisaged in their Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels’ vision of communism is based on the principle of equality among the people and freedom

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INTRODUCTION This essay will discuss the concept of one of the greatest economists, a philosopher, a journalist, a historian, also known and believed to be one of the founding fathers of sociology. Karl Marx, made a contribution to sociology in the 19th century. He developed a sociological theory that stated that human societies progress through a struggle between two distinct classes, namely; the bourgeoise and proletariat. It claims that society is in conflict between the rich who own and control everything, and the poor who must work for the rich and be rewarded very little for their hard work. The theory is known as the conflict theory or the Marxist theory or Marxism, which is more concerned about the class struggle within the society,

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Capitalism, according to Karl Marx is divided into two major social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie, which is the minority of the class system, own the means of production such as land, machinery, factories and raw materials whereas the Proletariat, which is the majority of the class system, having no means of their own production and have to work to earn wage for a living. Karl Marx has his own theory that history is made up by class struggle which he mentioned in his book – Manifesto of the Communist Party: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Marx and Engels, 1848) and had predicted that the Proletariat would lead a revolution to overthrow the Bourgeoisie. Karl Marx believed that there will be intrinsic conflict like exploitation, alienation of labour and commodity fetishism between both of the classes.

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Karl Marx (1818-1883) considered himself not to be a sociologist but a political activist. However, many would disagree and in the view of Hughes (1986), he was ‘both – and a philosopher, historian, economist, and a political scientist as well.’ Much of the work of Marx was political and economic but his main focus was on class conflict and how this led to the rise of capitalism. While nowadays, when people hear the word “communism”, they think of the dictatorial rule of Stalin and the horrific stories of life in a communist state such as the Soviet Union, it is important not to accuse Marx of the deeds carried out in his name.

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