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How Did Marx View History In Terms Of Class Struggle?

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Reading Question 1: Marx view history in terms of class struggle explain what this means and the various classes Marx refers to.
Class struggle means that throughout history the names of the different social classes had changed, but one constant remained (Rader, n.d.). The names of these social classes are the rich and the poor. During this time, if you were born poor you were going to die poor. Due to this, Marx stated that “history is a history of class struggle” (Rader, n.d.). He claimed the term “capital” which stemmed from Capitalism. During Capitalism, the class structure was oppressor and oppressed. The oppressors were known as Bourgeoisie and were capital owners. They owned some sort of property that allowed them to earn large amounts …show more content…

Some examples of this are: land, factories, or corporations. The two ways in which these resources can have common ownership are the government (businesses) and the worker owned (corporations). By the government, the resources can be shared among all citizens (Rader, n.d.). By worker owned, all employees earn a share of the business and a share of its profits (CITATION). It is so important to abolish this because Marx believed that Capitalism would end up being its own gravedigger. As workers rebel against the tyranny of capitalism, it will collapse. Marx called the transition stage from capitalism to pure communism, “socialism” (Rader, n.d.). Due to this, the worker’s rights movement was brought upon society. It secured decent pay, brought safe working conditions, and limited the hours that companies can force employees to work (Rader, n.d.). It is also important to abolish it so governments take strong measures to regulate business in many different ways. For example, income tax and the abolition of the right of inheritance and the right to own land (taxes and property tax) (Rader, n.d.). These are all things that Marx called for and that society has …show more content…

During Marx’s time, workers were paid very little. It could be as little as five cents per hour. However, in society today people work for at least minimum wage ($8.30) an hour. Working conditions during Marx’s time were not good and not safe. People could be crushed or seriously hurt on the job very easily. In society today, there are laws on the safety of a workplace. Employees are not to be able to get seriously hurt at work, this includes death. People in Marx’s time could be required to work all day and night with no break or time to sleep. This affected the people very poorly. Today, the maximum average working hours per week is forty-eight. During this time, people are required to have a break from work. In my opinion, I think Marx would recognize modern day America as capitalists. Even though the society of Western Europe could easily be described as socialist as well (Rader, n.d.). America has adapted the changes that Marx discussed. In fact, the government has taken strong measures in regulating some of these changes (Rader, n.d.).
Reading Question 4: Bernie Sanders is not a communist, but rather a democratic socialist. Listening to his speech what similarities did you see between the things Marx is talking about and calling for and what differences? What issue was he focusing on that

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