Essay - Marxism What Bothered Marx the Most About the Utopian Socialists...

Marxism

***** bothered Marx the most about the utopian socialists was that *****ir ideas were not backed by practical application. Marx proposed specific ways of addressing class conflict and actively fomented revolution, whereas the utopian socialists simply envisioned an egalitarian society. Their ultimate goals were ***** same, but the utopian socialists were generally less pragmatic but more idealistic than Marx.

Marx's vision of history and of the future was based on sociology and economics. According to Marx, the ***** ***** human civilization is rooted in class ***** and labor relations. Marx viewed ***** progression of societies from feudal ***** capitalist ***** noted ***** the next stage in human social evolution must be communist. The communist society will naturally spring from the needs of the people to reconnect with *****ir labor, their creative energy, and ***** the means of production. Marx ***** Engels described the bourgeoisie as ***** owners ***** the means of production. ***** proletariat refers ***** ***** workers whose labor is exploited ***** the bourgeoisie to produce pr*****it. Marx did not comment extensively on issues related to gender and the family but did analyze marriage as a soci*****l institution. ***** ***** Engels ********** that the balance of power in a traditional ***** and especially a bourgeoisie one is skewed ***** the owner of c*****pital: usually ***** male. Any marriage built upon the exploitation ***** women's household labor is an unfair ***** *****equitable *****. Family structures c***** and should evolve in the same way that capitalist societies can and must evolve into socialist ones.

In ***** late nineteenth century it might have been possible to apply Marx's ***** to political action without creating burdensome state *****s. Activists could ***** focused on a wide range of ***** and social problems ranging ***** race relations in the United States to gender equality worldwide—***** addition ***** the most obvious applications of Marxist *****ory to ***** relations and labor policy. One of the most pragmatic applications of Marxist labor theory would be strong state regulations on capitalist enterprise: requiring, for example, mandatory profit sharing or a means to include all workers in the process of management and ***** rights ***** the means of producti*****.

By the early 20th century, ***** Russian economy was rapidly industrializing, which dramatic*****y altered social structures and institutions. The Czarist regime was showing signs of wear as a burgeoning bourgeoisie ***** amassing considerable wealth and corresponding political clout. At the same time, factories demanded a larger labor *****ce and recruited from rural regions. Workers who migrated ei*****r permanently or temporarily to urban centers and to centers of industry experienced a signifi*****t bre*****kdown in ***** social ***** and ***** life. The first stage of the Russian Revolution occurred when the Czar was overthrown to form an aristocratic government, ***** was soon overtaken by the Bolshevik communists. Lenin led the Bolshevik movement based on many of Marx's core tenets ***** socialism and a communist revoluti*****.

*****, ***** revised Marx's theories by focusing al***** exclusively on centralizing ***** controlling political power within a