Marxism, Idealism and Nationalism
Marxism
"On a level plain, simple mounds
look like hills; and the insipid flatness
of our present bourgeoisie is to be measured
by the altitude of its 'great intellects'."
-Karl Marx
Man in a bourgeois society is the victim. The state is against man, and he is constantly being exploited and oppressed by the upper class of the state. Man is thrusted into a state of alienation, and the pleasures of his life are constantly being obstructed by the state under a system known as capitalism. These are a few of Marx's views on how the states operate. He promoted a theory known as structuralism and he believed that the only way that man can survive under this system is to use their labor power on the market in exchange for an unfair amount of compensation. Marx believed that class divisions existed, between the workers and the ruling class. Marx stated that class divisions existed, mainly between the workers who did the labor and the capitalist who represented the ruling class. As soon as the class distinctions are removed, then production would be controlled by the vast association of the whole nation.
Marx emphasized that there needs to be an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. A couple of ways to achieve this would be by the removal of class divisions and the disappearance of bureaucracies. Weber, a 20th century state theorist, also believed that the removal of bureaucracies was important. Weber felt that these bureaucracies were violent, and used terrifying tactics to keep the people in check. Marx and Weber were both strong critics of capitalism, and they claimed that violence and terror were part of the success of capitalism. We will now analyze the concepts of the two writers, and later we will see how relevant some of their ideas are today, in the 21st century. The notion of class is central to the Marxian theory on structure. Society is divided into various classes and subclasses, but Marx emphasizes the existence of two encompassing classes: the labor class and the capitalist class. The capitalists own and control the means of production, and they are considered the ruling class. This ruling class acts in a dominant nature, both economically and politically. The laborers sell their services for survival and expose themselves to the competition. The capitalists are known as the bourgeoisie and assume ideological, political and economic leadership in the society, and gives rise to the conflict between the classes that Marx says are inevitable.
Marx believed that the societal structure is driven by economics, and in a capitalist society the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure had to be understood. The superstructure represents institutions of non-economic activity. These would include the family, churches, religion, education and the state, and this is where most of us do our living. The power will come from the base, and it will assume a dominant economic position over the superstructure. The pattern of causality will only flow from the economic base to the superstructure and everything politically and economically must flow from the economic base. Notice that the state is part of the powerless superstructure. Marx believed that the state did not exercise ultimate societal power, but it was the private institutions that made up the power in the economic base. The bourgeois represented the base of material interest. The relationship between the two eventually becomes exploitative because the members of the superstructure do not own productive property, nor do they control the means of production. All they can offer is their human labor for essential needs.
Today some of these concepts still apply to our world, and some do not. Marx's idea that war and conflict is caused by capitalism has many flaws, but the presence of class division is easily identifiable in the United States under the capitalist system, but evidence that war is caused from capitalism is strongly lacking. The communist states that Marx supports have engaged in conflicts in the last century. The Soviet Union, China and Vietnam have all been involved in military clashes with each other, but capitalist regions like Japan, Europe, and North America have maintained peaceful relations. ...
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Today some of these concepts still apply to our world, and some do not. Marx's idea that war and conflict is caused by capitalism has many flaws, but the presence of class division is easily identifiable in the United States under the capitalist system, but evidence that war is caused from capitalism is strongly lacking. The communist states that Marx supports have engaged in conflicts in the last century. The Soviet Union, China and Vietnam have all been involved in military clashes with each other, but capitalist regions like Japan, Europe, and North America have maintained peaceful relations. But the class divisions are clearly visible in the United States. The class divisions are evident when one considers the amount of homeless Americans and people living in poverty. If there were no class divisions these problem would simply not exist. This poverty has come from a result of unemployment and low wages that the lower class earns. They are earning the unfair wages that Marx said would happen when the dominant class got their hands on the means of production. These people, that are having a difficult time making ends meet are now more susceptible to the exploitation, because now these disadvantage people realize that all they can give in return for compensation is their labor, and they are willing to work at any cost. It is said that 5 percent of the population control 95 percent of the worth in the United States. This would clearly define the arrangement between the elite and the laborers in the economic base. The 5 percent would represent the ruling class that Marx wrote about, and the 95 percent would be the all the laborers who are under the dominance of the upper class.
Nationalism
Society is made up of a variety of distinct cultures. Together all of these societies combined and create the ultimate society 'the Human Race'. The Human Race must be viewed through all its very diverse components. It is important to defend and protect each of these individual components and this is to be achieved though promoting nationalism. In today's world, we have encouraged democracy and freedom of speech. Freedom to express one's feelings on nationalism comes hand in hand with these ideologies. If we are able to support our views on freedom of rights, we, society, must recognize all the nationalistic views that exist. These views should be recognized as constructive suggestions on preserving the unique societies of the world. Our constitution condemns the discrimination of any group or individual, no matter what their ethnic, religious or cultural orientation. Although nationalistic feelings should be allowed, the fine line between allowing one to express their own opinion and preventing the discrimination of others must be considered at all times.
One philosopher, Rudyard Kipling argued that nations are in a permanent struggle for existence. Strong nations who defeated weaker nations in war were superior and therefore fit to survive. There have been several cases in the past that shows the importance of nationalism. One of these cases includes the opposition of Napoleon. After conquering a vast area of Europe, the people among those conquered and allied with Napoleon developed a sense of nationalism. They began to resent paying taxes to France as well as sending soldiers to serve in Napoleon's armies. The people wanted to restore their own government, along with their own customs and traditions. This feeling of nationalism lead to the fall of Napoleon. Nationalism can still be seen today in such cases as that of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president, had Iraq invade its tiny neighbor, Kuwait, after talks break down over oil production and debt repayment. He later annexes Kuwait and declares it a 19th province of Iraq. It was believed at this time that Iraq intended to invade Saudi Arabia and take control of the region's oil supplies. He also has implemented sanctions to try and control the imports and exports of his country. After considering these events, it is conceived that the positive form of nationalism should be encouraged within a country's border, however, the government must carefully monitor the situations to ensure they do not take on violent or discriminatory characteristics.
Nationalism can be linked to the situation that occurred in Egypt in 1981 when religious fundamentalist assassinated Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt at the time. During 1978 and 1979 Israel and Egypt negotiated the Camp David accords, which resulted in the largest Arab state quitting the coalition against Israel and later being the first nation to sign a peace agreement with Israel. It appeared that Egyptian nationalism had prevailed over pan-Arabism. But there was a religious group of his own people in Egypt that objected Sadats policy, and this nationalistic group all shared the sentiment that these talks of local autonomy in the West Bank was an internal threat to their position. As a group they were against recognizing the state of Israel. These fundamentalist, legitimately used violence, and assassinated Sadat in 1981. In January of 1994 Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel too. Today Arab nationalism is still strong and the same sentiments against Israelis are shared among many Arabs. This region is very volatile, and the use of violence can be used to legitimize the position of a nationalistic group.
There are many examples of when nationalism has taken on racist characteristics. One of these examples is the Ku-Klux Klan. This group originally appeared after the US Civil War. When the North won the war against the South over slavery and economic issues. Black Americans were given equal political and civil status. Many whites were against this equality and were willing to resort to violence and even murder to counter this. Since they could not openly oppose the government, they created an undercover group the Ku-Klux Klan. This violent group had no limits when it came to what they would do to both Black Americans and Whites who believed in equality. This is a clear example of supreme nationalism involving violence. Thirdly, nationalism has actually been one of the driving forces behind both the World Wars. In 1914, there was an incident, which involved a Serbian nationalist organization. At the time, because of the European boarders, there were some Serbian's living in Austria-Hungary. This group felt that this area should belong to Serbia. As a result of this, one of the members of this nationalist group, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Ferdinand. This nationalistic presentation was one of the major events that set the stage for World War I. Nationalism can be viewed from a positive or negative perspective. Events that bring a nation together to celebrate and promote their cultural identity and institute pride for their culture should be supported and even encouraged as they are essential for the protection of the many vast and unique nations that make up our world.
Idealism
"Man is born free but everywhere is in chains."1
- Jean Jacques Rousseau
2Idealism - in philosophy, the theory that states that the external world is fundamentally immaterial and a dimension of the mind. Objects in the world exist but, according to this theory, they lack substance.
Idealism believes that human nature is basically good and that when it is bad, it can be changed, perfected, improved. It sees people as being basically giving and socially interested, and interested in the good of the whole, if they would just have the right kind of education. It allows that conflict exists but that it doesn't need to exist - that peace is possible through education. Looking at Rousseau, I see him as the most idealistic, the one evincing "idealism". He sees the distant past of man, as an animal in nature, as being man's natural state, a state he has left with society's development. Rousseau argues that this natural man has basically two kinds of drives within him: first, he is selfish toward the end of self-preservation, and yet, secondly, he also feels a repugnance to seeing any other living thing suffer. He sees man as being basically good.
The attitude that places special value on ideas and ideals as products of the mind, in comparison with the world as perceived through the senses. 3In art idealism is the tendency to represent things as aesthetic sensibility would have them rather than as they are. In ethics it implies a view of life in which the predominant forces are spiritual and the aim is perfection. In philosophy the term refers to efforts to account for all objects in nature and experience as representations of the mind and sometimes to assign to such representations a higher order of existence. It is opposed to materialism. Plato conceived a world in which eternal ideas constituted reality, of which the ordinary world of experience is a shadow. In modern times idealism has largely come to refer the source of ideas to man's consciousness, whereas in the earlier period ideas were assigned a reality outside and independent of man's existence. Nevertheless, modern idealism generally proposes superhuman mental activity of some sort and ascribes independent reality to certain principles, such as creativity, a force for good, or an absolute truth.
Idealism argues that if a society can function on a domestic level through morality and social responsibilities, there is no reason why the same rules cannot be applied atleast to some degree in the international arena. Although idealism speaks of a perfect world and hope and togetherness, one cannot say that they are unnaturally optimistic or exceptionally ignorant. They do understand that there is conflict in the world, but instead of accepting it, they wish to change it. They also realise that life is not a bed of roses and that the world is full of problems, but also know that these issues are not issues a state should face alone or should have to face alone, because these are problems that affect the whole world, like the environment or nuclear testing. All idealism preaches is the concept of one world, a togetherness that supercedes all differences, a sense of collective security and feeling of belonging, not just within ones borders but beyond.
Rousseau and Geneva: From the First Discourse to the Social Contract 1749 - 1762 Helena Rosenblatt. Cambridge University Press. May 1997.
2 Webster's New Universal Encyclopedia Barnes & Noble, Inc. Helicon Publishing Ltd. 1997.
3 A. C. Ewing, ed., The Idealist Tradition (1957); G. A. Kelly, Idealism, Politics, and History (1969).
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