What is Marxism? | Marxism Explained | Who was Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels? Communist Manifesto

hey it's Dan Zimmerman welcome to illustrate to educate don't forget to like And subscribe to support more simple and objective videos on topics that matter in this video we'll take a look at the basics of what you should know about Marxism first what is Marxism Marxism is a social political and economic philosophy it is mostly about the battle between the working class and the ownership class and favors communism and socialism over capitalism Marxism was first publicly formulated in 1848 in the pamphlet The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Ingles which lays out the theory

of clash struggle and Revolution it inspects the effects of capitalism on labor productivity and economic development and argues for a worker Revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism Marxism hypothesizes that the struggle between social classes specifically between the bourgeoisie or capitalists and the proletariat or workers defines economic relations in a capitalist economy and will inevitably lead to revolutionary communism Marx's class Theory portrays capitalism as one step in the historical progression of economic systems that follow one another in a natural sequence by vast and personal forces of history that happen due to the behavior and

conflict among social classes according to Marx every society is divided into social classes whose members have more in common with one another than with members of other social classes the following is the basis of Marx's theories of how class conflict would play out in a capitalist system first in a capitalist Society there are two classes the bourgeoisie or business owners who control the means of production and the proletariat or workers whose labor transforms raw Commodities into valuable economic Goods second ordinary laborers who do not own the means of production such as factories buildings and materials

have little power in the capitalist economic system workers are also readily replaceable in periods of high unemployment further devaluing their perceived worth third to maximize profits business owners have an incentive to get the most work out of their laborers while paying them the lowest possible wages this creates an unfair imbalance between owners and laborers whose work the owners exploit for their own gain fourth because workers have little personal stake in the process of production Marx believed that they would become alienated from it as well as from their own humanity and turn resentful toward business owners

fifth the bourgeoisie also employs social institutions including government media Academia organized religion and Banking and Financial systems as tools and weapons against the proletariat with the goal of maintaining their position of power and privilege lastly the inherent inequalities and exploitative economic relations between these two classes will lead to a revolution in which the working class Rebels against the bourgeoisie takes control of the means of production and abolishes capitalism Marx thought that the capitalist system inherently contained the seeds of its own destruction the separation and exploitation of the proletariat that are fundamental to capitalist relations would

inevitably drive the working class to rebel against the bourgeoisie and seize control of the means of production this revolution would be led by enlightened leaders known as the Vanguard of the proletariat who understood the class structure of society and who would unite the working class by raising awareness and class consciousness as a result of the Revolution Marx predicted that private ownership of the means of production would be replaced by Collective ownership first under socialism and then under communism in the final stage of human development social classes and class struggle would no longer exist although Marx

inspired multitudes of followers there are three criticisms of Marxism first Marx believed that increasing competition would not produce better goods for consumers instead it would lead to bankruptcy among capitalists and the rise of monopolies as fewer and fewer were left to control production yet experts argue that capitalism has not collapsed as a result of fierce competition and although markets have changed over time they haven't led to the prevalence of monopolies second he believed the market economy which by its nature is unplanned would experience huge supply and demand problems and cause severe depressions although there have

been recessions and depressions experts believe that they are not thought to be an inherent feature of free markets lastly a society without competition money and private property has never materialized and the history of the 20th century suggests it is unlikely an unworkable concept what are your thoughts about Marxism if you enjoyed this video please like and comment on the video and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe to illustrate to educate to support more simple and objective videos on topics that matter foreign