Political Thought Final Essay Friedrich Engels was a German political philosophers whose theory of history held that all history was marked by class conflict involving an oppressor and an oppressed class. He believed that societies would go through the stages of primitive communism (hunter/gatherer), slave society, feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and communism. This is called historical materialism (Johnson, lecture), a development on Hegel’s Dialectical Materialism. His associate, Marx, theorized beyond that, saying there are two stages outlined in the transition from capitalism to communism. These steps would be Dictatorship of the Proletariat and pure communism. In order to achieve pure communism, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat would
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According to part two of The Communist Manifesto, the goal is for the Proletariat class (workers) to use their political power to overthrow the capitalist society and bring in socialism. During this phase, money will still change hands as pay is eventually balanced out, private property will be abolished, there will be a heavy progressive income tax, inheritance is abolished, immigrants and rebels will have their property seized first, banks and credit will be destroyed and rebuilt into one national bank, communication and transport that was previously private will be taken into public domain, factories and farms will be made bigger, there will be an equal liability for work, manufacturing and agriculture industries will be combined and break down the barrier between rural and urban, child labor will be abolished, and children will receive free education. After they have achieved power, they must get rid of the resistance. Anyone who will not leave behind Bourgeoise views, such as closeness of families, must be reeducated or killed. Marx and Engels had no problem resorting to violence to spread their ideas (part two of The Communist Manifesto). Marx and Engels believed this to be an unstoppable force that would finally end class struggle and bring a new age of equality. After these conditions have been met, the people can move forward in creating pure …show more content…
He wrote the book Utopia, about a secluded island that is a perfect socialist society. There is no money, families are big groups of people who work together that change every few years, and people work just for the sake of working. Many of the practices in the hypothetical society are contrary to More’s own beliefs, him being a devout Catholic. Naming the book “Utopia” is some very clever wordplay, because it combines together words to mean both “happy place” and “not a place” (Johnson, lecture). This shows that More feels that, while it would be good, a socialist utopia cannot be properly implemented. More would have a lot of trouble with the idea of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, specifically that he believed that humans were self-interested by nature, and human nature could not be changed by legislation. Marx and Engels were scientific socialists who believed that in economic changes, humans would also change. They believed that not only would the revolution work, but it was the only way to bring about communism (alienation powerpoint). More would believe this is overly dogmatic. Removing human dogma and reason are main points of renaissance humanism, a movement in which More was heavily
According to part two of The Communist Manifesto, the goal is for the Proletariat class (workers) to use their political power to overthrow the capitalist society and bring in socialism. During this phase, money will still change hands as pay is eventually balanced out, private property will be abolished, there will be a heavy progressive income tax, inheritance is abolished, immigrants and rebels will have their property seized first, banks and credit will be destroyed and rebuilt into one national bank, communication and transport that was previously private will be taken into public domain, factories and farms will be made bigger, there will be an equal liability for work, manufacturing and agriculture industries will be combined and break down the barrier between rural and urban, child labor will be abolished, and children will receive free education. After they have achieved power, they must get rid of the resistance. Anyone who will not leave behind Bourgeoise views, such as closeness of families, must be reeducated or killed. Marx and Engels had no problem resorting to violence to spread their ideas (part two of The Communist Manifesto). Marx and Engels believed this to be an unstoppable force that would finally end class struggle and bring a new age of equality. After these conditions have been met, the people can move forward in creating pure …show more content…
He wrote the book Utopia, about a secluded island that is a perfect socialist society. There is no money, families are big groups of people who work together that change every few years, and people work just for the sake of working. Many of the practices in the hypothetical society are contrary to More’s own beliefs, him being a devout Catholic. Naming the book “Utopia” is some very clever wordplay, because it combines together words to mean both “happy place” and “not a place” (Johnson, lecture). This shows that More feels that, while it would be good, a socialist utopia cannot be properly implemented. More would have a lot of trouble with the idea of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, specifically that he believed that humans were self-interested by nature, and human nature could not be changed by legislation. Marx and Engels were scientific socialists who believed that in economic changes, humans would also change. They believed that not only would the revolution work, but it was the only way to bring about communism (alienation powerpoint). More would believe this is overly dogmatic. Removing human dogma and reason are main points of renaissance humanism, a movement in which More was heavily