Marx and the Russian Revolution-31

There are those, opponents of Marxism, who say: Marx had come to the conclusion that the revolution can be carried out only in the most highly developed countries whereas revolutions have actually occurred only in countries economically less developed than the most advanced Western countries. Consequently, Marx’s theory of proletarian revolution, they say, is wrong.Marx did believe that the revolution was most likely to begin in the economically more developed countries. But he did not exclude all other peoples taking the road to Socialism.

Critique of the Gotha Programme 30

WHILE working for the implementation of the general task of building proletarian political parties on the basis of the internationalist ideas of Marxism, Marx and Engels at the same time stressed the importance of taking into account the distinctive features of the development of each country, the difficulties and obstacles that confront the working class movement in its progress.By the end of the 1870s, revolutionary working class parties had sprung up in quite a few countries: in Austria in 1874, in Denmark in 1876, and in Belgium and Spain in 1879.

Dissolution of the First International-29

THE final version of the political programme of the First International and the decisive settling of accounts with the Bakuninist anarchists came at the Congress of the International at The Hague in September 1872. Marx had been busy with the preparation of the Congress since the beginning of the year.His appearance stirred great interest among the Congress delegates.

Fight Against Bakunin’s Anarchism- 28

AFTER the fall of the Paris Commune, the Governments of the European countries organized police repression on the International’s sections and members. In France membership in the International was regarded as a criminal offence.

The Paris Commune-27

ON July 19, 1870, war broke out between France and Prussia. The ruling classes of both countries had long been secretly preparing for it. Marx had long foreseen that the adventurer Napoleon III and the Prussian Junker Bismarck, who was bent on unifying Germany “by blood and iron”, would embark on policies leading to an armed conflict.The Bonaparte Government hoped that military victories would help to bolster its regime and enable it to weather the deep international political crisis.

Work in the First International-26

WHEN the first volume of Capital appeared, the Second Congress of the International Workingmen’s Association had just finished its work in Lausanne. PROLETARIANINTERNATIONALISM While drafting the documents of the International, Marx believed that the forces that unite the working class—the forces of proletarian internationalism—would prevail in the labour movement.

Blow from which the Bourgeoisie Never Recovered-25

MARX wrote Capital especially for the working class, for the struggle of the workers. With special emphasis on the history of English capitalism, he made clear the manner in which not only the material means of production are being constantly created and reproduced anew in the course of English capitalist production, but the conditions for exploitation as well. With the piling up, the accumulation of, capital, its power is extended over an ever-increasing number of wage-workers.

CAPITAL-24

IN 1844, in his first work devoted to providing a economic and philosophical basis for Communism, the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx had written, “man is the highest creature for man, and it is therefore necessary to overthrow all conditions in which man is a debased, an enslaved, an abandoned, disdained creature”.

The Writing of ‘Capital’-23

MARX’S study of political economy began long before his arrival in England. In 1842, when his political activity as a Correspondent and then Editor of Rheinische Zeitung began, he was immediately confronted with questions of political economy.

Organisational Rules of the International-22

ALONG with the Inaugural Address, Marx also worked out the Provisional Rules of the International Workingmen’s Association (IWA).

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Peoples Democracy

200th Birth Anniversary of Karl Marx