Karl Marx

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Karl MarxClass Struggles in France, 1848-1850
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Presentation Layout
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• Introduction to the text
• Main Events
• Marxs Perspective
• Historical Materialism
• Additional Academic Comments
• Summary

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Introduction to the text
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• Describes how and why class struggles are played
  out in France between 1848-1850
• Marxs first attempt to explain contemporary
  history via material conception
• Written by Marx 1850 Published by Engels 1895
  with added introduction
• Links historical analysis with the economic agenda

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Main Events
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• February 1848
• Revolution against the financial Bourgeoisie,
  ripened by world events that mobilised the Petty
  Bourgeoisie in favour of the Proletariat
• Ideological republic created to mediate wage
  labour described as illusion and poetry as
  power open to all
• June 1848
• Bourgeoisie remain in control of labour power
• Realised February revolution strengthened the
  bankocracy it aimed to overthrow
• Proletariat frustration rises at failed
  emancipation and leads to violent uprising
• Changed meaning of revolution

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Main Events - Continued
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• June 1848 June 1849
• The Bourgeoisie has no king the true form of
  its rule is the republic
• Laws to keep the Petty Bourgeoisie (middle
  strata) on the Republics side
• Variations on a theme i.e. Napoleon Bonaparte
  voted in as thought marginally better than
  existing leader
• Alliance with European counterrevolution
  protection of capitalism
• Changed around positions of parties and their
  classes, their separations and connections
• Consequences of the Events
• Royalist sentiments and return of bankocracy due
  to state debt
• Wine tax / Land authority
• Realised the revolution was not the end, but
  merely the start of class struggles
• Proletariats need new tactics, behind the
  ballots lie the paving stones

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Marxs perspective
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• Real revolution is only possible when the modern
  forces of production and the Bourgeois forms of
  production come into opposition with each other
• Reactionary attempts to prevent Bourgeois
  development will just rebound
• We need to delve further into the ideas of
  Historical Materialism to make sense of societal
  events

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Historical Materialism
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• Historical Materialism is the framework used by
  Marx to examine society
• A conflict thesis associated with class struggles
  (as depicted in text)
• Historical Materialism is the thesis that there
  is, throughout historys course, a tendency
  towards growth of productive power, and that
  forms of society rise and fall when they promote
  or impede that growth (Cohen, 2000364)
• Capitalism as a social fact linked to the
  division of labour how it changes over time is
  described by Marxs conception of Historical
  Materialism
• The text demonstrates how the ruling class use
  the states productive forces to enforce their
  preferred production relations to exploit the
  masses. Therefore, the working classes become
  alienated as they are deprived of what is needed
  to become influential.
• Historical materialism is applied to production
  changes as well as predicting future societal
  transformations leading, it says, to a working
  class revolution (Marx Engels, 1998)
• Therefore, the concept historically
  contextualises economic relations in order to
  further the Marxist political project

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Additional Academic Comments
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• Not all Sociologists agree with Marxs
  application of Historical Materialism (HM)
• Not HM but a Spirit of Capitalism (Weber 1965)
• HM out of date in basic form (Giddens 1985)
• HM over-deterministic (Trougott 2001 Poggi
  2006)
• HM Imposes itself above and beyond the real
  historical facts, politics merely ad hoc within
  the conception of the relentless historical
  movement towards revolution (Spencer 1979)

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Summary
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• Class Struggles in France Marxs first attempt
  to describe contemporary history via the
  application of HM
• Events linked to class relations throughout
• Claimed revolutionary tactics were unsuccessful
  due to economic relations
• Not all agree with Marxs application of
  historical analysis

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Thank you for Listening
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