Dealing
with Germany’s ‘Other’ Past:
The GDR
and its Legacy in Contemporary German Society
Dr Paul Cooke
Some
Key Concepts in Marxist Thought
·
Heart of Marxism is the theory of historical progression
·
History
not driven by some abstract notion like the Spirit (Hegel)- or ‘God’/Kings/ great men, but by all people.
·
18th Brumaire of
Louis Bonaparte
o
‘Men make their own
history’
o
but people can’t just decide
what sort of history they want to make. This comes down to the way that we
interact with our environment.
o
humans obtains their subsistence by interaction with nature. i.e. by
labour. In order to understand history it was necessary to understand the
material conditions under which people live at a given point. But people not just the
product of material conditions. They are the dialectical result of the
interaction between himself (creative powers) and nature (material conditions).
·
·
Crucial to these material conditions is economics.- economic structure of
society defined by the mode of production found in this society.
Mode
of production at a given time in history describes the way society is
organised in order for humanity to interact with nature to subsist.
5 modes of production identified through history.
o
Primitive community
o
Slave state
o
Feudal state
o
Capitalist state
o
Socialist state
·
In each of these systems power (control of production)
controlled by one class. As systems change we see power move from one class to
another - from the King- to the nobles- to the Bourgeoisie and eventually to the
workers.
·
The mode of production gives rise to a legal and political superstructure
(how the state is organised)- this produces certain forms of social
consciousness (social behaviour/how people think)
· these
forms of social consciousness define what is considered to be
true/moral/possible etc. i.e. they define what is considered to be COMMON SENSE.
·
Marx didn’t see common sense as a static/timeless given, but as a
product of the condition under which people lived. What is considered common
sense is determined by the dominant class in society. (under capitalism it is
the Bourgeoisie). Marx called the values constructed by the dominant class
Ideology.
Why
doesn’t society stay the same?
This is due
to the dialectical nature of society (and therefore history)- Hegel- thesis,
antithesis, synthesis
Capitalist
class system Marx and Engels saw at work in Europe of their day (in Britain)
o
Two classes: bourgeoisie and the proletariat (the haves and the have nots)
o Central to the experience of life of the ‘have nots’- the proletariat is the concept of Alienation
·
Alienation results from the workers’ relationship to the ‘Means of
Production’- The ‘Means of Production’ is in the hands of the few :.
The vast majority of the population controlled by the few.
·
Description of the state of the
worker under Capitalism:
o
take a factory worker. By their labour s/he makes something- an object.
o
But this object does not belong to them. They produce not for themselves,
but for others. :. They gain no satisfaction from work, due to inherent
inequalities in the system.
o
This was becoming worse and worse in industrialised society, because of
the increasing division of labour. People doing more and more specialised
jobs- becoming in Marx’s terms ‘A mere appendage of flesh on a machine of
iron’.
o
No social aspect to work. People work to live- to get money to be able to
do things afterwards. At work their lives are on hold.
o
Sense of alienation increases due to competition for jobs/ promotion-
worker set against worker- out for individual advantage
o
If the means of production was held communally- by everyone, and workers
had a say in what and how was produced- if the factory was socialised alienation
would disappear. The workers would be working for themselves as a whole- for the
whole community (would be able to see the big picture).
·
At the root of alienation is the
crime of private property. Capitalist society driven by people’s need to own
things. The only way this can be changed is by looking to a class that owns
nothing and so has no vested interest in maintaining the status quo (enter the
Proletariat).
· However, the Proletariat does not know that it has no vested interest because it lives in a state of ‘False Consciousness’. It believes the way to get on is by working harder and thus getting more money. But the harder the worker labours, the bigger the differential between the worker and the boss (labour and capital) becomes.
·
This is due to
notion of Surplus Value.
o
worker sells his labour to
the capitalist, who buys it just like any other commodity
o
if a worker labours for e.g. 8 hours, the capitalist makes enough out the
worker’s labour to pay him in say 6 hours.
o
This means that the worker labours for two hours for free.- all profit
from this time goes to the capitalist.
o
Again, through the socialisation of the means of production, this
exploitation would cease.- profits would be shared.
o
Eventually through the natural process of history and the developing
inequalities between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, revolution would
ensue- however one can’t forget that ‘Men make history’ and not the other
way round. So the problems and contradictions inherent in Capitalism must be
brought on and developed. Capitalism will resist its down fall. :. It needs to
be helped on its way.
o
Enter the Communist Party
The Communist Party would help the proletariat come to an awareness of their role in society and :. history. Once the proletariat had seized the means of production, all class struggle and exploitation would end.
This is because the means of production will be owned by the many for the
many, and by the few.
At this point the party would cease having any function and the class
struggle will be over => the end of historical progress.- => Socialist
Utopia => heaven on earth, not in the sky.