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Political Theory
Hobbes, Locke, Marx
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Historical Background
Breakdown of Medieval Feudalism
Changes to Modern Economy
Political Changes
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Economic Changes
Increase in the use of money Loans, Credit, Investments, Easier transactions
Power transferred from the noble class (those withland and arms) to those with moneyfor
example, the merchants
Alliance of moneyed class with monarchs
Small self-contained estates with restricted trade
reorganized into large-scale nation states New political structure favorable to freer trade,
commerce, investment, and profit making
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Economic Changes
Decline of the guildsmerchants boughtraw materials and manufactured their ownproducts
New spirit of free enterprise and thedetermination to fend for oneself in acompetitive marketplace
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Economic Changes
Example: Jacques Coeur (1395-1456) Wealthiest Frenchman of his time; son of a merchant
Built ships and transported goods to all countriesbordering the Mediterranean
Sold every sort of merchandise
Owned lead, copper, and silver mines, a silk factory,and a paper mill
Operated a passenger service to the Holy Land
Had 300 representatives in Europe and Asia
Built a palace in France, was a patron of the arts, anda friend of popes and kings
Lent Charles VII huge sums of money to maintain hisarmy and drive the English out of France
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Political Changes
Nationalism
Sovereignty
Naturalism
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Political Changes Nationalism
Aggressive kings separated themselves fromfeudal lords and the church and created nationstates with a single centralized power (For
instance, Louis XI in France, and Henry VII andHenry VIII in England)
People began to see themselves as Englishpeople or French people
Printing in common languages, not just Latin
One centralized military (under the king) that fightsfor the nation
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Political Changes
Sovereignty
Denial of Aquinas claim that the secular stateis subordinate to the church and Gods eternal
law
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Political Changes Naturalism
Disregard the moral issues concerning theestablishment of state power (e.g., that laws have tofollow the laws of nature) and just focus on the facts ofpower and the practical means of attaining it (likeThrasymachus and the might-makes-right idea)
Political naturalism found great expression in Italybecause there were no medieval Italian kings to unifythings or share power with. Political life remained in
small-scale units, and wealthy ambitious individualswere freer to pursue what they wantedpower.
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Political Changes Naturalism
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) (Florence) Human nature: people are stupid and irrational and
incapable of governing themselves
People are moved by passionsambition, fear, envy,
desire for novelty and security, and the love ofwealth.
Christianity makes some people feeble and easy prey:exaltation of meekness, humility, contempt forworldly objects, controlled by religious passions
Government: a strong monarchy is needed to controlthe resulting conflicts among people
The good ruler maintains power and pursues his owninterests without getting caught and starting a
rebellionuse force (ruthlessly) and propaganda
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Social Contract Theory
What is the origin and nature of society?
How do governments get their authority?
Why should we obey governments? On what basis do governments have the rightto rule?
What is the origin of justice?
Where does justice come from?
Why should we obey the rules of justice?
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Social Contract Theory
The most popular modern answer is that justiceand government authority are products ofsocial agreement.
We are obliged to obey the rules of justice, andthe government that enforces them, because we(in some sense) have agreed to do so.
It is as if we made a contract with the stateto
live together according to certain rules that,according to our best calculations, are ineveryones interest, including our own.
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Social Contract Theory
When in the course of human events itbecomes necessary for one people todissolve the political bonds which have
connected them with another.Governments are instituted among Men,deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. (Declarationof Independence July 4, 1776)
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Social Contract Theory
Main influences on social contract theory Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) English philosopher
(Leviathan)
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
(Essays on Civil Government)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) Swiss-bornFrench philosopher (The Social Contract)
Recent influence John Rawls, Harvard philosopher (A Theory of
Justice, 1971)
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Thomas Hobbes
(1) Human Nature (2) The State of Nature
(3) The Laws of Nature
(4) The Social Contract
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Hobbes View of Human Nature
(1) Human Nature
Egoists (act out of self-interest)
Competitive (people invade to get ahead)
Use violence for gain
Seek to control and dominate
Out for glory (people invade for reputation)
Distrustful (people invade for safety)
Quarrelsome
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Hobbes State of Nature
In social contract theory, there is a
conception of human interaction beforesociety. It is usually called the state ofnature.
Contract theorists use the state of nature to Explain the nature of society and its origin
Explain the need for government
Legitimize the authority of rulers Explain the origin of social justice
Its not a historical explanation about how
societies have actually arisen.
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Hobbes State of Nature
(2) The State of NatureA war of all against all
No developed culture, industry, arts, etc.
Constant danger of death and continual fear
No law, no right or wrong, nothing is just orunjust
Force and fraud are the cardinal values
No property (there is no mine or thine)
Everyone has a right to all things needed topreserve ones life
Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
short
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Hobbes Laws of Nature
(3) Laws of Nature
What is a law of nature?
It is a general rule that, given through humanreason, forbids one to do what isdestructive of his life, or to take away oromit the means to preserve it.
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Hobbes Laws of Nature
First Fundamental Law of Nature
First Branch:
Whenever possible, every person oughtto seek peace and follow it.
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Hobbes Laws of Nature
Second Branch:
When a person cannot obtain peace,then he may seek and use all helps and
advantages of war.
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Hobbes Laws of Nature
Second Fundamental Law of Nature
A man be willing, when others are so too, to
(A) Lay down ones right to all things
(B) Be contented with so much liberty againstother men as he would allow other menagainst himself.
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Hobbes Laws of Nature
Third Fundamental Law of Nature(Justice)
JUSTICE: Men perform their covenants
made. Keep your word and honor yourcontracts.
Do not deceive for gain.
Keep your agreement to give up your right to
everything.
Breaking a covenant is unjust
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Hobbes Social Contract
Passions and Reason lead people out of
the state of nature
The passions that incline men to peaceare:
fear of death
desire for good living
hope to obtain good living through industry
Reason gives articles of peace that maydraw people into agreement.
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Hobbes Social Contract
Hobbes shows how reason leads us to peace.
(1) In a state of nature, there is a condition ofwar.
(2) So in a state of nature, there is no security
for anyone of living as long as natureintendedhim or her to live.
(3) But reason forbids every person to do thatwhich is destructive of his or her life.
(4) So reason directs us to seek peace wheneverwe can.
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Hobbes Social Contract
So why doesnt everyone follow reasonand leave the state of nature? Why dontpeople make covenants and leave the
state of nature? (see page 208)
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Hobbes Social Contract
In the state of nature, people cannot trustothers to keep their covenants.
It may be advantageous for someone to
break a covenant
Others may not be rational
Others may not be aware of the laws of
nature
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Hobbes Social Contract
There first must be some coercivepowerto compel people equally toperform their covenants, by the terror ofsome punishmentgreater than thebenefits they expect by the breach ofsome covenant.
People must first set up some civil powerthat can force people to keep theircovenants.
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Hobbes Social Contract
Hobbes says that there is only one way toset up such a civil power.
People must give all their power to one man,or one assembly of men. They must reducetheir wills to one will.
They must make a covenant as if every manshould say to every man: I authorize and
give up my right of governing myself tothis man on this condition; that you giveup your right to him, and authorize allhis actions in like manner. (page 208)
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Hobbes Social Contract
How does Hobbes define theCommonwealth? (top of p. 209)
One person, of whose acts a great multitude,
by mutual covenants one with another, havemade themselves every one the author, tothe end he may use the strength and meansof them all as he shall think expedient fortheir peace and common defense.
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Hobbes Social Contract
Once this sovereign power is set up, thenthere is no longer a state of nature, but aCommonwealth, and people can be secure
in the covenants that they make withothers.
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Hobbes View of the Sovereign The sovereign can never do injury to any of his
subjects. The sovereign has the power to do whatever is
necessary to secure peace and common defense. No one can accuse the sovereign of injustice.
The sovereign cannot be put to death orpunished. He judges what opinions and doctrines can be
expressed or published in books.
He determines the rules that tell every man whatgoods he may enjoy and what actions he may do. He has the right of hearing and judging all
controversies concerning law.
He cannot be cast aside by a new covenant
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Hobbes View of the Sovereign
Hobbes addresses the objection that thecondition of the subjects is very miserableasthey are at the mercy of the sovereign.
What can force the sovereign to do what is right
and good for its people? Outside forces
The fear of conquest by a foreigner
The sovereign is made strong when its subjects are
made strong
Living under a sovereign is better than being ina state of nature, or civil war.
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Hobbes: The Purpose of Government
For Hobbes, people settle on governmentfor what main purposes?
1. To preserve their lives and avoid violence
2. To develop industry and culture for aneasier life
3. To live comfortably
4. To have security from invasion fromforeigners
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John Lockes Social Contract Theory
(1) Human nature
(2) State of Nature
(3) Laws of Nature (page 211) (4) Social Contract
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Lockes View of Human Nature
(1) Human Nature
1. People can cooperate with others
2. People are not necessarily egoists
3. People are competitive
4. People are able to be guided by laws ofnature
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Lockes View of the State of Nature
1. Perfect freedom, absolute liberty (but within thebounds of the laws of nature)
2. Equality: in power and jurisdiction (i.e., extent ofapplication of power)
3. People have property (It is just not protected verywell.)
4. There can be industry and culture
5. There is right and wrong (people just dont follow itvery well)
6. There is civil justice, but people do not apply it verywell. They have to take justice into their own hands.
7. For a long time, there was a state of plenty, so therewerent many quarrels. But things changed.
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Lockes Laws of Nature
(1) No liberty to destroy oneself
(2) No authority to destroy another (no
one ought to harm another in his lifehealth, liberty, or possessions)
The law of nature comes from reason
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Lockes Laws of Nature
But why is there no authority to destroyanother? People areequal and independent, and
Men are the workmanship of Godhisproperty
What are the exceptions to the law ofnature?You may kill to preserve your own life
You may do harm to do justice to an offender.
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Locke on Private Property
Locke on Property (p. 212)
Locke defends the idea of private property.
Problems for the idea of privateproperty
Natural Reason: everyone has right to self-preservation, so all have right to everything
necessary for self-preservation. Revelation: Bible, word of GodGod has
given Earth to mankind in common.
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Locke and Private Property
How should everyone come to haveprivate property in anything?
1. First, Locke rejects the explanation thatGod gave the world to Adam and his heirsin succession, excluding everyone else. Sohe rejects the idea that only one universal
monarch should have property. Lockerejects the divine right of kings.
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Locke and Private Property
Lockes explanation of how someone canhave private property: Everyone has a property in his own person
The labor of a persons body and the work ofhis hands are his property
So when someone works on something, hemixes his labor with it. Others now have no
right to it. It becomes the workers property.It is removed from the common state ofnature.
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Locke and Private Property
Locke puts a limit on private property
The Law of nature says: A person can haveprivate property only where there is enough
and as goodleft in common for others.A person must not take what cannot be used.
Do not waste.
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Lockes Social Contract
What must people do for a civil society toemerge?
People must give their consentto thefollowing:
Give up natural liberty
Accept the bonds of civil society
Be subject to the political power of another
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Lockes Social Contract Who rules society and what is Lockes
explanation of who rules? The consent of the majorityrules
The community is one body and must havethe power to act as one body
The body should move where the greaterforce carries it
By the law of nature: the will of the
consent of the majority should have thepower of the whole
Everyone has an obligation to submit to themajority if one consents to be in a
community.
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Locke: Primary End of Government
Why would anyone part with the absoluteliberty one has in the state of nature? comfortable, peaceful living
safety
avoid an uncertain lifeescape invasion by others
escape a life full of fears
mutual preservation of their lives, liberties,and estates (their property)
The chief end of government ispreservation of private property
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Locke: Primary End of Government
Government establishes what the State ofNature lacks. What are these things?An established and known law, a standard of
right and wrong (In the state of nature people do
not apply the law of nature correctly)A known and indifferent judge (Men cannot judge
very wellthey are more concerned with theirown cases and less concerned with others)
A power for law enforcement and execution ofpunishments (justice) -- execution ofpunishments (people will have difficulty executing
just punishments in the state of nature)
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Locke: Primary End of Government
What are the limits on lawmakers? equal protection under the law
laws must be for the good of the people
taxes only with consent lawmakers cant transfer (away from the
people) the power to make laws
People maintain the right to overthrow a
corrupt government
K l M (1818 1883) d
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Karl Marx (1818-1883) andFriedrich Engels (1820-1895)
Communist Manifesto (main ideas)
Class struggle is the engine of history
Capitalism is just one stage in historical
development
Capitalism will give way to communism
Communism will end the exploitation of one
class by another
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Marx: Historical Materialism
Capitalism is just one stage ofhistorical development: The history ofstate organizations has been a history ofclass struggle, of one class exploiting
another. History shows that each rulingclass will eventually lose its position toanother, due to its own internalcontradictions. Capitalism will bedestroyed by its own internalcontradictions.
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Marx: Historical Materialism
Marx identifies 5 historical phases
Primative Community
Slave State
Feudal State
Capitalist System
Communist Society
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Marx: Historical Materialism
The moving forces of history: Each stagehas a Mode of Production
Means of production: The material means
of production, the hardware, tools, machines,buildings, workers, etc.)
Relations of Production: property relations
under which a society produces,manufactures, and exchanges products.
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Marx: Historical Materialism
Each mode sets up class relations andclass struggle, where there are those whoare exploited and those who exploit.
Feudalism
Nobility
Church
Merchants
Guild Artisans
Serfs
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Marx: Historical Materialism
Feudalism breaks down because the
merchants (and guild artisans) grew innumbers and power.
They were able to throw off the yoke of
the nobles and the church.
A new mode of production is born:Capitalism
Two new classes are born: TheBourgeoisie and the Proletariat
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Marx: Historical Materialism
A new class struggle is created The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat
The proletarians are the workers in the
capitalist mode of production The bourgeoisie are the owners of the
means of production
This class struggle contains the seeds ofcapitalisms destruction
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Marx: Historical Materialism
Just as the feudal means of productioncontained the foundation for the rise ofthe bourgeoisie, the capitalist mode of
production contains the foundation for therise of the modern working class, theproletarians. As the bourgeoisie develops,
the workers develop and grow.
M Th P l t i
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Marx: The Proletarians The workers are just another commodity. They
must sell themselves for work. Labor is paid subsistence wages or just enough
to make workers (to keep them alive andreproduce).
They are exposed to all the changes of themarket. (If there is a surplus of workers, thenthey dont get much pay. The workers are put incompetition with each other.)
They become like machines. Because of the useof machines, the work of the proletarians haslost all individual character, and consequently allcharm for the workman. He becomes an
appendage of the machine.
h l
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Marx: The Proletarians
Masses of laborers are organized like soldiersand placed under the command of a perfecthierarchy of officers and sergeants.
They are slaves of the capitalists, of thebourgeoisie state, of the machine, and of the
over-looker, and by the individual bourgeoismanufacturer himself.
Differences of age and sex no longer have anydistinctive social value for the working class.
Women and children are workers just like men.As soon as the worker gets paid, the worker
must pay other portions of the bourgeoisierent for the landlord, for example.
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Marx: The Proletarians
Alienation of labor (See page 285)
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Marx: The Proletarians
What happens to the lower strata of themiddle class? They are pulled into theproletarian class. They cannot compete
with the large capitalists and must turn toworking for them. (What does Wal-Martand other such big stores do to
communities and small businesses?)
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Marx: Workers Unions
How does Marx explain the rise ofworkers unions?
As capitalist industry develops, the numbersof workers also grows. The strength of theworkers grows.
The workers begin to have serious conflictswith the bourgeoisie over their pay and
conditions. The workers then form unions to fight for
good wages and conditions.
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Marx: Unions
What is the ultimate significance ofunions?
The ultimate significance of unions is that
they undermine the bourgeoisie and lay thefoundation for the proletarian class.
Marx: The Dictatorship of the
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Marx: The Dictatorship of theProletariat
When the workers gain enough power andorganization, they must seize control of hemeans of production. The bourgeoisie will
not willingly give it to them. This will be atemporary period of dictatorship whenthe proletarians gain control of the means
of production.
M C i
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Marx: CommunismA new communist mode of production
arises and changes society where there isno more class struggle. A new way ofthinking about things emerges.
Marx says that the material conditions oflife determine ideas. When the materialconditions change, ideas or ways ofthinking about things change. In the past,
the ideas have always been those of theruling class who control the materialmeans of production.
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Marx: Communism
Communism abolishes what?
It abolishes private propertyin itspresent form; bourgeoisprivate
property. Bourgeois private property is(historically) the final expression of classantagonisms and the exploitation of the
many by the few.
M C i
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Marx: Communism Is there still property under communism?
Yes, but it is social property. Property is a social power, because it is a
product of many people. In its present form,
property is a social power that is in theprivate control of the bourgeoisie.Communism removes the class character ofproperty, but property remains social.
Laborers still get wages. A communist societychanges the life of the laborer. Labor is ameans to widen, to enrich, and to promotethe existence of the laborer. The laborer no
longer simply lives to increase capital.
Marx: Communism
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Marx: Communism Does communism, by ending private property, end
individuality and freedom, as the bourgeoisie claim?Yes, but just the individuality and freedom of the
bourgeoisie! The individuality and freedom of theworkers is expanded. Current private property is
already done away with for 9/10ths of thepopulation!
Communism deprives no man of the power toappropriate the products of society; all that it does
is to deprive him of the power to subjugate thelabor of others by means of such appropriation.This helps to increase individuality and freedom forthe workers.
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Marx: Communism
Under communism, and the abolition ofproperty, will universal laziness take over?
Marx: If that were true, then bourgeois
society would have stopped long ago.Under bourgeoisie society, those whowork acquire nothing, and those who
acquire anything, do not work.
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Marx: Communism
According to Marx, are the ideas, laws,culture, and the laws of nature that comefrom the bourgeoisie eternal truths?
No -- laws, ideas, and culture are just theproducts of the particular economicconditions necessary for the existence of
the bourgeoisie. (Was Locke speaking forthe new bourgeois class?)
Marx: Communism
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Marx: Communism
Marx talks about the abolition of thefamily and of education. What does hemean?
He means the abolition of the bourgeois
family and bourgeoiseducation becausehe claims that the proletarians have noreal familiesthey are torn apart in the
capitalist world, and children becomemere instruments of labor.
Marx: Communism
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Marx: Communism
Communism calls for new communities of
women. Under current conditions, womenare subjugated to bourgeois needs. Theyare workers, prostitutes, and mistresses.
Marriage is just a system of wives incommon! With the abolition of thebourgeois system of production, so will gothose communities of women (public andprivate prostitutes) that serve thebourgeoisie.
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Marx: Communism
What does Marx say about nations? The workers have no country.
Communism abolishes the bourgeoisie
nation state. The idea of the nation stateis a product of the bourgeoisie. When thebourgeoisie have been removed on aninternational scale, then there will be no
need for nations. The exploitation of onenation by another will end.
Marx: Policies in Manifesto
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Marx: Policies in Manifesto Heavy progressive and graduated income
tax Centralization of credit in the hands of the
state by means of a national bank
Centralization of the means ofcommunication and travel in the hands ofthe state.
Extension of factories and means of
production owned by the state Free education for all children in public
schools
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