Marxism in Literature
Mary Gallagher Due: January 16, 2013
CLL 156 Mid-Term
Many works of literature and even some films contain themes and evidence which supports Marx’s view of capitalism, as expressed in the Communist Manifesto. The Communist Manifesto includes many concepts relating to the continuous struggles between classes and their inevitable impact on history. The specific classes discussed in the Communist Manifesto are the proletariat and the bourgeois. The bourgeoisie has, throughout history, exploited the proletariat for reasons stemming from profit-motives. The bourgeoisie has contributed to the creation of the wage-laborer, division of labor, and the ever increasing de-skilling of labor. In its quest for more profit, the bourgeoisie brings together workers, uniting them, and therefore creating their own means of destruction.
When discussing the definition of what constitutes materialism, a chapter from Maurice Cornforth’s Materialism and the Dialectical Method, titled Materialism and Idealism, states that, “everything which exists comes into being on the basis of material causes, arises and develops in accordance with the laws of motion of matter (25).” In the Communist Manifesto, much of Marx’s theory is materialistic in the sense that it is derived from the fact that everything produced is possible because of material circumstances.
The concept of materialism, as Cornforth describes, supports Marxist theory. This chapter discusses how materialists seek reason in the material, economic conditions of social life. As an example, Cornforth writes:
If society is divided into rich and poor, it is because the production of the material means of life is so ordered that some have possession of the land and other means of production while the rest have to work for them. However hard they make work and however much they may scrape and save, the non-possessors will remain poor, while the possessors grow rich on the
CLL 156 Mid-Term
Many works of literature and even some films contain themes and evidence which supports Marx’s view of capitalism, as expressed in the Communist Manifesto. The Communist Manifesto includes many concepts relating to the continuous struggles between classes and their inevitable impact on history. The specific classes discussed in the Communist Manifesto are the proletariat and the bourgeois. The bourgeoisie has, throughout history, exploited the proletariat for reasons stemming from profit-motives. The bourgeoisie has contributed to the creation of the wage-laborer, division of labor, and the ever increasing de-skilling of labor. In its quest for more profit, the bourgeoisie brings together workers, uniting them, and therefore creating their own means of destruction.
When discussing the definition of what constitutes materialism, a chapter from Maurice Cornforth’s Materialism and the Dialectical Method, titled Materialism and Idealism, states that, “everything which exists comes into being on the basis of material causes, arises and develops in accordance with the laws of motion of matter (25).” In the Communist Manifesto, much of Marx’s theory is materialistic in the sense that it is derived from the fact that everything produced is possible because of material circumstances.
The concept of materialism, as Cornforth describes, supports Marxist theory. This chapter discusses how materialists seek reason in the material, economic conditions of social life. As an example, Cornforth writes:
If society is divided into rich and poor, it is because the production of the material means of life is so ordered that some have possession of the land and other means of production while the rest have to work for them. However hard they make work and however much they may scrape and save, the non-possessors will remain poor, while the possessors grow rich on the