Discuss the theories of Karl Marx and their appeal for industrial workers
What will be an ideal response?
Ans: Understanding at least the main tenets of Marxism is critically important, not only for historical reasons but also because, like Darwinism, Marxism continues to influence mentality in numerous fields. The chapter summary is brief but includes the essential point of class warfare as inevitable and necessary to the emergence of the ideal society—the Marxist utopia. Marxism appealed to the desire to believe in a glorious earthly future (for Marx there was neither soul nor heaven), to the desire for power, and to the envy, greed, and thirst for justice felt by many workers for their employers. Contradictions include Marx's insistence that conflict would cease when the ideal society had arisen, though he posited class struggle as inevitable. Furthermore, as a determinist he expected history to proceed according to inexorable scientific laws that nothing could change.
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