more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 5294

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism ]

Full Idea

In order to assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State.

Clarification

The 'proletarians' are the working classes

Gist of Idea

To assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State

Source

K Marx / F Engels (The German Ideology [1846], §1.D)

Book Ref

Marx,K./Engels,F.: 'The German Ideology', ed/tr. Arthur,C.J. [Lawrence and Wishart 1985], p.85


A Reaction

By the 'State' is here meant the centralised power of the owners of the means of production. They are not aiming at anarchism, but at a more fluid 'society' or 'community'. Most of us have an Orwellian fear of violent 'overthrowing'.


The 24 ideas from 'The German Ideology'

'Society determines consciousness' is contradictory; society only exists in minds [Weil on Marx/Engels]
Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life [Marx/Engels]
Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development [Marx/Engels]
Language co-exists with consciousness, and makes it social [Marx/Engels]
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it [Marx/Engels]
Young Hegelians proposed changing our present consciousness for liberating critical consciousness [Marx/Engels]
Young Hegelians think consciousness is chains for men, where old Hegelians think it the bond of society [Marx/Engels]
In communist society we are not trapped in one activity, but can act freely [Marx/Engels]
If the common interest imposes on the individual, his actions become alienated and enslaving [Marx/Engels]
Men distinguish themselves from animals when they begin to produce their means of subsistence [Marx/Engels]
Consciousness is a social product [Marx/Engels]
Communism abolishes private property and dissolves the powerful world market [Marx/Engels]
Human history must always be studied in relation to industry and exchange [Marx/Engels]
Most historians are trapped in the illusions of their own epoch [Marx/Engels]
Slavery cannot be abolished without the steam-engine [Marx/Engels]
The class controlling material production also controls mental production [Marx/Engels]
The revolutionary class is opposed to 'class', and represents all of society [Marx/Engels]
When aristocracy or the bourgeoisie dominate, certain values dominate with them [Marx/Engels]
Philosophical problems are resolved into empirical facts [Marx/Engels]
The law says private property is the result of the general will [Marx/Engels]
To assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State [Marx/Engels]
Individuals are mutually hostile unless they group together in competition with other groups [Marx/Engels]
Only in community are people able to cultivate their gifts, and therefore be free [Marx/Engels]
Producing their own subsistence distinguishes men from animals [Marx/Engels]