15 Facts About Marxism

1.

Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical perspective to view social transformation.

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2.

Marxism has had a profound impact on global academia, having influenced many fields, including anthropology, archaeology, art theory, criminology, cultural studies, economics, education, ethics, film theory, geography, historiography, literary criticism, media studies, philosophy, political science, political economy, psychology, science studies, sociology, urban planning, and theatre.

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3.

Marxism seeks to explain social phenomena within any given society by analysing the material conditions and economic activities required to fulfil human material needs.

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4.

Term Marxism was popularised by Karl Kautsky, who considered himself an orthodox Marxist during the dispute between Marx's orthodox and revisionist followers.

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5.

Marxism claimed that the term was being abusively used as a rhetorical qualifier by those attempting to cast themselves as genuine followers of Marx while casting others in different terms, such as Lassallians.

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6.

Marxism uses a materialist methodology, referred to by Marx and Engels as the materialist conception of history and later better known as historical materialism, to analyse the underlying causes of societal development and change from the perspective of the collective ways in which humans make their living.

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7.

Libertarian Marxism emphasizes the anti-authoritarian and libertarian aspects of Marxism.

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8.

Libertarian Marxism is often critical of reformist positions such as those held by social democrats.

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9.

Libertarian Marxism includes currents such as autonomism, council communism, De Leonism, Lettrism, parts of the New Left, Situationism, Freudo-Marxism, Socialisme ou Barbarie and workerism.

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10.

Libertarian Marxism has often strongly influenced both post-left and social anarchists.

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11.

Marxism is famous for analysing history in terms of class struggle, summarised in the initial line introducing The Communist Manifesto: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

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12.

Marxism posthumously went on to become an internationally recognised icon.

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13.

Criticism of Marxism has come from various political ideologies and academic disciplines.

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14.

Some Marxists have criticised the academic institutionalisation of Marxism for being too shallow and detached from political action.

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15.

Popper believed that Marxism had been initially scientific in that Marx had postulated a genuinely predictive theory.

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