1.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
2.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
3.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
4.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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The Republic comprised sixteen autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group, the capital of the Russian SFSR was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. The Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed on November 7,1917 as a sovereign state, the first Constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922 the Russian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the USSR. It was, by 1961, the third largest producer of petroleum due to new discoveries in the Volga-Urals region and Siberia, trailing only the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1974, there were 475 institutes of education in the republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. A network of territorially organized public-health services provided health care, the effects of market policies led to the failure of many enterprises and total instability by 1990. On June 12,1990, the Congress of Peoples Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty, on June 12,1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected the first President. On December 8,1991, heads of Russia, Ukraine, the agreement declared dissolution of the USSR by its founder states and established the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Russian Parliament, therefore Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russias independence from the USSR. On December 25,1991, following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union, on December 26,1991, the USSR was self-dissolved by the Soviet of Nationalities, which by that time was the only functioning house of the Supreme Soviet. After dissolution of the USSR, Russia declared that it assumed the rights and obligations of the dissolved central Soviet government, the new Russian constitution, adopted on December 12,1993 after a constitutional crisis, abolished the Soviet system of government in its entirety. Initially, the state did not have a name and wasnt recognized by neighboring countries for five months. Meanwhile, anti-Bolsheviks coined the mocking label Sovdepia for the nascent state of the Soviets of Workers, on January 25,1918 the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets renamed the unrecognized state the Soviet Russian Republic. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on March 3,1918, on July 10,1918, the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire seceded, internationally, in 1920, the RSFSR was recognized as an independent state only by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania in the Treaty of Tartu and by the short-lived Irish Republic. On December 30,1922, with the creation of the Soviet Union, the final Soviet name for the republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the Soviet Constitution of 1936. By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly the same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700
5.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
6.
Pavel Dybenko
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Pavel Efimovich Dybenko, was a Soviet revolutionary and a leading officer. Pavel Dybenko was born in Lyudkovo village, Novozybkov uyezd, Chernigov guberniya, in 1907 he started working in the local Treasury department, but was fired as untrustworthy due to his political activities. He moved to Riga and worked as a port labourer and he tried to avoid enlisting, but was arrested and forcibly enlisted. In November 1911, he joined the Baltic Fleet, the first six months he served on the ship Dvina. The Dvina was utilized by the Navy as a vessel for the new recruits at Kronstadt. Formerly known as the Pamiat Azova its sailors were veterans of the 1906 revolutionary actions, in 1912 he joined the Bolshevik Party. In 1915, he participated in the mutiny on board of the battleship Emperor Paul I and he was imprisoned for six months and sent as an infantry soldier to the German front. There he went on with anti-war propaganda, and was imprisoned for 6 months. He was released after the February 1917 revolution, and returned to the Baltic Fleet, in April 1917, he became the leader of the Tsentrobalt. From the book Radio October. On the “Krechet” in Helsinki, radio operator Makarov hands a telegram to Pavel Dybenko with the report of the commissar, Grigoriy Borisov. The power is in the hands of the revolutionary committee and you have to immediately get in touch with the front committee of the Northern Army in order to preserve unity of forces and stability. ”)Dybenko was appointed the Peoples Commissar of naval affairs. Lenin, who knew Dybenko well enough as not to rely on him as a Navy commander, assigned to him an assistant, on February 18,1918, the German army advanced towards Petrograd. The Lenin-Trotsky government sent Dybenko to defend Petrograd by the force of the Baltic Fleet, the later communist propaganda claimed that revolutionary mariners achieved a great victory there on February 23,1918. February 23 was declared The birthday of the Red Army and this day is celebrated in Russia and Ukraine to this day as a national holiday. A special military decoration,20 years to the Soviet Army was instituted for this occasion in February 1938, however, this medal was never given to Dybenko himself. The truth is that Dybenko and his mariners fled the field, according to the memoirs of Bonch-Bruyevich, the mariners came by a barrel of pure alcohol and consumed it. Their whereabouts were unknown for at least a month, Lenin wrote in his famous article on 25 February 1918, in Pravda evening edition, A lesson humiliating but necessary, Refused to fight. Refused to defend the Narva line. failed to destroy everything as they retreated, implying that Dybenko and his mariners definitely were not an army
7.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
8.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
9.
Communism
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Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, anarchism, and the political ideologies grouped around both. The primary element which will enable this transformation, according to analysis, is the social ownership of the means of production. Likewise, some communists defend both theory and practice, while others argue that historical practice diverged from communist principles to a greater or lesser degree, according to Richard Pipes, the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in Ancient Greece. At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, in the medieval Christian church, for example, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and their other property. Communist thought has also traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia, More portrayed a society based on ownership of property. In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine, in the early 19th century, Various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the emphasis with a rational. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana, in its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels, in 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. The 1917 October Revolution in Russia set the conditions for the rise to power of Lenins Bolsheviks. The revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks had a majority, the event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development, Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule, the moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenins Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was more fully developed. The Great Purge of 1937–1938 was Stalins attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the Communist Party and its leading role in the Second World War saw the emergence of the Soviet Union as a superpower, with strong influence over Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The European and Japanese empires were shattered and Communist parties played a role in many independence movements
10.
Mensheviks
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The dispute originated at the Second Congress of the RSDLP, ostensibly over minor issues of party organization. Neither side held a consistent majority over the course of the congress, Lenins formulation required the party member to be a member of one of the partys organizations, whereas Martovs only stated that he should work under the guidance of a party organization. Martovs proposal was accepted by the majority of the delegates and that was also the reason behind the naming of the factions. Despite the outcome of the congress, the years saw the Mensheviks gathering considerable support among regular Social Democrats. In 1906, at the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, on the other hand, numerous disagreements about alliances and strategy emerged. The two factions kept their separate structures and continued to operate separately, both believed that the working class had to contribute to this revolution. In the event of a revolution, this was meant to lead to a dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, the Mensheviks came to argue for predominantly legal methods and trade union work, while the Bolsheviks favoured armed violence. Some Mensheviks left the party after the defeat of 1905 and joined legal opposition organisations, after a while, Lenins patience wore out with their compromising and in 1908 he called these Mensheviks liquidationists. The Menshevik faction split further in 1914 at the beginning of World War I, most Mensheviks opposed the war, but a vocal minority supported it in terms of national defense. They called for a revolution and transfer of all power to the Soviets. In March–April 1917, the Menshevik leadership conditionally supported the newly formed liberal Russian Provisional Government, from then on, the Mensheviks had at least one representative in the Provisional Government until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution of 1917. With Mensheviks and Bolsheviks diverging, Mensheviks and non-factional social democrats returning from exile in Europe, others, like Alexandra Kollontai, joined the Bolsheviks. A significant number, including Leon Trotsky and Adolf Joffe, joined the non-factional Petrograd-based anti-war group called Mezhraiontsy, a small but influential group of social democrats associated with Maxim Gorkys newspaper Novaya Zhizn refused to join either party. The Mensheviks got just 3. 3% of the national vote,41. 7% of their support came from the Transcaucasus. In Georgia about 75% voted for them, the right wing of the Menshevik party supported actions against the Bolsheviks, while the left wing, the majority of the Mensheviks at that point, supported the Left in the ensuing Russian Civil War. However, Martovs leftist Menshevik faction refused to break with the wing of the party, resulting in their press being sometimes banned. The Mensheviks opposed war communism, and in 1919 suggested an alternative programme, during World War I, some anti-war Mensheviks had formed a group called Menshevik-Internationalists. They were active around the newspaper Novaya Zhizn and took part in the Mezhraiontsy formation. After July 1917 events in Russia, they broke with the Menshevik majority that supported continued war with Germany, the Mensheviks-Internationalists became the hub of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party
11.
Bolsheviks
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The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk in Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues and they ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks or Reds came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, with the Reds defeating the Whites, and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism, in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means, Julius Martov suggested by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the partys organisations. Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a core of active members. A main source of the factions could be attributed to Lenin’s steadfast opinion. It was obvious at early stages in Lenin’s revolutionary practices that he would not be willing to concede on any party policy that conflicted with his own predetermined ideas and it was the loyalty that he had to his own self-envisioned utopia that caused the party split. He was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow minded that he believed there were only two types of people, Friend and enemy—those who followed him, and all the rest. Leon Trotsky, one of Lenins fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Robespierre, Lenins view of politics as verbal and ideological warfare and his inability to accept criticism even if it came from his own dedicated followers was the reason behind this accusation. The root of the split was a book titled What is to be Done. that Lenin wrote while serving a sentence of exile, in Germany, the book was published in 1902, in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution. One of the points of Lenin’s writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by the strong leadership of one person over the masses. After the proposed revolution had overthrown the government, this individual leader must release power. Lenin also wrote that revolutionary leaders must dedicate their lives to the cause in order for it to be successful. Lenins view of a socialist intelligentsia showed that he was not a supporter of Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist idea of eliminating social classes, most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral, and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society, so Lenin’s variations caused the party internal dissonance. Although the party split of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks would not become official until 1903, as discussed in What is to be Done. Lenin firmly believed that a political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution
12.
Cossack Hetmanate
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The Cossack Hetmanate, officially known as the Ruthenian State or Zaporizhian Host, was a Ukrainian Cossack state in Central Ukraine between 1649 and 1764. For other names, please, see section Name, the Hetmanate was founded by the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Uprising of 1648–57. The official document, which symbolized union between Russia and Ukraine, however, was never preserved and is thought to be fictional. After a failed attempt to break the union with Russia by Ivan Mazepa in 1708, Catherine II of Russia officially abolished the institute of Hetman in 1764 and in 1764-1781 Cossack Hetmanate was incorporated as the Little Russia Governorate headed by Pyotr Rumyantsev. The official name of the Cossack Hetmanate was Zaporizhian Host, the historiographic term Hetmanate or Hetman state were coined in the late 19th century. It derives from the word hetman, the title of the general of the Zaporizhian Army, inhabitants of the Cossack Hetmanate referred to it in Ukrainian as Ukraine or Vkraine. In Muscovite diplomatic correspondence it was called the Little Russian State, in Polish, Ottoman, the Cossack Hetmanate was called the country of Ukraine by the Ottoman Empire. The founder of the Hetmanate, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, declared himself as the ruler of the Ruthenian state to the Polish representative Adam Kysil in February 1649 and he also called the Hetmanate as Ruthenian state in his letter to the Tsar on February 17,1654. His contemporary Metropolitan Sylvestr Kosiv recognized him as the leader and the commander of our land, Şerban he referred to himself as Clementiae divinae Generalis Dux Exercituum Zaporoviensium. He warned them about his intention to resume his military campaign, however, after obtaining an intelligence report of the superior cossack forces, the Polish troops retreated to Zbarazh to set a defense. The forces of Jeremi Wiśniowiecki reinforced the Zbarazh defenders while he took the lead of all Polish forces, Khmelnytsky besieged the city wearing down through series of random attacks and firing at it. The king while rushing to help Wisznewecki was ambushed with his newly gathered forces, Khmelnytsky leaving part of his army with Ivan Cherniata near Zbarazh moved together with İslâm III Giray to intercept the Polish reinforcements and block their way at a river crossing near Zboriv. Caught be some degree of surprise John Casimir started negotiations with the Tatars khan, bringing khan on his side they forced Khmelnytsky to start peace negotiations. Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Zboriv in August 1649 and was less than the cossack leader has anticipated from his campaign. As ruler of the Hetmanate, Khmelnytsky engaged in state-building across multiple spheres, in the military, administration, finance, economics, and culture. He invested the Zaporozhian Host under the leadership of its hetman with supreme power in the new Ruthenian state, the Hetmanate used Polish currency, and Polish as an administrative language and a language of command. This is known as the modern Ukrainian language, the treaty also led to the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667. The period in Hetmanate history, known as the Ruin, which lasted from 1657 to 1687, was marked by constant civil wars throughout the state, at the end of Bohdan Khmelnytskys life, his son Yuri Khmelnytsky was elected to be his successor
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Bulgaria
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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
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Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial
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Finns
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Finns or Finnish people are a Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland. Also, some of these may be classified as ethnic groups. These include the Kvens and Forest Finns in Norway, the Tornedalians in Sweden, the most notable autochthonous group is the Finnish-speaking population of Sweden, who trace their origin to Second Swedish Crusade after which Finland came under Swedish rule. Finnish, the language spoken by most Finnic people, is related to other Finnic languages. The Finnic languages are a subgroup to the Uralic family of languages and these languages are markedly different from most other languages spoken in Europe, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. Native Finns can also be divided according to dialect into subgroups sometimes called heimo, the Population Register Centre maintains information on the birthplace, citizenship and mother tongue of the people living in Finland, but does not specifically categorize any as Finns by ethnicity. The majority of living in the Republic of Finland consider Finnish to be their first language. According to Statistics Finland, of the total population of 5,300,484 at the end of 2007,91. 2% considered Finnish to be their native language. It is not known how many of the ethnic Finns living outside Finland speak Finnish as their first language, Finns have been traditionally divided into sub-groups along regional, dialectical or ethnographical lines. These subgroups include the people of Finland Proper, Satakunta, Tavastia, Savo and these sub-groups express regional self-identity with varying frequency and significance. Historically, there were three dialects, the South-Western, Tavastian, and Karelian, the Sweden Finns are either native to Sweden or have emigrated from Finland to Sweden. An estimated 450,000 first- or second-generation immigrants from Finland live in Sweden, the majority moved from Finland to Sweden following the Second World War, taking advantage of the rapidly expanding Swedish economy. This emigration peaked in 1970 and has been declining since, there are also native Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, e. g. the Tornedalingar and the Finns of Dalecarlia. The Finnish language has official status as one of five minority languages in Sweden, the term Finns is also used for other Finnic peoples, including Izhorians in Ingria, Karelians in Karelia and Veps in the former Veps National Volost, all in Russia. Among these groups, the Karelians is the most populous one, according to a 2002 census, it was found that Ingrians also indetify with Finnish ethnic identity, referring to themselves as Ingrian Finns. The Finnish term for Finns is suomalaiset and it is a matter of debate how best to designate the Finnish-speakers of Sweden, all of whom have migrated to Sweden from Finland. Historical references to Northern Europe are scarce, and the given to its peoples and geographic regions are obscure, therefore
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Yevgeniya Mravina
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Yevgeniya Konstantinovna Mravinskaya, better known by her stage name Yevgeniya or Evgenia Mravina, was a Russian soprano and the aunt of conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky. Born in Saint Petersburg, Mravina studied there with Ippolit Pryanishnikov, then in Berlin with Désirée Artôt and she made her debut in the role of Gilda in Giuseppe Verdis opera Rigoletto at Vittorio Veneto in August 1885 and was principal soloist at the Mariinsky Theater between 1886 and 1897. Mravina quit the Saint Petersbuirg stage in 1900 over a conflict with the Direction of the Imperial Theaters and she made three European tours—in 1891–1892, 1902–1903 and 1906—but by the last tour her voice and health were already deteriorarting. She gave her final concert in Saint Petersburg in 1906, Mravina was noted particularly for roles which required virtuoso singing and conveyed a good deal of her characters ardent natures. Concerned with the presence of her roles, she frequently consulted with N. F. Sazamov, the Alexandrinsky Theaters star actor, on issues of dramatic creativity and she also sang in operas by Charles Gounod, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Richard Wagner. Tchaikovsky envisioned Mravina in the role of Liza in The Queen of Spades, later, when Medea Figner was to be replaced by Mariya Sionitskaya, Tchaikovsky regretted that Mravina could not sing the role. Brown, David, Tchaikovsky, The Final Years, 1885–1893, in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition,29 vols. Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia article on Mravina
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Grand Duchy of Finland
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The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed between 1809 and 1917 as an part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian Emperor as Grand Duke. The new title Grand Duke of Finland did not result in any Finnish autonomy, during the next two centuries, the title was used by some of Johns successors on the throne, but not all. Usually it was just a title of the king, used only on very formal occasions. The title Grand Duke of Finland was added to the long list of titles of the Russian Tsar, after his return to Finland in 1812, the Finnish-born Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt became counsellor to the Russian emperor. The formation of the Grand Duchy stems from the Treaty of Tilsit between Czar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte of France, the treaty mediated peace between Russia and France and allied the two countries against Napoleons remaining threats, Great Britain and Sweden. Russia invaded Finland in February of 1808, claimed as an effort to impose sanctions against Sweden, but not a war of conquest. The oath also dubbed anyone person who gave aid to the Swedish or Finnish armies a rebel, the Finns complied, bitter over Sweden abandoning the country for their war against Denmark and France, and begrudgingly embraced Russian conquest. The Diet of Finland was now to only meet whenever requested, further on, Alexander I requested a deputation of the four Finnish estates, as he expressed concern over continued Finnish resistance. The deputation refused to act without the Diet, to which Alexander agreed with, by 1809, all of Finland had been conquered and The Diet was summoned in March. Finland was then united through Russia via crown, and Finland was able to keep the majority of its own laws, the earlier years of the Grand Duchy can be seen as uneventful. In 1812, the area of Old Finland, known as the Viipuri Province was returned to Finland after being annexed by Russia in the Great Northern War, despite the outcry, the borders remained set until 1940. Moreover, Alexander moved the capital from Turku to Helsinki, a fortified town protected by Suomenlinna. Finlands main university also transferred to Helsinki after a fire out in Turku. Alexander went a step further to demand a Finnish House of Nobles, the house was designed to register all noble families in Finland, so that the highest Finnish estate would be representative of the next Finnish diet. As for Sweden, the majority did not think too much about Finlands conquest, as Sweden itself annexed Norway from Denmark in 1814, despite this, Alexander I ceased to give in to Finnish affairs and returned to governing Russia. In 1823, Arseny Zakrevsky was made general of Finland and quickly became unpopular by the Finns. Zakrevsky abolished the Committee for Finnish Affairs and managed to obtain the right to submit Finnish affairs to the Czar, bypassing the Finnish Secretary of State
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Higher education
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Higher education, post-secondary education, or third level education is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completion of secondary education. Tertiary education at non-degree level is referred to as further education or continuing education as distinct from higher education. The right of access to education is mentioned in a number of international human rights instruments. In Europe, Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, in the days when few pupils progressed beyond primary education, the term higher education was often used to refer to secondary education, which can create some confusion. Higher education includes teaching, research, exacting applied work, within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level, and beyond that, graduate-level. The latter level of education is referred to as graduate school. Higher education is important to national economies, both as an industry, in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy. College educated workers have commanded a measurable wage premium and are less likely to become unemployed than less educated workers. However, the admission of so many students of average ability to higher education inevitably requires a decline in academic standards. There is some question as to whether advanced mathematical skills or talent are in fact necessary for such as history, English, philosophy. In contrast, the higher education and training that takes place at vocational universities and schools usually concentrates on practical applications. Requirements for admission to such high-level graduate programs is extremely competitive, in the United States, there are large differences in wages and employment associated with different degrees. Medical doctors and lawyers are generally the highest paid workers, and have among the lowest unemployment rates and it may encompass using insights to conceive, model and scale an appropriate solution to a problem or objective. Engineering disciplines include, aerospace, biological, civil, chemical, computer, electrical, industrial, examples are painting, sculpture, and drawing, etc. Higher educational institutions in these arts include Film schools and Art schools, Higher vocational education and training takes place at the non-university tertiary level. Such education combines teaching of practical skills and theoretical expertise. Higher education differs from other forms of education such as that offered by institutions of vocational education. Higher vocational education might be contrasted with education in a broader scientific field
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Western Europe
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Western Europe, or West Europe, is the region comprising the western part of Europe. Below, some different geographic and geopolitical definitions of the term are outlined, prior to the Roman conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted the newly developed La Tène culture. This cultural and linguistic division was reinforced by the later political east-west division of the Roman Empire. The division between these two was enhanced during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events, the Western Roman Empire collapsed, starting the Early Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Greek or Byzantine Empire, survived, in East Asia, Western Europe was historically known as taixi in China and taisei in Japan, which literally translates as the Far West. The term Far West became synonymous with Western Europe in China during the Ming dynasty, the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci was one of the first writers in China to use the Far West as an Asian counterpart to the European concept of the Far East. In his writings, Ricci referred to himself as Matteo of the Far West, the term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Post-war Europe would be divided into two spheres, the West, influenced by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc. With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain, behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Although some countries were neutral, they were classified according to the nature of their political. This division largely defined the popular perception and understanding of Western Europe, the world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic, COMECON and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Several countries which had part of the Soviet Union regained full independence. Although the term Western Europe was more prominent during the Cold War, it remains much in use, in 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It was further revisited in 1954 at the Paris Conference, when the Western European Union was established and it was declared defunct in 2011, after the Treaty of Lisbon, and the Treaty of Brussels was terminated. When the Western European Union was dissolved, it had 10 member countries, six member countries, five observer countries. The CIA divides Western Europe into two smaller subregions, regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from different regional groups. The European Union is an economic and political union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe, some Western and Northern European countries of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are members of EFTA, though cooperating to varying degree with the European Union
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Narodniks
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The Narodniks were a socially conscious movement of the Russian middle class in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against the Tsardom. Their ideology was known as Narodnichestvo, from the Russian народ, narod, people, folk, a common slogan among the Narodniks was хождение в народ, khozhdeniye v narod, going to the people. The Narodnik position was held by intellectuals who read the works of Alexander Herzen and of Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky. Critical Narodniks followed Mikhaylovsky, and assumed a flexible stance on capitalism, the more well-known Doctrinaire Narodniks had a firm belief that capitalism had no future in Russia or in any agrarian country. Narodnism arose after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 under Tsar Alexander II, arguing that freed serfs were being sold into wage slavery, in which the bourgeoisie had replaced landowners, Narodnism aimed to become a political force opposed to the phenomenon. Narodniks viewed aspects of the past with nostalgia, although they resented the former land ownership system, Narodniks focused upon the growing conflict between the peasantry and the so-called kulaks. The groups which formed shared the general aims of destroying the Russian monarchy and the kulaks. The Narodniks generally believed that it was possible to forgo the capitalist phase of Russias development, the Narodniks saw the peasantry as the revolutionary class that would overthrow the monarchy, and perceived the village commune as the embryo of socialism. However, some Narodnik intellectuals called for a revolution that went beyond philosophical and political discussion. In the spring of 1874, the Narodnik intelligentsia left the cities for the villages, given the Narodniks generally middle- and upper-middle-class social background, they found difficulty relating to the impoverished peasants and their culture. They spent much of their time learning peasant customs, such as clothing and dancing, Narodniks were viewed with suspicion by many Russian peasants, who were completely removed from the more modernized culture of the urban sphere. The authorities responded to the Narodniks attempt with repression, revolutionaries, one response to this repression was the formation of Russias first organized revolutionary party, Narodnaya Volya, in June 1879. The attempt to get the peasantry to overthrow the Tsar proved unsuccessful, narodism therefore developed the practice of terrorism, the peasantry, they believed, had to be shown that the Tsar was not supernatural, and could be killed. On March 1,1881, they succeeded in assassinating Alexander II, however, these events did not mark the end of the movement, and the later Socialist-Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists, and Trudoviks all pursued similar ideas and tactics to the Narodniks. The philosophy and actions of the Narodniks therefore helped prepare the way for the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the Narodnik movement was a populist initiative to engage the rural classes of Russia in a political debate that would overthrow the Tsar’s government in the nineteenth century. Unlike the French Revolution or the European Revolutions of 1848, the “to the people” movement was political activism primarily from wealthier individuals. The concept of the narod, like the volk in Germany, was an attempt to establish a new identity in Russia that was both nationalistic and liberal. Fyodor Dostoevsky said that “none of us like the narod as they actually are, but only as each of us has imagined them
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Marxism
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It originates from the mid-to-late 19th century works of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As the contradiction becomes apparent to the proletariat through the alienation of labor, Marxism has since developed into different branches and schools of thought, and there is now no single definitive Marxist theory. Marxism has been adopted by a number of academics and theorists working in various disciplines. Critics have taken issue with particular Marxist claims or accused Marxism as a whole of being inconsistent, refuted based on new information. The Marxian analysis begins with an analysis of the material conditions, the economic system and these social relations form a base and superstructure. As forces of production, most notably technology, improve, existing forms of social organization become inefficient, from forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution and these inefficiencies manifest themselves as social contradictions in society in the form of class struggle. Under the capitalist mode of production, this struggle materializes between the minority who own the means of production, and the vast majority of the population who produce goods, the socialist system would succeed capitalism as humanitys mode of production through workers revolution. According to Marxism, especially arising from crisis theory, socialism is a historical necessity, in a socialist society private property, in the form of the means of production, would be replaced by co-operative ownership. A socialist economy would not base production on the creation of private profits, Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand. The historical materialist theory of history analyses the causes of societal development. All constituent features of a society are assumed to stem from economic activity, the base and superstructure metaphor portrays the totality of social relations by which humans produce and re-produce their social existence. According to Marx, The sum total of the forces of production accessible to men determines the condition of society and this relationship is reflexive, at first the base gives rise to the superstructure and remains the foundation of a form of social organization. As Friedrich Engels clarified, The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, accordingly, Marx designated human history as encompassing four stages of development in relations of production. Primitive Communism, as in tribal societies. Slave Society, a development of tribal to city-state, aristocracy is born, feudalism, aristocrats are the ruling class, merchants evolve into capitalists. Capitalism, capitalists are the class, who create and employ the proletariat. According to the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, the content of Marxism was Marxs economic doctrine
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Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
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Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 are a series of notes written between April and August 1844 by Karl Marx. Not published by Marx during his lifetime, they were first released in 1927 by researchers in the Soviet Union, the notebooks are an early expression of Marxs analysis of economics, chiefly Adam Smith, and critique of the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel. The notebooks cover a range of topics including private property, communism. They are best known for their expression of Marxs argument that the conditions of modern industrial societies result in the estrangement of wage-workers from their own life activity/work. The young Marx had been ignored until recently, because his early works were considered more philosophical and by some as not scientific enough. However, Marxist humanists regard this book as one of the most important texts by Marx and crucial for understanding his entire thought, and Marxians also refer to it. In the first manuscript in which there are extensive quotes on economics from Adam Smith, Marx exposes his theory of alienation and he explains how, under capitalism, more and more people rely on labour to live. That is, before people could rely in part on Nature itself for its needs, in modern society, if one wants to eat, one must work. He thereby owes it the possibility to exist first as a worker, in other words, the worker relies on labour to gain money to be able to live, but he doesnt live, he only survives, as a worker. Labour is only used to more wealth, instead of achieving the fulfillment of human nature. ‘Excerpt notes of 1844’ also called the ‘Paris manuscripts’ are known as some of Karl Marx’s earliest writings on philosophy plus economics, however, they were only published in the 1930s after the Soviet Revolution of 1917 had already taken place. Money was invented only to overcome difficulties exchanging goods, since it was, hence money, as the empiricist John Stuart Mill says, is just the medium of exchange to be more flexible. For Marx, the problem with money consists of the fact that from being a substitute money becomes a good and it does not represent the value of a certain or several goods, instead, the value of those goods is represented by a certain amount of money. Therefore, due to its flexibility, money could purchase everything, as did Aristotle, Marx argues that the market system does not serve a mere desire of exchange, but the aim of profit. To gain profits, money is to be invested and thereby becomes capital resulting in capitalism, Marx defines capital as “accumulated labour”. The fetishism of money is born, men are evaluated in terms of their materialistic creditability. This also becomes an economic judgement of their morality, the consequence is that human individuality and morality becomes a vehicle for money. The main objective of men moves towards earning as much money as possible and this enhances the formation and size of gaps between the capitalist and the labourer, and gives power to those who are wealthy
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Theses on Feuerbach
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The Theses on Feuerbach are eleven short philosophical notes written by Karl Marx as a basic outline for the first chapter of the book The German Ideology in 1845. Like the book for which they were written, the theses were never published in Marxs lifetime, the document is best remembered for the epigrammatic 11th thesis and final line, Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it. In February 1845 Karl Marx was deported from France at the behest of minister of foreign affairs François Guizot, Marx found sanctuary in Brussels, where he was joined for a number of months by his political compatriot Frederick Engels beginning in April of that same year. Marx began work upon a book detailing his new philosophy of history and these theses were initially written as a raw outline for the first chapter of The German Ideology, and most of these were developed at greater length in that work. The Theses identify political action as the truth of philosophy, famously concluding, Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways. While the text wishes to retain the stance of German critical idealism. Despite their best efforts to find a publisher, The German Ideology was not published during the lifetime of either Karl Marx or Frederick Engels. The polemical work was published in full only in 1932 by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party in Moscow. Nor did Marx publish the Theses on Feuerbach during his lifetime and this material was instead later edited by Friedrich Engels and published in February 1888 as a supplement to his pamphlet Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy. Marxs original unedited text was published only in 1924 in German and Russian translation as part of Marx-Engels Archives, Book I, the Eleventh Thesis is engraved in the entryway of Humboldt University on Unter den Linden in Berlin. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany ordered this in 1953 as part of reconstruction following World War II. The Eleventh Thesis is also Marxs epitaph, engraved on his tombstone in Highgate Cemetery in London, along with the line of the Communist Manifesto, Workers of All Lands
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The German Ideology
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The German Ideology is a set of manuscripts written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels did not find a publisher, but the work was retrieved and published for the first time in 1932 by David Riazanov through the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow. The multi-part book consists of many satirically written polemics against Bruno Bauer, other Young Hegelians, part I, however, is a work of exposition giving the appearance of being the work for which the Theses on Feuerbach served as an outline. The work is a restatement of the theory of history Marx was beginning to call the materialist conception of history, the text itself was written by Marx and Engels in Brussels in 1845 and 1846 but it was not published until 1932. The Preface and some of the alterations and additions are in Marxs hand, the bulk of the manuscript is in Engels hand, except for Chapter V of Volume II and some passages of Chapter III of Volume I which are in Joseph Weydemeyers hand. Chapter V in Volume II was written by Moses Hess and edited by Marx, the text in German runs to around 700 pages. The nature of individuals depends on the conditions determining their production. How far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown by the degree to which the division of labor has been carried, also, there is a direct link between division of labor and forms of ownership. The ruling class, in ruling the material force of society, is simultaneously the ruling force of society. They regulate the production and distribution of ideas of their age, as the ruling class changes with time, so too do the ideals and the new ruling class must instill upon its society its own ideas which will become universal. The ruling ideas are thought to be the universal interest, however, it is an illusion that the ideas of the ruling class are the communal interests. This system will remain in place so long as society is organized around the need for a ruling class. To illustrate this theoretical framework, Marx draws on his formulation of base, historical development is the reflection of changes in the economic and material relations of the base. When the base changes, a revolutionary class becomes the new ruling class that forms the superstructure, during revolution, the revolutionary class makes certain that its ideas appeal to humanity in general so that after a successful revolution these ideas appear natural and universal. These ideas, which the elements of society propagate, then become the governing ideology of the historical period. Furthermore, the governing ideology mystifies the economic relations of society and this approach allows us to cease understanding history as a collection of dead facts or an imagined activity of subjects
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The Communist Manifesto
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The Communist Manifesto is an 1848 political pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It presents an approach to the class struggle and the problems of capitalism. It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism, the Communist Manifesto is divided into a preamble and four sections, the last of these a short conclusion. The introduction begins by proclaiming A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of communism, All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre. Subsequently, the introduction exhorts Communists to openly publish their views and aims, the first section of the Manifesto, Bourgeois and Proletarians, elucidates the materialist conception of history, that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Societies have always taken the form of a majority living under the thumb of an oppressive minority. In capitalism, the working class, or proletariat, engage in class struggle against the owners of the means of production. As before, this struggle will end in a revolution that restructures society, the bourgeoisie constantly exploits the proletariat for its labour power, creating profit for themselves and accumulating capital. Proletarians and Communists, the section, starts by stating the relationship of conscious communists to the rest of the working class. While the degree of reproach toward rival perspectives varies, all are dismissed for advocating reformism and it ends by declaring an alliance with the social democrats, boldly supporting other communist revolutions, and calling for united international proletarian action—Working Men of All Countries, Unite. In spring 1847 Marx and Engels joined the League of the Just, at its First Congress in 2–9 June, the League tasked Engels with drafting a profession of faith, but such a document was later deemed inappropriate for an open, non-confrontational organisation. Engels nevertheless wrote the Draft of the Communist Confession of Faith, a few months later, in October, Engels arrived at the Leagues Paris branch to find that Moses Hess had written an inadequate manifesto for the group, now called the League of Communists. In Hesss absence, Engels severely criticised this manifesto, and convinced the rest of the League to entrust him with drafting a new one and this became the draft Principles of Communism, described as less of a credo and more of an exam paper. On the 28th, Marx and Engels met at Ostend in Belgium, the League thus unanimously adopted a far more combative resolution than that at the First Congress in June. Marx and Engels were subsequently commissioned to draw up a manifesto for the League, upon returning to Brussels, Marx engaged in ceaseless procrastination, according to his biographer Francis Wheen. Following this, he spent a week in Ghent to establish a branch of the Democratic Association there. This imposition spurred Marx on, who struggled to work without a deadline, in all, the Manifesto was written over 6–7 weeks. Although Engels is credited as co-writer, the draft was penned exclusively by Marx
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The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon
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Later English editions, such as an 1869 Hamburg edition, were entitled The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. The essay discusses the French coup of 1851 in which Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte assumed dictatorial powers and it shows Marx in his form as a social and political historian, treating actual historical events from the viewpoint of his materialist conception of history. Along with Marxs contemporary writings on English politics, the Eighteenth Brumaire is a source for understanding Marxs theory of the capitalist state. The title refers to the Coup of 18 Brumaire in which Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in revolutionary France, the traditions of all the dead generations burden, like a nightmare, the minds of the living. Marxs interpretation of Louis Bonapartes rise and rule is of interest to scholars studying the nature. Many Marxist scholars regard the coup as a forerunner of the phenomenon of 20th-century fascism and he forgot to add, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidière for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851 for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, and the same caricature occurs in the circumstances of the second edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire. Marxs sentiment echoed an observation made by Friedrich Engels at exactly the same time Marx began work on this book, in a letter to Marx of 3 December 1851, Engels wrote from Manchester. Thus the 18th Brumaire would already be upon us, yet this motif appeared even earlier, in Marxs 1837 unpublished novel Scorpion and Felix, this time with a comparison between the first Napoleon and King Louis Philippe, Every giant. Presupposes a dwarf, every genius a hidebound philistine, the first are too great for this world, and so they are thrown out. But the latter strike root in it and remain, caesar the hero leaves behind him the play-acting Octavianus, Emperor Napoleon the bourgeois king Louis Philippe. Marxist philosophy Historical materialism The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon Preface to the Second Edition The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Charles H. Kerr, the Eighteenth Brumaire Of Louis Bonaparte, International Publishers, New York City,1963
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Grundrisse
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The Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie is a lengthy, unfinished manuscript by the German philosopher Karl Marx. Left aside by Marx in 1858, it remained unpublished until 1939, the Grundrisse is very wide-ranging in subject matter and covers all six sections of Marxs economics. It is often described as the draft of Das Kapital. Due to its breadth and its incorporation of themes from Marxs earlier writings, the Grundrisse is central to Marxs body of work. Towards the end of his life, Marx, according to Nicolaus, viewed the latter “with a scepticism bordering on rejection. ”The Grundrisse, on the hand, was one of the few texts which Marx spoke of “with a tone of achievement. French philosopher Louis Althusser believed that Marxs thought had been misunderstood, Althusser believed these errors to result from the notion that Marxs entire body of work forms a coherent whole. Althusser proffered a radical break in Marxs thought, which can be seen by comparing the unpublished Grundrisse. The Grundrisse became available in different languages over a period of time, the translation of the Grundrisse into English in 1973 had a profound effect on the then-emerging field of cultural studies. These seminars culminated in the publication of a paper titled “Marx’s Notes on Method. The Economics of Marx’s Grundrisse, an Annotated Summary, new York, St. Martins Press,1989. The Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx,1843 to Capital, new York, Monthly Review Press,1970. Marx Beyond Marx, Lessons on the Grundrisse, time, Labor, and Social Domination, A Reinterpretation of Marxs Critical Theory. Terrell Carber, ed. London, Routledge,2015, complete text, Marxists Internet Archive, www. marxists. org/
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Capital: Critique of Political Economy
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Capital, Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical text in communist philosophy, economics and politics. In Capital, Critique of Political Economy, Marx proposes that the force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labour. The owner of the means of production is able to claim the right to this value because he or she is legally protected by the ruling regime. In producing capital, the workers continually reproduce the conditions by which they labour. The critique of the economy of capitalism proposes that, Wage-labour is the basic cell-form of a capitalist society. After two decades of study and preparatory work the first volume appeared in 1867, The production process of capital. These three volumes are known as Das Kapital. The first of three volumes of Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie was published on 14 September 1867, dedicated to Wilhelm Wolff, and was the sole volume published in Marx’s lifetime. Capital, Volume II, subtitled The Process of Circulation of Capital, was prepared by Friedrich Engels from notes left by Karl Marx and published in 1885. It is divided into three parts, The Metamorphoses of Capital and Their Circuits, The Turnover of Capital, in Volume II, the main ideas behind the marketplace are to be found, how value and surplus-value are realized. Its dramatis personae, not so much the worker and the industrialist, but rather the money owner, the merchant, the trader. Moreover, workers appear in Volume II, essentially as buyers of goods and, therefore. Reading Volume II is of significance to understanding the theoretical construction of Marxs whole argument. Marx himself quite precisely clarified this place, in a letter sent to Engels on 30 April 1868, In Book 1. But now we investigate the conditions under which elements are found at hand, namely the social intertwining of the different capitals, of the component parts of capital. Volume II of Capital has indeed been not only a sealed book, to a large extent, it remains so to this very day. Part 3 is the point of departure for a topic given its Marxist treatment later in detail by, among others, Rosa Luxemburg. Capital, Volume III, subtitled The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole, was prepared by Friedrich Engels from notes left by Karl Marx, transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground Rent
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Dialectics of Nature
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Dialectics of Nature is an unfinished 1883 work by Friedrich Engels that applies Marxist ideas – particularly those of dialectical materialism – to science. In his 1939 preface to the work, the biologist J. B. S. Haldane states most of the manuscript seems to have written between 1872 and 1882, that is to say it refers to the science of that era. Hence it is hard to follow if one does not know the history of the scientific practice of that time. The idea of what is now called the conservation of energy was beginning to permeate physics, chemistry and biology, but it was still very incompletely realised, words such as force, motion, and vis viva were used where we should now speak of energy. Some then controversial topics of Engels day, pertaining to incomplete or faulty theories, are now settled and their interest lies not so much in their detailed criticism of theories, but in showing how Engels grappled with intellectual problems. One law proposed in the Dialectics of Nature is the law of the transformation of quantity into quality, probably the most commonly cited example of this is the change of water from a liquid to a gas, by increasing its temperature. In contemporary science, this process is known as a phase transition, there has also been an effort to apply this mechanism to social phenomena, whereby population increases result in changes in social structure. Dialectics and its study was derived from the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, engelss work develops from the comments he had made about science in Anti-Dühring. It includes the famous The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man, Engels argues that the hand and brain grew together, an idea supported by later fossil discoveries. Most of the work is fragmentary, but it has points of interest, a quotation from its biology, Full text on-line. Also available as pdf Michael Kosok, Essay on Dialectics of Nature Dialectics and Chaos
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Marxist philosophy
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Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marxs materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. The key characteristics of Marxism in philosophy are its materialism and its commitment to practice as the end goal of all thought. The philosopher Étienne Balibar wrote in 1996 that there is no Marxist philosophy and there never will be, on the other hand, so even the existence of Marxist philosophy is debatable. Many critics, both philosophers outside Marxism and some Marxist philosophers, feel that this is too quick a dismissal of the philosophical tradition. Much sophisticated and important thought has taken place after the writing of Marx and Engels, much or perhaps all of it has been influenced, subtly or overtly. Simply dismissing all philosophy as sophistry might condemn Marxism to a simplistic empiricism or economism, crippling it in practice, nonetheless, the force of Marxs opposition to Hegelian idealism and to any philosophy divorced from political practice remains powerful even to a contemporary reader. Such problems might include a too-simple economic determinism, a theory of ideology as false consciousness. So Marxist philosophy must continue to account of advances in the theory of politics developed after Marx. Marxism had proper signification only insofar as it was the theory of the tendency towards communism, however, Althusser never ceased to put in question the images of communism that Marxist theory and ideology carried on, but he did it in the name of communism itself. There are endless interpretations of the philosophy of Marx, from the interior of the Marxist movement as well as in its exterior. Both after the defeat of the French socialist movement during Louis Napoleon Bonapartes 1851 coup and then after the crushing of the 1871 Paris Commune, Marxs thought transformed itself. Marxisms philosophical roots were commonly explained as derived from three sources, English political economy, French republicanism and radicalism, and German idealist philosophy. Although this three sources model is an oversimplification, it still has some measure of truth, vulgar Marxism was seen as little other than a variety of economic determinism, with the alleged determination of the ideological superstructure by the economical infrastructure. Of particular importance is Hegels appropriation of Aristotles organicist and essentialist categories in the light of Kants transcendental turn, Marx builds on four contributions Hegel makes to our philosophical understanding. Aristotelian Organicism and Essentialism Hegel adopts the position that chance is not the basis of phenomena, some have falsely attributed to Hegel the position that phenomena are governed by transcendent, supersensible ideas that ground them. On the contrary, Hegel argues for the unity between universal and particular. Particulars are not mere token types of universals, rather, they relate to other as a part relates to a whole. This latter has import for Marxs own conception of law and necessity and this means that if we want to know the principle governing something, we have to observe its typical life-process and figure out its characteristic behavior
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Capital (economics)
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In economics, capital goods, real capital, or capital assets are already-produced, durable goods or any non-financial asset that is used in production of goods or services. Adam Smith defines capital as That part of a stock which he expects to afford him revenue. The term stock is derived from the Old English word for stump or tree trunk and it has been used to refer to all the moveable property of a farm since at least 1510. In Middle Ages France contracted leases and loans bearing interest specified payment, how a capital good is maintained or returned to its pre-production state varies with the type of capital involved. In most cases capital is replaced after a period as newer forms of capital make continued use of current capital non profitable. It is also possible that advances make a form of capital practical again. Capital is distinct from land in that capital can be increased by human labor, at any given moment in time, total physical capital may be referred to as the capital stock. Capital is an input in the production function, homes and personal autos are not usually defined as capital but as durable goods because they are not used in a production of saleable goods and services. In Marxist political economy, capital is used to buy something only in order to sell it again to realize a financial profit. In more contemporary schools of economics, this form of capital is referred to as financial capital and is distinguished from capital goods. Classical and neoclassical economics regard capital as one of the factors of production, all other inputs to production are called intangibles in classical economics. This includes organization, entrepreneurship, knowledge, goodwill, or management and this is what makes it a factor of production, The good is not used up immediately in the process of production unlike raw materials or intermediate goods. The good can be produced or increased and these distinctions of convenience have carried over to contemporary economic theory. There was the clarification that capital is a stock. As such, its value can be estimated at a point in time, by contrast, investment, as production to be added to the capital stock, is described as taking place over time, thus a flow. Since at least the 1960s economists have increasingly focused on forms of capital. These terms lead to questions and controversies discussed in those articles. It is in the form of assets, traded in financial markets
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Capital accumulation
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The process of capital accumulation forms the basis of capitalism, and is one of the defining characteristics of a capitalist economic system. In a more broad sense, capital accumulation may refer to the gathering or amassing of any objects of value as judged by ones perceived reproductive interest group. The definition of capital accumulation is subject to controversy and ambiguities, because it could refer to, most often, capital accumulation involves both a net addition and a redistribution of wealth, which may raise the question of who really benefits from it most. If more wealth is produced there was before, a society becomes richer. But if some accumulate capital only at the expense of others and it is also possible that some accumulate capital much faster than others. In principle, it is possible that a few people or organisations accumulate capital and grow richer, in economics and accounting capital accumulation is often equated with investment of profit income or savings, especially in real capital goods. The concentration and centralisation of capital are two of the results of such accumulation, Capital accumulation refers ordinarily to, real investment in tangible means of production, such as acquisitions, research and development, etc. that can increase the capital flow. Investment in financial assets represented on paper, yielding profit, interest, rent, investment in non-productive physical assets such as residential real estate or works of art that appreciate in value. And by extension to, human capital, i. e. new education, social capital, i. e. the wealth and productive capacity that the people in a society hold in common, rather than as individuals or corporations. Both non-financial and financial capital accumulation is usually needed for economic growth, smarter and more productive organization of production can also increase production without increased capital. Capital can be created without increased investment by inventions or improved organization that increase productivity, discoveries of new assets, the term is occasionally used in national accounts. Accumulation can be measured as the value of investments, the amount of income that is reinvested. Usually the Reserve Banks and the Treasury provide interpretations and analysis of this data, standard indicators include Capital formation, Gross fixed capital formation, fixed capital, household asset wealth, and foreign direct investment. Organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group, the OECD, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Eurostat and the Japan Statistical Office provide data on the USA, Europe and Japan respectively. A reputable scientific journal is the Review of Income & Wealth, in the case of the USA, the Analytical Perspectives document provides useful wealth and capital estimates applying to the whole country. The rate of growth of the stock of fixed capital is. If the capital-output ratio or capital coefficient is constant, the rate of growth of Y is equal to the rate of growth of K and this is determined by s and k. A country might for example save and invest 12% of its national income, however, as Keynesian economics points out, savings do not automatically mean investment
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Crisis theory
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Crisis theory, concerning the causes and consequences of the tendency for the rate of profit to fall in a capitalist system, is now generally associated with Marxian economics. Earlier analysis was provided by Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi who provided the first suggestions of its systemic roots, a precise and useful survey of the competing theories of crisis in the different strands of political economy and economics was provided by Anwar Shaikh in 1978. Marxs crisis theory was only partially understood among leading Marxists at the beginning of the twentieth-century and it was Henryk Grossman who most successfully rescued Marxs theoretical presentation. As a result, there have been persistent challenges to this aspect of Marxs theoretical achievement, karl Marx considered his crisis theory to be his most substantial theoretical achievement. He presents it in its most developed form as Law of Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall combined with a discussion of various counter tendencies, which may slow or modify its impact. Roman Rosdolsky observed that ‘Marx concludes by saying that the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is ‘in every respect the most important law of political economy. Despite its simplicity, it has never before been grasped and even less consciously articulated and it is from the historical standpoint the most important law. In Marxs words, The real barrier of capitalist production is capital itself and these counteracting forces are as follows, an increase in the intensity of exploitation, depression of wages below their value. Cheapening of the elements of constant capital, relative overproduction, foreign trade, on the other hand, Mill does not refer to depression of wages below their value, relative overpopulation, or the increase in stock capital. But the subjective factors are the explanation for why purely objective factors such as the severity of a crisis, Kuruma in his 1929 Introduction to the Study of Crisis ends by noting. My use of the theory of crisis is not limited to the theory of economic crisis. This term naturally also encompasses the study of the necessity of imperialist world war as the explosion of the contradictions peculiar to modern capitalism, imperialist world war itself is precisely crisis in its highest form. Thus, the theory of imperialism must be an extension of the theory of crisis, Crisis theory is central to Marxs writings, it helps underpin Marxists understanding of a need for systemic change. Rosa Luxemburg, Henryk Grossman and Samezō Kuruma rendered inestimable services by insisting, as against the revisionists. More recently David Yaffe 1972,1978 and Tony Allen et al, Henryk Grossman’s re-presentation of both the central importance of the theory for Marx and the working out of its elements in a partially mathematical form was published in 1929. This observation leads to what is known as Marxs law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. e. at a lower profit rate, when countervailing tendencies are unavailable or exhausted, the system requires the destruction of capital values in order to return to profitability. Hence creating the preconditions for post-war boom. Paul Matticks Economic Crisis and Crisis Theory published by Merlin Press in 1981 is an introduction and discussion derived from Grossmans work
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Commodity (Marxism)
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Marxs analysis of the commodity is intended to help solve the problem of what establishes the economic value of goods, using the labor theory of value. This problem was extensively debated by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, value and price are not equivalent terms in economics, and theorising the specific relationship of value to market price has been a challenge for both liberal and Marxist economists. Man really attains the state of humanity when he produces. In Marxs theory, a commodity is something that is bought and sold and it has value, which represents a quantity of human labor. Because it has value, implies that people try to economise its use, a commodity also has a use value, an exchange value and a price. It has a use value because, by its characteristics, it can satisfy some human need or want. By nature this is a use value, i. e. the object is useful not just to the producer but has a use for others generally. It has a value, meaning that a commodity can be traded for other commodities. Price is then the expression of exchange-value. Commodity-trade, Marx argues, historically begins at the boundaries of separate economic communities based otherwise on a form of production. Thus, producers trade in goods of which those producers, have episodic or permanent surpluses to their own requirements. Marx refers to this as simple exchange which implies what Frederick Engels calls simple commodity production, typically, however, it is the producer himself who trades his surpluses. The transformation of a labor-product into a commodity is in reality not a simple process and these often include the following ten main ones, the existence of a reliable supply of a product, or at least a surplus or surplus product. The existence of a social need for it that must be met through trade, the legally sanctioned assertion of private ownership rights to the commodity. The enforcement of rights, so that ownership is secure. The transferability of these rights from one owner to another. The imposition of exclusivity of access to the commodity, the possibility of the owner to use or consume the commodity privately. Guarantees about the quality and safety of the commodity, and possibly a guarantee of replacement or service, thus, the commodification of a good or service often involves a considerable practical accomplishment in trade
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Exploitation of labour
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Exploitation refers to social relations where an actor or character of actors uses others for their own end because of a fundamentally asymmetric power relationship between them. When speaking about exploitation there is an affiliation with consumption in social theory. Traditionally, this would label exploitation as unfairly taking advantage of another person because of his or her inferior position, karl Marx, who is considered the most classical and influential theorist of exploitation, did not share the same traditional account of exploitation. Marxs theory explicitly rejects the moral framing characteristic of the notion of exploitation, in analyzing exploitation, many political economists are often stuck between the explanation of the exploitation of labour given by Marx and Adam Smith. Marxs exploitation theory is one of the major elements analyzed in Marxian economics, Marx credited the Scottish Enlightenment writers for originally propounding a materialist interpretation of history. Exploitation is when these two principles are not met, when the agents are not receiving according to their work or needs and this labour performed by a population over a certain time period is equal to the labour embodied to the goods that make up the net national product. The NNP is then parceled out to the members of the population in some way, the exploiters are the agents able to command goods, with revenue from their wages, that are embodied with more labour than the exploiters themselves have put forth. These agents often have class status and ownership of assets that aid the optimization of exploitation. The exploiters would typically be the bourgeoisie, meanwhile, the exploited are those who receive less than the average product he or she produces. If workers receive an amount equivalent to their product, there is no revenue left over. Thus, these workers cannot enjoy the fruits of their own labours, exploiters appropriate anothers surplus labour, which is the amount of labour exceeding what is necessary for the reproduction of a workers labour power and basic living conditions. In other terms, this entails the worker being able to maintain living conditions sufficient to be able to continue work. This comes from Marxs labour theory of value which claims that value is intrinsic in a product according to the amount of labour that has spent on producing the product. In a capitalist economy, workers are paid according to value and value is the source of all wealth. Value is determined by a goods particular utility for an actor, if the results from human activity it must be understood as a product of concrete labour. Capitalists are able to purchase power from the workers, who can only bring their own labour power in the market. Once capitalists are able to pay the worker less than the produced by their labour, surplus labour forms. This is what Marx meant by surplus value, which he saw as an expression for the degree of exploitation of labor-power by capital
