Marxism 101: Applying College Curriculum to Black Lives Matter
With all the accusations of Marxism, Communism, and Socialism being thrown around in our political spheres and media coverage of recent events, I thought it might be important to discuss what is being taught in our universities about Karl Marx.
I not only spent eight years learning about Marx in various sociology and criminal justice courses, but I taught about his ideas and theories in both Sociology 101 and Classical Social Theory every semester for two and a half years.
Marx is one of the “big three” social theorists in sociology. Along with Emile Durkheim (Structural-Functionalism and Positivism) and Max Weber (Social Interactionism and Rationalization), Marx is often credited for Conflict Theory and Critical Theory.
The following are very brief synopses of prominent Marxist concepts.
CONFLICT THEORY
Conflict Theory is the concept that the proletariat (the working class) is in constant conflict with the bourgeoisie (the capitalist business owner). This is your “haves vs. have nots” and “oppressor vs oppressed” dynamic that is constantly present in capitalist societies.
CRITICAL THEORY
Critical Theory is a response to Positivism — a purely “scientific” view of searching for and socially engineering patterns in society — and Social Interaction, which is a view that social behavior is shaped through socialization. Critical Theory attempted to understand social interactions using historical, literary analysis, and scientific methods to analyze society. This is where the idea of race, gender, sexuality, etc. being “social constructs” got started.
THE DIALECTIC
Hegel was a major inspiration on Marx, who borrowed this famous Hegelian Dialectic for his own purposes. The Hegelian version of the dialectic essentially works like this: someone has an idea (thesis). This idea is challenged by an opposing one (antithesis). From the interaction between these ideas, a new idea emerges (synthesis).
For the Marxian Dialectic we have capitalism (thesis), socialism (antithesis), that will lead to communism (synthesis). This is very much how the Progressive movement has operated over the past century. It is ever evolving and shifts what conservatives often refer to as the “Overton Window.”
In real world terms, think about the Right (limited central government)/Left (strong central government) dynamic. The Progressives have been shifting our nation to the Left for decades using the Hegelian Dialectic. If Conservatives want to “conserve” original American ideals (thesis) and Progressives want to “progress” away from those ideals (antithesis), every single compromise made by Conservatives necessarily moves toward larger, stronger, centralized government (synthesis).
HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
Hegel saw all society as an historical dialectic rooted in ideals that was moving toward ultimate spiritual enlightenment. He believed that the ultimate social goal was to be one with God. Marx, on the other hand, viewed the historical dialectic as rooted in economic organization. He believed that the ultimate social goal was a materialistic utopia of Communism.
BASE/SUPERSTRUCTURE
This is a very important concept for understanding Marx. The “base” refers to the fundamental forces of production in a society. In America, this is Capitalism. The “superstructure” is everything else in society. Marx believed that every aspect of Western industrialized society is built on Capitalist hierarchical principles.
Our corporations have a capitalist structure.
Our traditional homes are based on capitalist structures (father = capitalist, everyone else = proletariat).
Even our churches are capitalist (lead pastor = capitalist, assistant pastors and deacons = middle management or petit-bourgeoisie, congregants = proletariat).
Therefore, every institutional structure in our society is permeated with the capitalist base which inevitably leads to power struggles and conflict.
Until capitalism can be eliminated, these conflicts will always exist.
ALIENATION
Alienation is the idea that the proletariat is separated or “alienated” from their work. There are four main types of alienation:
1. From the product — the worker produces things that we never had ownership of. We did not invent the product. We did not own the means of production. We never owned the resources. Once the product is sold, ownership transfers from the capitalist to the consumer and passes by the worker.
2. From labor — the work we do is not our own. We sell our labor to the capitalist and lose self-expression in our labor. We work for survival, and essentially become animals. Labor becomes dehumanizing.
3. From self or “species being” — because we are alienated from the product of our labor and our labor itself, we sell our time to others and lose our ability to work toward our dreams. We often spend more hours in a day laboring for another that we have little time for our own pursuits. This is a further dehumanizing process.
4. From others — in a capitalist enterprise, co-workers who were once friends become enemies through competition for promotions in the company. A sense of resentment grows as we see others succeed while we tread water or fail. We also become alienated from our friends and families outside of work. Once we spend most of our days laboring for another, and take some time out for ourselves, only a small fraction of time remains for others.
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
Another very important Marxist concept for understanding what is happening right now is the idea of class consciousness. This occurs when the proletariat class becomes aware of its oppression by the bourgeoisie. When consciousness occurs, the proletariat will rise up in revolution and overthrow their capitalist oppressors.
SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM
These are two of the most misunderstood of Marx’s concepts. As I mentioned before, we can apply the Hegelian Dialectic to better understand Marx’s theory.
Capitalism is the prevailing thesis in Western economics. In this system, the wealthy capitalists control the means of production — the facilities and resources for producing goods. The next phase is socialism.
In a socialist economy, the public owns or cooperates with wealthy capitalists. Socialism is a necessary step in transitioning from a capitalist to communist system. This is both a social and economic system, because there needs to be a social contract. This is why Bernie Sanders continually advocates for allowing the workers to have a seat on the board of companies. There would be no more CEO running a company, but a “democratic” majority would make corporate decisions. The intention is to limit or eliminate class inequalities.
The final synthesis of these two systems is communism. In this system, no one person, business, or entity owns the means or modes of production. There is no hierarchical leadership or privately owned property — because ownership is alienating.
A common misconception is that communism is totalitarian, but Marx never advocated for this. True Marxist communism would actually be much more anarchistic. If all are equal, then there would be no need for government. His utopian ideal would be a complete direct democracy where all of us share resources and act on our own behalf for the greater good.
Marx was quite an optimist, regardless of his reputation.
CRITICAL THEORY EXPANDED
Over the past 60 years or so, Critical Theory has expanded traditional economic Marxism to consider race, gender, and sexuality. These are known as “Critical Race Theory,” “Critical Gender Theory,” and “Queer Theory.”
Critical Theory was born from the German Frankfurt School that borrowed quite heavily from Marx. We might call these folk, “Neo-Marxists.” As I mentioned earlier, they believe that social categories are “social constructs.” This means that if a society can construct a category, such as race, then it can deconstruct and reconstruct the category.
If you ever wondered why terms are constantly being changed in the name of political correctness, it is likely because there is a critical theory proponent to the change. If we can change language, then we can change the concept. If we can change the concept, then we can change society.
This is the Marxian Dialectic at play.
MARXISM AND THE DEMOCRATS
Now that the groundwork has been laid, we will see how they apply to the rise of the radical Left in the Democrat party (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders) and other major players.
Capitalism has been vilified for decades. The conflict between the wealthy and the working class has been raging since the Industrial Revolution — which is exactly when Marx was writing. It has become a political football in America over the last century. Labor unions began as a way for the working class to unite to leverage higher wages and fewer working hours.
The “workers of the world, unite!” slogan made popular from the Communist Manifesto was re-appropriated in 2019 by the United Steel Workers union.
We also know that labor unions have been major donors to the Democrat party for many years. About 86% of the $29,189,658 donated from unions went to Democratic candidates just this year. 90% of over $65M went to Democrats in 2016. About 93% of over $14M union dollars went to Democrats way back in 1992.
In other words, the relationship is deep. Marx’s conflict theory has been demonstrated very clearly between these unions and capitalist CEOs.
Therefore, the Democrat party has been the vehicle for this Marxian conflict for decades.
To see just how radical the party has become, look at some of the positions advocated by party runner up, Bernie Sanders, in 2020. Free college education, student loan debt forgiveness, free healthcare for all — including non-citizens, government control of the technology industry, and raising taxes on the upper and middle class. All of this on the backs of the wealthiest “one-percent.”
These were major campaign promises, and many of them have been adopted into several bills passed through the Democrat run House of Representatives.
The New York Times published the radical shift to the Left that can be visualized in the following graph:
While I do not particularly agree with the location of the “median party” line, the trajectory of the Democrat party cannot be denied.
BLACK LIVES MATTER AND THE 2020 PROTESTS
“Black Lives Matter” has evolved from a slogan into the BLM Global Network. This group is one of the clearest examples of Marxist ideology we have today.
Let us use some of the concepts discussed earlier.
1. Conflict Theory — this should be quite obvious, but the conflict between BLM and police is one of the primary focuses of the protests we have seen over the past month.
2. Critical Theory — BLM is practically a poster child for Critical Race Theory. They are using racism to reconstruct society as we know it. Major corporations are totally rebranding, country bands are changing their names, college mascots are being eliminated, and statues are being torn down in the name of “equality” and “political correctness.”
3. The Dialectic — America is the home of the free (thesis). American was founded on slavery (antithesis). America must be changed into something different (synthesis).
4. Historical Materialism and Base/Superstructure — American slavery was rooted in capitalism. Thus, capitalism must be overthrown in order to reach utopia. In fact, all systems must be eliminated. BLM even advocates for the disruption of “the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”
5. Alienation — like most Americans, Blacks are alienated from product, labor, species-being, and others. However, because Blacks are oppressed, they are even more alienated.
6. Class Consciousness — this is one of the keys to BLM. They write, “Black Lives Matter began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. Our intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities.”
It is clear that BLM is attempting to raise Blacks into a state of class consciousness and to make them aware that they are being oppressed.
7. Socialism and Marxism — one of the co-founders of BLM came out and admitted that she and others in the movement are “trained Marxists.” They are also firmly backed by the aforementioned socialists in the Democrat party. Furthermore, other groups that have been associated with the rioting in major cities across the United States and the formation of the infamous “CHAZ” aka “CHOP” in Seattle, such as Antifa, John Brown Gun Club, and the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement are all avowed Marxists who want to destroy capitalism and remake the United States of America into a communist utopia.
WHAT NOW
I hope you can see that what is being taught in American universities (and has been since the 1960s) and is being perpetrated by the media is finally manifesting in a generation of young people who have heard that America was founded on slavery, continued to discriminate against Blacks through Jim Crow and Civil Rights, and continues to oppress Blacks through “systemic racism” at all levels of the criminal justice system.
BLM and the Democrat party are fomenting Marxist class consciousness in the form of being “woke.” Have you ever wondered why that term became popular? It emerged in a song by Erykah Badu back in 2008. In 2012, it became connected with social justice issues. By 2016, it had become attached to BLM.
To be “woke” is to be made aware of one’s own social injustices. Sounds like class consciousness to me!
This generation that has been made aware of their permanent victimhood in the current system is now being organized by powerful forces. BLM has been connected to billionaire donors and Marxist ground troops who all seek to overthrow the United States. There is a top to bottom apparatus that is well funded and well organized.
With so many religious leaders, celebrities, and corporations literally and figuratively bent the knee to the destruction of our “social constructs” by changing narratives, removing “offensive” names and images from products, and eliminating statues and books, I do not believe this genie can be put back in the bottle.
The Marxist revolution has come to America. There has been a cold war being waged by the Left since the 1960s, and it is not becoming hot.
I fear that capitalism is on its last legs. There will be no political solution to stop this movement given the current climate in Washington. The Democrats and complicit and the Republicans are complacent. Maybe the system should be burned to the ground.
The real question is, what will rise from the ashes?
I am not sure I want to find out.
