Marxism as a Literary Theory

Contents
• Understand Marxism
• Background
• Communist manifesto
• Basic principles of Marxism
 Class Struggle
 Dialectical Materialism
 Base and Superstructure
 Socialist Realism
• Analysis of text
• Assignment
 Marxism
• Marxism is a materialist philosophy -interpret
the world -based on the concrete, natural
world around us and the society we live in.
• theoretical amalgamation of different
concepts put together by Karl Marx (1818–
1883 ) and Friedrich Engels(1820-1895 ).
• Marxism explains the social, economic,
political, and cultural understanding of reality,
society, and the individual.
• Marxism has its origin in the views
expressed in the three seminal texts,
– The German Ideology (1845)
– The Communist Manifesto (1848)
jointly written by Marx and Engels
– Marx’s The Das Capital (1867).
 The German Ideology
• manuscripts written in 1845 by Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels
• Marx criticizes German philosophers of his
time for being too dependent on Hegel,
abstracting concepts and playing with them in
the arena of pure thought, as though they are
isolated from their own material reality
• Historical Materialism
 To be continued
• Stages of Historical Materialism
– Primitive Communism
– Ancient mode of production
• Developing tools
– Feudal system
• Masters
• Surfs
– Capitalism
– Socialism
• Dictatorship of proletariat
– Communism
 Communist Manifesto
• written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in
1848
• The text became a significant political
influence on the German public and led to
Marx being expelled from the country. This
prompted his permanent move to London and
the pamphlet's 1850 publication in English for
the first time.
• class system composed primarily of a bourgeoisie
(owners of the means of production) and
proletariat (wage workers)
• Marx and Engels explain:
• "The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted
from the ruins of feudal society has not done away
with class antagonisms. It has but established new
classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms
of struggle in place of the old ones."
 Path way to communism
• In place of the old bourgeois society, with its
classes and class antagonisms, we shall have
an association, in which the free development
of each is the condition for the free
development of all."
• Marx and Engels go on to state the 10 goals of the
Communist Party:
– To end property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
– A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
– Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
– Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
– Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with
State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
– Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the
State.
– Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the
bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally
in accordance with a common plan.
– Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for
agriculture.
– Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all
the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of
the populace over the country.
– Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor
in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
• Das Kapital: critique of political economy written
by German philosopher and economist Karl
Marx. The first volume was published in 1867
• Marx addresses the nature of commodities,
wages and the worker-capitalist relationship,
among other things. Much of this work tries to
show the ways in which workers are exploited by
the capitalist mode of production. He also
provides a history of past exploitations. Marx
argues that the capitalist system is ultimately
unstable, because it cannot endlessly sustain
profits.
 Class Sturggle
• Class struggle originates out of the exploitation
of one class by another throughout history.
• Feudalism- feudal lords and the peasants,
• Industrial age- capitalist class (the bourgeoisie)
and the industrial working class (the proletariat).
• In a capitalist system the proletariat is always in
conflict with the capitalist class. This
confrontation, according to Marx, will finally result
in replacing the system by socialism.
 Dialectical Materialism
• originally developed by the 18th century
German philosopher Hegel- emergence of
new ideas through the confrontation of
opposing ideas
• He believed that the world is governed by
thought and material existence is the
expression of an immaterial spiritual essence.
• Marx used the same concept to interpret the
progress of the material world.
• Marx argued that all mental( ideological)
systems are products of real social and
economic existence. For example, the legal
system reflects the interests of the dominant
class in particular historical periods rather
than the manifestation of divine reason.
Marxist dialectic can be understood as the
science of the general and abstract laws of
development of nature, society and thoughts.
 Superstructure & Base
• the relationship between the material means
of production and the cultural world of art and
ideas.
• The foundation or the base stands for the
socio-economic relations and the mode of
production
• the superstructure stands for art, law, politics,
religion and, above all, ideology.
• Broadly speaking it refers to the idea that culture
is governed by historical conditions and the
relations of dominance and subordination
prevalent in a particular society. Morality,
religion, art and philosophy are seen as echoes of
real life processes. In Marx’s own words, they are
“phantoms formed in the brains of men.” From
this point of view all cultural products are directly
related to the economic base in a given society.
 Socialist Realism
• Dominant Soviet literature and art form from
1934 onwards
– Characterized by the heroic depiction of the labor
– Glorifying ruling communist party
• Relate literature and politics
• Based on three principles
– Partinost
– Narodnost
– Klassovost
• Partinost or commitment to the working class
cause of the party
• The idea of Partinost is based onVladmir Lenin
‘s essay, Party Organisation
and Party Literature (1905) which reiterates
the commitment of the writer to the aim of
the party to liberate the working class from
exploitation
• under capitalism the workers lost control over
their products they were engaged in the
production of various parts and were
alienated from their own work. So, only folk
art survived as people’s art. The concept
Narodnost reiterates this quality of popular art
which is accessible to the masses and wanted
to restore their lost wholeness of being.
• Klassovost refers to the commitment of the
writer to the interests of the working class. It
is not related to the explicit allegiance of a
writer to a particular class but the writer’s
inherent ability to portray the social
transformation.
• Tolstoy, the Russian novelist, was an aristocrat by birth and
had no affiliation to the revolutionary movements in Russia,
Lenin called Tolstoy the “mirror of Russian revolution” as he
was successful in revealing the transformation in Russian
society that led to the revolution through his novels. Lenin’s
position regarding art and literature was harder than that
of Marx and Friedrich Engels. He argued that literature
must become an instrument of the party. In the
1934 congress of Soviet Writers, Socialist Realism was
accepted as the official aesthetic principle of Soviet Union.
It was accepted as a dogma by communists all over the
world.
• Analyzing a book using Marxist
literary theory involves examining
the text through the lens of class
struggle, economic power
dynamics, and social inequalities.
Understand Marxist Theory Basics
• Familiarize yourself with key concepts such
as class
struggle, capitalism, ideology, alienation,
and historical materialism.
• Recognize how economic conditions shape
human experiences and societal structures.
 Identify Class Structures
Determine the social classes represented in the
text. Identify characters' social status,
occupations, and economic conditions.
• Analyze how class relationships are portrayed.
Look for tensions between different classes
(e.g., bourgeoisie vs. proletariat).
 Examine Economic Context
• Consider the historical and economic context
during which the book was written and set.
How do these conditions influence the
characters and plot?
• Explore how the text reflects or critiques the
economic system of its time.
 Analyze Ideology and Power
• Investigate the ideologies presented in the
text. What beliefs about class, labor, and
power are promoted or challenged?
• Look for instances of false consciousness,
where characters may not recognize their true
social conditions or class interests.
 Consider Alienation
• Examine how characters experience alienation
in their work or relationships. How does
capitalism contribute to their sense of
disconnection?
• Analyze the impact of commodification on
human relationships and individual identity.
 Look for Symbols and Ideas
• Identify symbols that represent class struggles
or economic conditions. For example, objects,
settings, or recurring themes that highlight
social inequalities.
• Consider how these symbols contribute to the
overall message of the text regarding class and
society.
 Explore Rebellion and Resistance
• Investigate how characters respond to class
oppression. Are there moments of rebellion or
solidarity among the oppressed?
• Analyze the outcomes of these actions and
what they suggest about the potential for
social change.
 Contextualize with Other Works
• Compare the book with other literary works
that address similar themes. How do different
authors approach class struggle and economic
issues?
• This can deepen your understanding of the
text's place within the broader literary and
socio-economic landscape.
 Formulate a Thesis
Based on your analysis, develop a thesis
statement that encapsulates your main
argument about the book’s portrayal of class
and society.
• Ensure your thesis is supported by textual
evidence and critical reasoning.
 Example Application
• If analyzing Charles Dickens' "Hard
Times," you might focus on the stark class
divisions between the industrialists and the
working class, the portrayal of education as a
tool of oppression, and the characters'
struggles for identity and humanity within a
capitalist framework.
• official literary policy by Soviet Union the
“Moscow Line” was popularized and got
international acceptance among communists.
As a result, a direct cause-effect relationship
between literature and economics was
assumed, with all writers seen as trapped
within the intellectual limit of their class
position.
 Conclusion
• A Marxist literary analysis allows you to
explore deeper socio-economic themes within
a text, revealing how literature reflects and
critiques the conditions of its time. By
following these steps, you can develop an
understanding of the interplay between
literature and class dynamics.