Midterm Question Re-Writes & Some Lecture Notes

Sorry about the confusion in class yesterday regarding question #4 on the midterm (which everyone missed). The description of the re-write I put on the board was based on question #9, not #4. So, let me make amends in this blog. Below are the two questions that you may re-write to earn a total of 7 points. This is voluntary and is open to everyone:

#4 STATE ALL FOUR THEMES AND ALSO INCLUDE WHAT TWO DIFFERENT THEORISTS SAID ABOUT ANY TWO OF THESE THEMES. THIS, OF COURSE, IS MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL QUESTION ASKED.
(5PTS)

#31 RE-WRITE THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE HANDOUT THAT IS REFERENCED IN THIS QUESTION. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. FOR THOSE WHO GOT THIS QUESTION, YOU MAY ALSO RE-WRITE THIS ONE BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO IMPROVE ON YOUR ORIGINAL ANSWER. (2PTS)

***YOU MAY EMAIL ME YOUR ANSWERS OR TURN THEM IN ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER. THE DEADLINE IS NEXT MONDAY, APRIL 12TH, BY NOON. I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY RE-WRITES AFTER THAT TIME.

Also, tomorrow in class I'll finish going over the midterm exam. We left off on question #27.
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Lecture Notes: Since I did not get to Chapter 6 yesterday, I am going to post my notes on that chapter below. Be sure to incorporate these in your class notes.

Chapter 6: Marxism Extended: Lenin and Luxemburg

In this chapter we encounter two important thinkers and activists who not only were involved in carrying out Marx's ideas, but also added to Marx's analysis and critique of capitalism.

A. Lenin, of course, led the successful Russian Revolution in 1917 and was the first leader of socialist Russia.

1. One thing that stands out about his leadership in the first several years was his PRAGMATISM. Lenin was not a rigid ideologue who tried to institute socialism regardless of the circumstances. See bottom two paragraphs p. 148.

B. Lenin also extended Marx's analysis of capitalism to include IMPERIALISM, which extended capitalism's control to underdeveloped parts of the world in Asia, Africa, and Latin America: "Such colonialism (or imperialism), accompanied by uneven economic development, is the essence of modern monopoly capitalism, the international version of the class struggle within nation states." (p. 150) -- that is, the ultimate clash would be between capitalist nations and poor nations. (This aspect of Lenin's thought impressed Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader who was seeking support to oust the French who were the colonial oppressors of the Vietnamese at the time.)

1. Today, of course, colonialism has largely been replaced by multinational corporations operating independently, with little national allegiance.

2. Also interesting is how Lenin saw the connection between Western capitalism, colonialism, and racial oppression such as was evident in the U.S.. He influenced the American Communist Party in the 1920s to take a strong stand against racism and segregation in this country.

C. Lenin defended the need for a VANGUARD and a DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT to lead the new, fledgling socialist state in the direction of a truly classless, communist state.

D. Unfortunately, toward the end of his life, Lenin saw this proletarian dictatorship becoming increasingly bureaucratized; the Communist party was "displaying 'a passion for bossing.'" Of course, with Stalin's rise to power, the bossing becomes institutionalized.

E. Rosa Luxemburg was a formidable Marxist intellectual and activist who concentrated her efforts on Germany. Among her more perceptive contributions were:

1. Her criticism of REFORMISM -- that is, tinkering with capitalism, allowing some "bourgeois-granted goals" -- that this would only forestall the revolution, which was the working class's only real salvation.
(Could say, today, that the working class has largely been "bought off" by such concessions, and the capitalists are still essentially in control.)

2. Luxemburg also recognized imperialism (is "globalization" today masquerading as imperialism?) as a new phase of capitalist control. As such, imperialism was the mortal enemy of the proletariat of all countries.

3. She saw MILITARISM as a necessary development in capitalist society to relieve some of the economic pressures created by overproduction. (not all that different from President Eisenhower's warning about the growing power of the "military-industrial complex.") See mid., p. 159. "Thus, Luxemburg explained imperialism, militarism, and war as a single phenomenon of capital expansion and profit-making." (p. 159)

4. Finally, Luxemburg perceptively criticized Lenin's "dictatorship of the proletariat" as being nothing more than a plain old dictatorship, and not a true workers' revolution. (one of the themes of Warren Beatty's film "Reds" which came out in 1980)

F. Rosa Luxemburg (and perhaps to a lesser extent, Lenin) signals the later development of a variety of different Marxisms in the 20th century, some of which were highly critical of the Soviet Union and China, among other so-called Marxist states. (for example, the Frankfurt School covered in Chapter 16)


That brings us to Section IV: Sociological Theories of Complexity and Form and Chapter 7, which is were we will pick up tomorrow (4/8).