Marxism Presentation in NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD by Rameez Ahmed Sheikh

1. Topic:
Marxism

2. Presentation Outline
 Introduction of Marxism
Neo- Marxism
Marxism Vs. Neo- Marxism
Criticism
Conclusion

3. Introduction of
Marxism
Presented By
Usman Wajeeh

4. Introduction
Founders of Marxism:
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
(1818-1883) (1820-1895)

5. Introduction of Marxism
Essentially an economic interpretation of
history based on the works of Karl Marx and
Frederich Engels
Posits a materialist model of societal change
Marxism is the most intellectually ambitious,
systematic and influential political philosophy in
the contemporary world.

6. Definition – Marxism
Definition of Marxism:
“The political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels in which the concept of class struggle plays a
central role in understanding society's allegedly inevitable
development from bourgeois oppression under capitalism to a
socialist and ultimately classless society.”
Three major factors
 Industrial Revolution
 Defeat of Napoleon
 Science with solution of all human problem
Capitalism Should be Abandoned for equitable system.

7. Marxism
 Bourgeoisie: Owns the means of production
 Proletariat: Owns only labor power
 The Sociological Theory
 Economic Determinism
 What we value and what we do politically is
determined by our economic circumstances
 Society:
 Foundation
 Super Structure
 Economics
Means of Production
Relation of Production
 Owner of means of production is most
influential

8. Marxism
Marxism Historical Theory
Materialism
Progress is achieved through creative tension
engendered by competing phenomenon
Materialism is substituted for spiritualism
Victory of the proletariat.

9. Marxism
Marxist Economic Theory
Theory of Work: People want to work, “self-creation”
Theory of Self–Alienation: Workers became alienated from work
because of three factors;
1.Working conditions intolerable,
2.Exploited for profit,
3.Mechanizing production
Marxist Theory of Revolution:
Vacillated over whether violence was necessary to achieve
socialist goals .
Competition would force to buy more machinery
Human labor can provides surplus value
Unemployment will increase
Wealth could be control by fewer people
The principle of class consciousness

10. Neo-Marxism
Presented by
Ghaffar Baloch

11. Neo- Marxism
Neo-Marxism:
Neo-Marxism is a loose term for various twentieth-
century approaches that;
Amend or extend Marxism
Marxist theory
usually by incorporating elements from other
intellectual traditions,
 such as: critical theory,
 psychoanalysis
 Existentialism(in the case of Sartre).

12. Neo-Marxism
 Frankfurt School has become one of the mostly widely
adopted forms of neo-Marxism
 Marxism had become too close to communism
 Neo-Marxists view class divisions under capitalism as
more important than gender/sex divisions or issues of
race and ethnicity
 The current of Neo-Marxist thought that is probably
the most important and influential historically and
today is dependency theory.

13. Neo-Marxism
NEO-MARXISTS:
After seeing the failure of working-class
revolutions in Western Europe after World War I,
chose the parts of Marx's thought that might
clarify social conditions that were not present
when Marx was alive.
Neo-Marxism is based on the total political-
economic-cultural system.

14. Marxism
Vs.
Neo Marxism
Presented by
Kashif Raza

15. Marxism Vs. Neo Marxism
Marxism Vs. Neo- Marxism:
Fundamental difference between Marxism and Neo-
Marxism
Marxism is based on economic determinism.
Marxist philosophy explains that the driving force of history is neither “Great Men” nor the
super-natural, but the development of the productive forces (industry, science, technique,
etc.)
Neo-Marxism is established on broader consideration
of social and intellectual influences that perpetuate
oppression of the working-class.

16. Marxism Vs. Neo Marxism
 Marxist believed that society is structured around
contradictions that could only be resolved only
through;
 Actual social change,
 Form of revolution.
 Marxist theory noted was between human nature and
the conditions for labor in capitalism.
 The contradiction in the capitalist process would
produce an economic crisis where the capitalist system
would fail.

17. Marxism Vs. Neo Marxism
Neo- Marxist theorized that under capitalism, our labor is sold as a
commodity through;
Theory of value (Use-Value Vs. Exchange Value), value in use is the utility
of consuming a good, while exchange value refers to one of four major attributes
of a commodity i.e., an item or service produced for, and sold on the market.
Theory of accumulation, is money or a financial asset
invested for the purpose of making more money (whether in the
form of profit, rent, interest, royalties, capital gain or some other
kind of return).
Theory of surplus value, Although Marx did not himself
invent the term, he developed the concept. It refers roughly to the
new value created by workers

18. Marxism Vs. Neo Marxism
Major Relationship between Marxism Vs. Neo
Marxism:
The contradictory relationship between;
elite class (those who profit)
the working class (those who provide the labor that
produces profit)
class-consciousness and ultimately revolution
This consciousness is activated in people when they are deprived. Due to this consciousness they
started to think rationally about their present to make planning for future. For their rights they can
challenge the oppressive status quo violently or non-violently. In result revolutions become start.

19. Criticism on Marxism
Criticism on Marxism

20. Criticism on Marxism
1) Materialistic Approach
 Equality in terms of Wealth
Health, Education, Religion, Distribution of
resources and etc.
 Against the Nature of Man
2) Critics like Sir Karl Popper:
 Marxism is not a theory that can not be tested and
possibly falsified
 Popper classifies Marxism as a “Faith”.

21. Criticism on Marxism
3) Ignore the role and position of women in
society
 Women tend to be marginalized
 Focus upon work relationships
4) Over-Concentration:
Marxists over-exaggerate the importance of economic
relationships
5) Neo-Marxism have been criticised
 "left-wing" variety of Functionalism
6) Economic, Social condition, intellectual and
literary production is based on ideological and
imagination.

22. Criticism on Marxism
Marxist ideas on how to change society are also
strongly criticised by the Anarchists;
Violent Revolution
Marx’s theory of history is contradicted;
Industrialised countries have not moved closer to revolution.
No laws of history
Marx was mistaken in thinking he had discovered the laws of
history, and in thinking that his theory was scientific.
Sociologist critique on Marxism is that;
Class Conflict
Classless Society

23. Criticism on Marxism
Marxism has mainly been rejected for two
reasons:
1)It failed to allow people to express themselves in the
ways they wanted to,
 Few Freedoms
2) More importantly, I believe, it failed to provide people
with the standard of living that capitalism was able to
provide people living under that system.

24. Conclusion
Theory of Marxism is aimed that to bring
about;
classless society
based on the common ownership of the means of
production,
distribution and exchange all the things equally in our
society .
Struggle For Power;
 Economic
 Social and
 Political

26. Q&A