Marxism

   Not to be [1]confused with [2]communism.

   Marxism comprises of ideas, theories (known as historical materialism) and
   ideologies strongly based in works of [3]Karl Marx (and also Friedrich
   Engels), roughly aiming for (and scientifically predicting) a violent
   [4]revolution that should end [5]capitalism, replace it with
   "[6]socialist" society and eventually a truly [7]communist society.
   Despite the terms Marxism and communism NOT being equal (communism is a
   general idea with many branches, e.g. [8]anarcho communism, Christian
   communism etc.), most common people see them as equivalent, which is
   unfortunate because communism is a purely [9]good idea while Marxism is
   mostly a bad way of trying to achieve and sustain their own idea of
   communism (the relationship between communism and Marxism may be roughly
   compared to the relationship between Christianity and Catholicism).
   Marxism comes with aggressive, revolutionary mindset that has caused great
   tragedies mainly during the 20th century (see especially [10]USSR). Many
   non-Marxist communists even see Marxist "communist" states as capitalist
   (so called state capitalism). Marxism sees itself as a [11]scientific
   effort, it is studied by intellectuals and lives mainly in written works
   of Marxists.

   Marx himself wasn't just some angry peasant pissed of at the system, but
   more of an intellectual, a philosopher who tried to [12]scientifically
   examine [13]history and came up with so called [14]historical materialism,
   a theory that basically states that everything (structure of society, its
   [15]law, [16]culture etc.) is subdued to human production and economic
   forces and that society changes exclusively due to these forces, i.e.
   things like changes in [17]technology, modes of production, economic
   relationships etc. -- he said individual humans are just slaves to these
   forces, their will cannot change them. He identified certain classes in
   society, mainly the proletariat (workers) and bourgeoisie (their
   overlords) and then reasoned some stuff about their conflict etcetc. until
   he came to the conclusion that capitalism will be surpassed by socialism
   and eventually communism -- not as anything ethical or "just", but purely
   as superior systems in terms of economy. So he basically only predicted
   the revolution would inevitably happen, however some other people -- those
   whom we typically now use the term "Marxists" for -- took this theory and
   started to use it as a basis to PROMOTE an active revolution.

   We, [18]LRS, are communists but do NOT embrace Marxism! Though we do agree
   with Marxists on many things (mostly identifying issues of
   [19]capitalism), we can't ever approve of some inherent traits of Marxism,
   mainly the following. Marxism is violent, aggressive and revolutionary,
   often highly hostile to [20]anarchism and [21]pacifism (which we highly
   embrace), wanting to FORCE communism. Marxists promote establishment of
   temporary dictatorship of the proletariat as they see it the only way to
   ending capitalism. Marxists are NOT [22]altruists, their desire of
   communism doesn't come from love of life, they simply see it as a more
   efficient societal system than capitalism that's a natural and inevitable
   next step in evolution of society, they see a man as servant of society,
   they are obsessed with [23]work (even preferring to call themselves
   workers rather than people; [24]language matters) and see people who don't
   share their values as undesirable -- these undesirable people are not only
   capitalists, but also people who don't want to work, religious people or
   people who refuse to [25]fight for their society. They say that ends
   justify the means and will happily utilize means such as [26]war,
   dictatorship, executions, [27]censorship, cults of personality and
   propaganda. We cannot ever stand behind this.

See Also

     * [28]historical materialism

Links:
1. often_confused.md
2. communism.md
3. marx.md
4. revolution.md
5. capitalism.md
6. socialism.md
7. communism.md
8. ancom.md
9. good.md
10. ussr.md
11. science.md
12. science.md
13. history.md
14. historical_materialism.md
15. law.md
16. culture.md
17. technology.md
18. lrs.md
19. capitalism.md
20. anarchism.md
21. pacifism.md
22. altruism.md
23. work.md
24. name_is_important.md
25. fight_culture.md
26. war.md
27. censorship.md
28. historical_materialism.md