Transcript Karl Marx ‘Class Struggles in France, 1848

Karl Marx
‘Class Struggles in France, 18481850’
Presentation Layout
2
Introduction to the text
 Main Events
 Marx’s Perspective
 Historical Materialism
 Additional Academic Comments
 Summary

Introduction to the text
3
Describes how and why class struggles are
played out in France between 1848-1850
 Marx’s first attempt to explain contemporary
history via material conception
 Written by Marx 1850; Published by Engels 1895
with added introduction
 Links historical analysis with the economic
agenda

Main Events
4

February 1848
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Revolution against the financial Bourgeoisie, ripened by world
events that mobilised the Petty Bourgeoisie in favour of the
Proletariat
Ideological republic created to mediate wage labour described
as ‘illusion’ and ‘poetry’ as power open to all
June 1848
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Bourgeoisie remain in control of labour power
Realised February revolution strengthened the ‘bankocracy’ it
aimed to overthrow
Proletariat frustration rises at failed emancipation and leads to
violent uprising
Changed meaning of ‘revolution’
Main Events - Continued
5

June 1848 – June 1849
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“The Bourgeoisie has no king; the true form of its rule is the republic”
Laws to keep the Petty Bourgeoisie (middle strata) on the Republic’s
side
Variations on a theme i.e. Napoleon Bonaparte voted in as thought
marginally better than existing leader
Alliance with European counterrevolution – protection of capitalism
“Changed around positions of parties and their classes, their
separations and connections”
Consequences of the Events
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Royalist sentiments and return of bankocracy due to state debt
Wine tax / Land authority
Realised the revolution was not the end, but merely the start of class
struggles
Proletariats need new tactics, “behind the ballots lie the paving
stones”
Marx’s perspective
6
Real revolution is ‘only possible when the
modern forces of production and the Bourgeois
forms of production come into opposition with
each other’
 Reactionary attempts to prevent Bourgeois
development will just rebound
 We need to delve further into the ideas of
Historical Materialism to make sense of societal
events…

Historical Materialism
7

Historical Materialism is the framework used by Marx to examine
society

A conflict thesis associated with class struggles (as depicted in text)
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“Historical Materialism is the thesis that there is, throughout history’s course, a tendency
towards growth of productive power, and that forms of society rise and fall when they promote or
impede that growth” (Cohen, 2000:364)
Capitalism as a social fact linked to the division of labour – how it
changes over time is described by Marx’s conception of Historical
Materialism
The text demonstrates how the ruling class use the state’s productive
forces to enforce their preferred production relations to exploit the
masses. Therefore, the working classes become alienated as they are
deprived of what is needed to become influential.

Historical materialism is applied to production changes as well as
predicting future societal transformations; leading, it says, to a
working class revolution (Marx & Engels, 1998)

Therefore, the concept historically contextualises economic relations
Additional Academic Comments
8

Not all Sociologists agree with Marx’s application
of Historical Materialism (HM)…
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‘Not HM but a Spirit of Capitalism’ (Weber 1965)
‘HM out of date in basic form’ (Giddens 1985)
‘HM over-deterministic’ (Trougott 2001; Poggi 2006)
‘HM Imposes itself above and beyond the real historical facts,
politics merely ad hoc within the conception of the relentless
historical movement towards revolution’ (Spencer 1979)
Summary
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‘Class Struggles in France’ Marx’s first attempt to
describe contemporary history via the application
of HM
 Events linked to class relations throughout
 Claimed ‘revolutionary’ tactics were unsuccessful
due to economic relations
 Not all agree with Marx’s application of historical
analysis
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