Crisis of Marxism
The Crisis of Marxism was an internal crisis within the Marxist movement that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The crisis was the result of Karl Marx's prediction that the standard of living for the proletariat would inevitably decrease and lead to a revolution had ultimately proven to be false. As a result, the Marxist movement split into Leninism (later became Marxism-Leninism), orthodox Marxism (a de facto successor of utopian socialism), and fascism (alternatively self-identified as Trotskyism).
Origins
In the 19th century, German philosopher Karl Marx predicted that capitalism was doomed to fail. He believed that this was to come about due to the inevitability of the proletariat's standard of living gradually becoming worse as the capitalist system continued to develop, forcing the proletariat to rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie. By the 20th century, however, the standard of living for the European proletariat had actually improved and many proletarians found themselves identifying more with their nations than their classes. As a result, Marx's prediction had ultimately been proven wrong.
Factions
With time proving Marx's original predictions wrong, the Marxist movement split into three major faction in an attempt to explain what had happened and how Communism could still be achieved.
Leninism
See Vladimir Lenin, Leninism
Orthodox Marxism
Main articles: Orthodox Marxism, Utopian socialism
Fascism
Main articles: Fascism, National Socialism, Trotskyism
Notable individuals
Leninists
Orthodox Marxists
Fascists
References
- ↑ The Doctrine of Fascism by Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini
- ↑ Leon Trotsky's Collaboration with Germany and Japan by Grover Furr