MARXISM

-It is believed to be dead but it is not; it is still influential.

-Basic tenets:

a) Society shapes our consciousness

b) Social and economic conditions directly influence how and what we believe and value.

c) An alternative classless world must be founded in which class-based bigotry, hatred and conflict
will be replaced by accessible wealth, opportunity, and education.

-The problems that gave rise to Marxism are still relevant and visible today.

-It is a philosophy of history and life and wants to question how humanity can save itself from a
meaningless life of alienation and despair.

-As a philosophy, it is rooted in the 19th century; as a literary theory, it is a theory of the 20th century.

-Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are key figures.

-Marx:

-life determines consciousness

-base (=economic means of production in a society) vs. superstructure all human institutions,
ideologies, social and legal institutions, educational systems, religions, and arts, including literature.

-base determines superstructure

-There are four historical periods in Marx:

A) Feudalism

B) Capitalism

C) Socialism (a transitional stage between capitalism and communism, which is the ultimate target or
goal of a society)

D) Communism

-All history is a history of class struggles

-It is our class that determines our consciousness

-The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels argues that capitalists or the bourgeoisie have
enslaved the working class or the proletariat, which must revolt against capitalism and hold the
power to distribute wealth fairly.

-false consciousness: the way in which the dominant social class shapes and controls identity and or
class consciousness, the way ideology of the dominant class is shown to be the true one.

-Alienation: In a capitalist society, workers do not have contact with the entire process of producing,
distributing and consuming material goods. Individuals are cut off from the full value of their work as
well as from each other. Instead of a unity among workers, capitalism prefers to separate people.
Marxist literary theory seeks to locate the text in its context. It is a historicist theory, not a formalist
one. Author’s life, the period when the work was written, culture of the period and economic
means of production at the time are taken into consideration. Economic means of production is
related to those who decide which texts are to be published and when.

Marxist theory in Russia of the early 20th century

Russia is the country where communism was applied as a system after Bolshevik Revolution.

-political role of the author

-Lenin links good literature with the working-class movement. However, after Bolshevik Revolution,
he did not accept and support literary works that resisted against party policies.

-In Trotsky, we find an opposite idea; for him, it is absurd to force all writers to defend policies of the
party.

-Stalin founded Soviet Writers’ Union, which decreed that all literature must glorify party actions and
decisions. This led to the escape of many Russian writers from the country.

-Lukacs and his followers adapted formalist techniques to get an idea about how class conflict and
the relationship between base and superstructure are reflected in the work. Theirs is called
reflection theory, which declared that texts directly reflect a society’s consciousness. Reflection
theorists are didactic; they try to show negative effects of capitalism like alienation. Through close
reading, they try to reveal worldview of the writer. A critic of reflection theory is supposed to show
to what extent characters in a work of literature are typical of their times. (=Type)

Frankfurt School:

Walter Benjamin: a text is like a commodity in a capitalistic system; it is the market that decides
what texts will be published and when. Texts reveal fragmented nature of culture, not its wholeness
or unity. An enlightened reader can easily resist the ideology of the bourgeoisie found in texts.

Bertolt Brecht: Although dramatists believe that they use theatre to express their ideas, it is the
theatre that controls them. Dramatists should revolt against bourgeoisie traditions in theatre. In his
epic theatre, Brecht tried to create alienation effect, that is, he attempted to prevent the audience
from believing and identifying with what they see on the stage.

Gramsci: For him, it is through hegemony that bourgeoisie controls the proletariat. (Instead of
economy, he brings hegemony to the fore). He asks: “Why one should write and study literature if it
is only a tool in the hands of the dominant bourgeoisie?”. Ironically enough, working class adopt
bourgeoisie values and beliefs willingly.

Althusser: Superstructure can also influence base.

-Interpellation: The process in which we internalize the ideological values.

Working class must create its own literature and arts to be able to challenge bourgeoisie hegemony.

We are turned into subjects by this system.

Ideological State Apparatuses: family, education, party politics, schools, churches, media, religion,
culture and arts (=these maintain power at the ideological level and in the minds of people, not
through physical violence)
Repressive State Apparatuses: Police and the army, prisons, law (=these maintain power by force
and violence)

Marxism after Althusser:

Fredric Jameson: For him, a critic must reveal the political unconscious (=repressed conditions of
exploitation and oppression) found in the text.

He also says a critic must be aware of his/her own ideology while analysing a text, which is called
dialectical self-awareness by Jameson.

For Terry Eagleton, a critic’s task is to reconstruct an author’s ideology or the author’s ideological
milieu. He argues that a work of literature is a product of ideology.

Since the 1970s, Marxism has been changing as well; other literary critical movements have been
challenging some of the tenets of Marxism while continuing to support and share some other tenets.

In short:

Marxism is a historicist literary theory, is based on class struggle, makes a critique of capitalism, has a
revolutionary spirit (=the critic must guide the working class to revolution), is against bourgeoisie,
locates the text in its context, focuses on ideology, examines the relation between base and
superstructure, handles how the bourgeoisie controls and oppresses the working class and attempts
to establish a classless socialist society.