MARXIST

LITERARY
CRITICISM

Reporters:
Nicha Mae E. Guerrero
Lovely Guardame
Christine Fuentes
KARL MARX
• He was a 19th century German philosopher who became a part
of the Young Hegelians, and later, the Communist League. Marx is
revered as one of the most influential socialist thinkers of the 19th
century.
Some of his most notable works are:
• The German Ideology (1846)
• The Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Das Kapital (1867)

FRIEDRICH ENGELS
• Engels was pretty much Marx’s best friend. He shaped Marx’s
socialist beliefs and provided support financially as well as
intellectual while Marx developed his theories.
Some of his major works were:
• The Condition of the Working Class in England (1844)
• Co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848)
 HISTORY OF MARXISM

Marxism is a political philosophy and method of

socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and
materialist interpretation of historical development,
better known as historical materialism, to analyze class
relations, social conflict, and social transformation.
Marxism originates with the works of 19th-century
German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Marxism has developed over time into various branches
and schools of thought, and as a result, there is no single,
definitive Marxist theory. Marxism has had a profound
effect in shaping the modern world, with various left-wing
and far-left political movements taking inspiration from it
in varying local contexts.
In addition to the various schools of thought, which emphazise or
modify elements of classical Marxism, several Marxian concepts
have been incorporated into an array of social theories. This has
led to widely varying conclusions. Alongside Marx's critique of
political economy, the defining characteristics of Marxism have
often been described using the terms "dialectical materialism" and
"historical materialism", though these terms were coined after
Marx's death and their tenets have been challenged by some self-
described Marxists.
Marxism uses a materialist methodology, referred to by Marx and
Engels as the materialist conception of history and later better
known as historical materialism, to analyse the underlying causes
of societal development and change from the perspective of the
collective ways in which humans make their living. Marx's account
of the theory is in The German Ideology and the preface A
Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.
All constituent features of a society (social classes, political
pyramid and ideologies) are assumed to stem from economic
activity, forming what is considered the base and
superstructure. The base and superstructure metaphor
describes the totality of social relations by which humans
produce and re-produce their social existence. According to
Marx, the "sum total of the forces of production accessible to
men determines the condition of society" and forms a society's
economic base.
Marxist Criticism refers to both
• An interpretive framework
• A genre of discourse

 Marxist Criticism is both a theoretical approach conversational

genre within academic discourse. Critics using this framework
analyze literature and other cultural forms through the lens of
Marxist theory, which includes an exploration of how economic
and social structures influence ideology and culture.
 WHY DOES MARXIST CRITISM MATTER?

Marxist criticism thus emphasizes class, socioeconomic

status, power relations among various segments of
society, and the representation of those segments.
Marxist literary criticism is valuable because it enables
readers to see the role that class plays in the plot of a
text.

Marxist Criticism priorities four foundational Marxist

concepts:
1. class struggle
2. the alienation of the individual under capitalism
3. the relationship between a society’s economic base
and
What Are The Four Primary Perspectives of Marxist
Key Terms Definitions
Class A classification or grouping typically based on income and
education

Alienation A condition Karl Heinrich Marx ascribed to individuals in

capitalist economy who lack a sense of identification with their
labor and products. The estrangement individuals feel in
capitalist societies, where they become disconnected from their
work, the products they produce, and even themselves.
Base The means (e.g., tools, machines, factories, natural resources)
and relations (e.g., Proletariat, Bourgeoisie) or production that
shape and are shaped by the superstructure (the dominant
aspect in society). Marxist criticism theorizes that the economic
means of production within society account for the base.
Superstructure The social institutions such as systems of law, morality,
education, and their related ideologies, that shape and are
shaped by the base. Human institutions and ideologies-
including those relevant to a patriarchy- that produce art and
literary texts comprise the superstructure.
 CRITICS OF KARL MARX
GEORG LUKACKS: Reflectionism or Vulgar Marxist
• Believed that the text will reflect the society that has produced
it.
• Stressed that the historical approach is different from reflection.
• Reflectionists attribute the separation that they discover to the
ills of capitalism.

LOUIS ALTHUSSER: Interpellation

• Argue that literature and art affect society.
• Believed that the working class is manipulated to accept the
ideology of the dominant one.
• Jameson and Eagleton: Theories are intertwined and not just
one-sided.
 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
• Bourgeoisie: the name given by Marx to the owners of the
means of production in society.
• Ideology: a belief system
• Proletariat: the name given by Marx to the workers in the
society.
• Capitalism: is an economic system that is based on private
ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods
or services for profit.
IDEOLOGY
A Marxist term that refers to dominant ideas that exist in a
culture. Our culture is shaped by different kinds of ideologies.
For examples: religious ideologies, political ideologies, ideologies
regarding art, culture, language, and so on.
Ideologies influence how people think about these aspects of life
and culture and shape popular thinking and cultural norms. The
concept of ideology is closely tied to the idea of false
consciousness. False consciousness refers to the set of beliefs and
convictions that prevent an individual from perceiving the truth
about social and economic realities.
According to Engels, Ideology is like an illusion, prompting or
nudging people to believe certain things about themselves and the
world around them.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MARXIS?
Engels and Marx founded the social and economic system of
Marxism in the 19th century. Essentially, it is the opposite of
capitalism.
- Capitalism is based on private ownership and motivation by
profit. Marx criticizes capitalism for its tendency to abuse the
working man, or “the proletariat” by paying a wage that barely
Instead, Marxism utilizes socialism concept of public ownership.
Marxism theorizes that to remove the proletariat from its poor
economic situation, a socialist revolution must occur to remove
the unconcerned ruling class from government.
Following the revolution, a new, socialist government is created
that subsequently becomes communist in nature.

 Marx considered recurring class conflicts as the driving force

of human history as such conflicts have manifested as
distinct transitional stages of development in Western
Europe. Accordingly, Marx designated human history as
encompassing four stages of development in relations of
production:
Primitive communism: cooperative tribal societies.
Slave society: development of tribal to city-state in which
aristocracy is born.
Feudalism: aristocrats are the ruling class, while merchants
evolve into the bourgeoisie.
Capitalism: capitalists are the ruling class who create and
employ the proletariat.
While historical materialism has been referred to as a materialist
theory of history, Marx did not claim to have produced a master
key to history and that the materialist conception of history is not
“an historico-philosophic theory of the marche générale, imposed
by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances
in which it finds itself”. In a letter to the editor of the Russian
newspaper paper Otechestvennyje Zapiski, he explained that his
ideas were based upon a concrete study of the actual conditions
in Europe.
 MARXISM LITERARY CRITICISM: ANALYSIS
Marxist literary theory and criticism analyze literature from a Marxist
perspective. There are many ways of explaining the role of Marxism
in literature theory. In general, Marxist literary theory examines;
• How literature is part of the superstructure and can never fully
escape the influence of its social and economic contexts.
• How literature may sometimes, consciously or unconsciously,
become a channel to articulate certain ideologies.
• How the economic mode of production, say capitalism in most
societies today, determines, controls, or influences the creation of
a text, either in content or form.
• How literary works interact with the ideologies around them.
• The extent to which the social and economic background of the
author informs the literary text.
• How literature reflects the world around in its portrayal of
characters and their lives, with an emphasis on class.
 WHAT ABOUT MARXIST LITERARY CRITICISM
• Marxist Criticism is the belief that literature reflects this struggle and
materialism.
• It looks at how literature functions about other aspects of the
superstructure, particularly other articulations of ideology.
• Like feminist critics, it investigates how literature can work as a force
for social change, or as a reaffirmation of existing conditions.
• Like New Historicism, it examines how history influences literature;
the difference is that Marxism focuses on the lower classes.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MARXIST CRITICISM
• It promotes the idea that literature should be a tool in the
revolutionary struggle.
• It attempts to clarify the relationship of literary work to social reality.
• It is political in nature.
• It aims to arrive at an interpretation of literary text to define the
political dimensions of literary work.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MARXIST CRITICISM
• It believes that the literary work has ALWAYS a relationship to society.
• It judges literature by how it represents the main struggles for power
going on at that time, and how it may influence those struggles.
• It highlights and lauds solution from the critic [ if ever s/he could come
up with one].
POINTS OF ANALYZING A TEXT USING MARXIST THEORY
1. ECONOMIC POWER
Remember: economic system is the moving force behind human history.
Thus, to explain any social context or genre, understand the historical
circumstances. E.g.; In the story, the society depicted an unequal
distribution of goods.
2. MATERIALISM VS. SPIRITUALITY
• Marx averred that reality is material not spiritual. We are not spiritual
brings but socially constructed ones.
• As critics, we are tasked to examine the relationship among
socioeconomic groups in order to achieve insight to ourselves and our
3. CLASS CONFLICT
Conflict here principally means the fiction between the proletariat and the
bourgeoisie.
4. ART, LITERATURE, AND IDEOLOGIES
According to Marx, the dominant class or higher class do control art, literature,
and ideologies. Marxist critics should identify the ideology of the work and point
out its worth and deficiencies.

HOW TO ANALYZE LITERARY TEXT USING MARXIST APPROACH?

1. Approach the text with an eye for how the characters interact. Marxist
thought relies on relationship between individuals, and even those aspects of
relationships that are “social” can be part of a Marxist critique.
2. Evaluate the vocational roles of all characters. The Marxist critique includes
a focus on a “class system” where the vocations of characters provide the
most direct reference to their place within this system. Look at the level of
luxury that each individual has and how much they have to work.
3. Look at how characters use their free time. Part of the Marxist critique is
based on the argument that individuals can use free time productively.
Examining the free choices of individuals is actually a large part of Marxist
4. Assess the role of government in the piece of literature. Is it
draconian? Laissez-faire?
Marxist thought relies on government as a model for liberty and
also for communalism: look at the tools that government uses. Does
the government, in soliciting citizenship, appeal to the capitalist
tendencies of individuals or to their innate love of community.
5. Use Marxist writers as a guide. Pick ideas outlined by Marxist of
past eras and apply them to your particular study.
• As a general guideline, “rules” shouldn’t be over emphasized in
literary criticism. It doesn’t have to be overly technical, just go
from a general “ Marxist” viewpoint and tell something about the
story.
“History repeats
itself, first as a
tragedy, second
as a farce”
- Karl Marx
(Father of Communism)