Sheila Fitzpatrick's Essay 'The Bolshevik Invention Of Class'

The division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat in Russian revolution brings conflicts and disputes among the classes .The bourgeoisie annihilated fundamental rights of the

By the mid 19th century, the majority of Russians lived in rural communities, which limited economic growth. Russia’s economy and ideology were considered primitive to Western countries, whose advancements in technological development were far beyond those in Russia. Russia’s antiquated technologies restricted economic progression, and thus trailed the developed countries of the West. A deplorable Russian economy led to an extremely small upper class and a prevalent lower class. A Russian consensus in 1897 determined that peasants made up 82% of Russia’s population. After years of mistreatment, Russia’s middle and lower class espoused an idea developed by Karl Marx— Communism. Communism was a totalitarian governmental ideology that believed in equally distributed wealth and property, state provided services, governmental control of economy and the focus on the community. Communism became extremely popular because it seemed to promise political and social equality and end the many hardships of the 19th century. In November 1917, communist supporters lead by Vladimir Lenin overthrew tsarist regime and promised a national reform during the Russian Revolution. Subsequently, a government body called the Bolsheviks quickly seized complete power in the November Revolution. However, right-wing, anti-Bolshevik parties rose up against the Bolsheviks, resulting in civil war. In late 1917, the Red Army (pro-Bolshevik) fought the White

The later half of the 19th century was characterized by the rise of labor unions, strikes, protests and uprisings. Starting in the 1960s, workers started to feel strongly the presence and pressure of instability in social mobility. “The truth could hardly be denied. Class, as defined in terms of dignity, was increasingly insecure” [Isenberg[8]] The gap between the rich and the poor became wider and the working class erroneously placed in-between began to question their identity and in the process seek to define and defend this new identity Capitalist America was witnessing a boom in production as industrialism became more and more prominent. The gap between the rich and the poor continued to widen and eventually would evolve to create a new class. The Marxism theory identified the rise of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; the bourgeoisie consisted of those who owned capital and supplied the means of production while the proletariat were the laborers who owned only their labor and offered it up to the bourgeoisie in return for wages. According to the Marxism theory, the definition of the working class was simply made up of people who simply offered up work. The inclusion of the Marxism theory above serves to clearly and simply define who the stakeholders were in the Industrial labor system. At the extreme ends of the labor spectrum, both the elites who owned the means of production and the laborers who owned only their labor will offer the lens from which we will view

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Mark 344). This is the famous sentence with which Karl Marx begins the first chapter of Manifesto of the Communist Party, by using the word class this would imply ordering people into societal groups. Karl Marx was referring to economic class, however, society can be grouped into many different classes, such as, economic standing, gender, or race. Each provides an interesting view on how different values have shaped history as is currently viewed. If viewed through the struggles of economic oppression, similar to how Karl Marx did, the major conflict is centralized within the relationship of each class to the means of production. However, Kate Millett and Charles Mills would argue that economic class is meaningless in political society, as Mills would argue that race is the most important, while Millett would say that gender is important. Regardless of the viewpoint that history is taken through Marx, Mills, and Millett would concur that the various classes need to be broken down in order to create a peaceful society. While divisions amongst the various societal classes creates oppression, it is in this oppression that society through the introduction of laws or the evolution of a society’s values, and these changes can be witnessed from where society was when Marx wrote in the mid-nineteenth century, and Mills and Millett’s writings towards the end of the twentieth century.

"The history of all hithero existing society is the history of class struggle." (Marx & Engels 1848). This statement establishes the setting for the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A bold proclamation, the Communist Manifesto set the stage at the time for illustrating, so distinctly, a prolonged tension between two opposing and intertwined classes of a capitalistic economy. Still resonating in contemporary society, class struggle, especially between these two classes has long challenged the perception and effective utilization of an capitalistic economy; in present American society, in present European society, and many more societal economies around the globe. Defining these two classes is essential to

“The rise of socialism and Marxism.” The rise of socialism and Marxism, Indiana University Northwest, www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h114_2002/marxism.htm. Accessed 23 Mar.

Opening with the famous statement “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” is Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto. Published in 1848, the political pamphlet exercised the belief that communism would dispel capitalism and perpetual class struggles caused by the bourgeoisie, which had remained unchanged as modes of production evolved. Stemming from its origin “common,” communism proposes the idea of a post-capitalist, classless society where its property is publicly owned and its means of production provide a stable economic base for all. The proposition of this strategy is outlined throughout The Communist Manifesto, starting with the criticism of the relationship between the

(January 9) “Bloody Sunday”: workers led by Father Gapon and carrying a petition to the Tsar [Nicholas II], are mowed down

However, in the years of 1917-1955 USSR overcomes huge industrialisation process working alongside with Marxist theories which encouraged equality. Mainly all the population was considered to be a working class allowing the Bolsheviks to introduce industrialisation programmes increasing country’s production via building more factories and more people being employed. However, nomenklatura and the privileged elites still existed, meaning, although the changes in society have been massive, it was not completely altered. Higher levels of employment also came through the idea of increasing women’s rights and more women getting jobs benefiting different sectors of the economy. This shows the differences between Tsarist autocracy and USSR as in Tsarism

The popular, the majority, the working class, the predominant, the masses. There are countless terms available to describe who has the most socio-political power, the most weathered; the proletariats. In Vladimir Lenin’s eyes, in a capitalist society a proletariat is the term used to describe the working class, the class that does not have ownership of any means of production(land and capital) and whose sole income source derives from labor. The minority, who own the majority of the wealth, the means of production, and the means of coercion(law enforcement and legal system). In a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariats. Only the bourgeoisie could afford the means of production, therefore they control the proletariat’s

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the

The Bolshevik Economic Policy during the Civil War was significant for the Soviet Union as it helped to win the war and was the first implementation of Communist ideology anywhere. In addition, it affected many people, led to the Tambov Revolt and the Kronstadt Mutiny and had long-term political consequences. The Bolsheviks’ aim was to dismantle the outdated structure of Tsarist regime and create a new economic system beneficial to all by introducing first Trotsky’s War Communism and subsequently the New Economic Policy [NEP]. As historians we measure significance by the consequences of an event. Therefore, this essay will argue that the Bolshevik Economic Policy’s main significance was that it represented a major turning point in the running of the country, that the introduction of War Communism led to success in the Civil War, and that its subsequent failure led to the NEP with its own consequences for the Soviet Union.

The decline of aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto began with Karl Marx’s statement, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.”1 Marx recognized the ideals of the social rank, which has influenced every society throughout history. The two social classes described by Marx were the Bourgeoisie, or the upper class, and the Proletariats, or the lower class. Before the Bourgeoisie came to social power, landowners and corporate organizations ran the society. Marx believed that the severe separation of the two classes greatly troubled society and that the two classes must coexist as one with each other.2

Though Marx views the communist revolution as an unavoidable outcome of capitalism, his theory stipulates that the proletariat must first develop class consciousness, or an understanding of its place within the economic superstructure. If this universal character of the proletariat does not take shape, then the revolution cannot be accomplished (1846: 192). This necessary condition does not pose a problem within Marx’s theoretical framework, as the formation of class consciousness is inevitable in Marx’s model of society. His writings focus on the idea that economic production determines the social and political structure (1846, 1859). For Marx, social class represents a person’s relation to the means of production, a relation that he believes is independent of

     In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx explains his historical vision of a revolutionary class struggle between Bourgeois and Proletarians. His views are highlighted from the very beginning “The History of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles” (50). Focusing on the development and eventual destruction of the bourgeoisie, which was the dominant class of his day, and the rise of the working class, that of the Proletarians.