Ideas and Advent of the ISMS
IDEAS & ISMS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
I.
ADVENT OF THE ISMS
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. 19th c. developed variety of philosophies that are still with us today
2. need to categorize & define ideas about how society should be structured
3. ever since Enlightenment, American & French Revolution, & Industrial Revolution
4. some thinkers in 19th century disturbed by miseries of working class
5. no one knew what future would hold
a. better society or worst one
6. some of these new ideologies
a. liberalism
b. utilitarianism,
c. nationalism,
d. romanticism,
e. socialism,
f. communism,
g. anarchism
h. feminism
i. realism
j. social darwinism
7. oldest viewpoint of them all,
a. conservatism or status quo still operative throughout 19th c.
8. nationalism, probably most potent ism of them all
a. one that has continued strong to today
9. romanticism already discussed
10. all these new ideologies happening concurrently
11. greatest exponents of some of these isms
a. living & writing concurrently
12. John Stuart Mill for liberalism
13. Karl Marx for communism
14. and Charles Darwin for origin of species
15. Marx actually was hoping to dedicate 1st volume of his Das Kapital to Darwin
16. traditional way of life changing
17. with Industrial Revolution & movement to cities,
a. old loyalties to communities & religion null & void
18. need to respond emotionally & politically to new ideas & isms
II. LIBERALISM
A. DEFINITION & GENERAL REMARKS
1. like romanticism, liberalism affirmed the dignity of the individual
2. & the pursuit of happiness as an inherent right
3. but liberalism stood for gradual reform
4. whereas romanticism accepted radical change to solve problems of society
5. liberalism really a catch-all term meaning reforms & adjustments to society
6. such ideas as
a. getting rid of inherited privileges
b. liberty of press, speech
c. equality under law
d. economic freedom
7. actually liberalism meant many different things to many different people
B. UTILITARIANISM
1. offshoot of liberalism
2. JEREMY BENTHAM 1748-1832
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3. a wealthy British lawyer devised doctrine of utilitarianism
4. to help you remember this philosophy
a. his eccentric will, mummification, etc.
5. he founded University College - 1820's
a. Godless College on Gower St.
b. only college open to non-Anglicans
6. mummified body, head to be cut off in presence of friends & placed in jar at feet
7. then wax head to be placed on his body
8. still in closet today
9. based on 2 concepts of utility and happiness
10. he connected these 2 terms by saying
a. each individual knows what is best for himself or herself
b. & so all human institutions should be measured
(1) according to amount of happiness they give
11. function of govt should be
a. to secure as great a degree of individual freedom as possible
12. for freedom essential precondition of happiness
13. utilitarianism in government
a. securing greatest happiness for the greatest number
14. if society could produce as much happiness as possible
a. & as little pain as possible
15. it would be working at maximum efficiency
16. he also coined new words we use regularly
a. minimize, codify, and international
17. by time of his death, he had international reputation
18. he had advised reformers in Portugal, Russia, Greece & Egypt
19. & his writings were to exert a broad influence
20. especially in France, Spain & Spanish-American republics
C. JOHN STUART MILL 1806-73
1. known as "the Aristotle of the Victorian Age"
2. representative of middle class England at its intellectual best
3. Mill came to symbolize liberalism as a way of life
4. with its broad sympathies
5. and its dedication to the improvement of human beings through freedom
6. Mill active social reformer who worked for all the good causes of his day
7. Mill's father an officer of the East India Company
a. made sure his son became well-educated
b. & indoctrinated into philosophy of utilitarianism
c. began Greek at 3
d. & by 16 his education complete
(1) Latin, algebra, chemistry, philosophy, economics, etc.
8. yet by age 20 Mill not satisfied utilitarianism enough
9. & he wrote in his Autobiography
10. "Suppose all your objects in life were realized; that all the changes in institutions and opinions that you
are looking forward to could be completely effected at this very instant, would this be a great joy and
happiness to you?
11. and he had to answer no
12. the whole foundation of which his life was constructed collapsed
13. all my happiness was to have been found in a continual pursuit of this end...the end had ceased to charm
14. he began exploring other ideas & wrote about them
D. ON LIBERTY
1. in 1859 he published his most popular book
2. essay on nature & limits of power
a. which could be legitimately exercised by society over individual
3. a plea for freedom of thought
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4. & for freedom of action within practical limits
5. tyrant to be feared no longer monarch or aristocrat
6. but tyranny of conventional public opinion,
a. which hates and fears originality
b. has no respect for minority opinions
E. PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
1. outlined his ideas on economy
2. Felt interests of owners & workers did not necessarily coincide
3. govt should if necessary pass legislation to remedy injustices
4. when actions of business owners harmed people,
5. state should intervene for people's protection
a. ie ALASKAN OIL SPILL
6. liberty of individual not absolute
a. had to be subordinated to wider interests of society
7. his ideas proved to be inception of welfare state
8. but he had little effect on legislation during his lifetime
9. opposed to laissez faire
10. he favored
a. taxation of income from rents
b. inheritance taxes
c. improved working conditions
d. workers unions
11. that so dry an author should have been so widely read
a. is testimonial to seriousness of his age
b. & attempts to improve society
F. THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN & OTHER ESSAYS
1. discuss his personal life
a. friend & wife Harriet Taylor
2. in his other essays on marriage & divorce he wrote with his friend & wife - Harriet Taylor Mill
3. he stated the law which is to be observed by both should surely be made by both
4. the Mills espoused very advanced & radical ideas
a. about status of women, marriage & divorce laws
b. right of women to education & right to vote
5. His Subjection of Women Co-authored w/his step daughter after wife's death
6. they argued male dominance of women constituted flagrant abuse of power
7. he maintained female inequality
a. a single relic of an old world of thought & practice exploded in everything else, violated the principle
of individual rights & hindered the progress of humanity
8. attempted to get through Parliament woman suffrage
G. 20th c IDEAS OF A LIBERAL
1. term still stands for reform as it did in 19th c
2. but in realm of economics, liberalism has undergone a basic change
3. from laissez faire ideas of 19th c now advocate
a. active govt role in minimizing extremes of wealth
b. balancing great power enjoyed by big business & labor
c. conserving national resources
d. aiding individual by providing social security
e. opposed to racial & sexual discrimination
III. SOCIALISM
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. until recently socialist movement in form of communism
a. constituted one of major political forces in Europe
2. less than 150 yrs ago advocates of socialism lacked any meaningful political following
3. socialism, together w/its offshoot communism
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a. had begun to appear in both France & England in the 1820's
early socialists such as - utopian socialists
a. Robert Owen in England
b. Comte de Saint-Simon & Charles Fourier in France
they dreamed of a perfect society
a. exploitation of man by man would no longer exist
socialist thinkers felt that
a. conservative & liberal ideologies did not respond to the needs of working class
great economic benefits due to IR clearly not seen according to socialists
socialists developed ideology that attacked capitalistic system
a. as being both unplanned & unjust
Socialism or socialists
a. condemned increasing concentration of wealth
b. called for public or worker ownership of business
c. thought harmony & cooperation not ruthless competition should control economic affairs
d. convinced humans essentially good
w/proper organization of society
a. will be no war
b. no crime
c. justice for all
d. no disease
e. 'every man will seek the good of all
Cures for social evils of industrialism laid out in elaborate detail
a. by idealistic utopian socialists
while genuine concern voiced by Christian Socialists
these suggestions will eventually led to notable improvements in working conditions
a. but no immediate panacea
Karl Marx promised immediate solution
a. by raising militant cry of revolutionary socialism
anarchists went even further
IV. UTOPIAN SOCIALISTS
A. Robert Owen 1771-1858
1. founder of Utopian socialism
2. his life a Horatio Alger story of personal success
3. working up from apprentice to industrial capitalist
a. boy wonder of textile industry
4. he became convinced solution for problem
a. of intermittent unemployment
b. & for evils of industrial competition
5. creation of model communities in rural areas
6. members would labor at tasks which suited them best
a. community is happiness, community is heaven
(1) so sang his working men
7. & he coined word communism
8. at New Lanark in Scotland where his cotton manufacture mills located
a. he set up such communities
b. he provided his workers w/schools & houses
c. planned communities of cooperative working families
9. but he presided over his model community as a benevolent despot
10. in contrast to later Marxist socialists,
11. Owen preached class cooperation rather than class struggle between employer & employee
12. he also led British working-class movement attempts to unionize
B. SAINT-SIMON - 1760-1825
1. founder of French Socialism
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2. & also referred to as Utopian socialism
3. a French aristocrat possessed by spirit of democracy
a. had fought in American Revolution
4. his philosophy
a. Brotherhood of Man
b. motto - everything by industry; everything for industry
C. CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM
1. began in England about 1848
2. w/concept evils of industrialism could be ended by following Christian principles
3. attacked materialism by stressing
a. Christian brotherly love preferable to ruthless competition and exploitation
4. Viewed the Sermon on the Mount as Christian socialism in action
5. best known leader
a. novelist Charles Kingsley
6. his books exposed social evils of industrialism
7. also advocated cooperative association in lieu of competition
V. REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM
A. BACKGROUND
1. Utopian socialism & Christian socialism eventually died out
2. as their specific programs usually too fanciful to be taken seriously
3. to Karl Marx was left task of establishing foundations for modern socialism
4. by 1848 it became evident to many socialists that to liberate humanity
5. society would have to be totally & perhaps forcefully reorganized
6. previous responses to many of social dilemmas of industrialism had been insufficient
7. but socialism still minor factor in European political thought
8. consciousness of problems of working class limited
9. & sporadic reform efforts in France & Britain sufficient to defuse revolution
10. at this time Karl Marx appeared in history
B. KARL MARX 1818-83
1. "On the 14th of March, 1883, ...the greatest living thinker ceased to think"
a. So remarked Engles at Marx's funeral
2. who was this greatest living thinker re Engles
3. born Trier, Germany, Rhineland city, next to Luxembourg today
4. son of middle-class Jewish parents
a. who converted to protestantism to get ahead
5. Marx sent to Univ of Berlin by parents to study law
6. but became deeply involved in philosophy of Hegel & fanatical politics
7. against father's wishes switched to philosophy
a. Ph.D at Jena in 1841
8. failed to get academic post because of his radical philosophy
9. edited radical Rhineland Gazette
a. but soon German authorities drove him into exile
10. as read more deeply in works of classical economists & french socialists
11. Marx became more aware of economic factors in history
12. moved to Paris = met Frederick Engles
a. 2 formed close, lifelong friendship
13. by end 1847 he and Engels completed Communist Manifesto
C. COMMUNIST MANIFESTO (SR)
1. a specter haunts Europe - the specter of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a
holy alliance to hunt down and exorcise this specter: the Pope and the Tsar, Metternich & Guizot, the
French radicals and the Germany police
2. thus begins the Communist Manifesto
3. a 23 page document first appeared in London in 1848
4. best introduction to marxism philosophy
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5. would become most influential political document of modern European history
6. commissioned by International Communist Federation
a. outline concepts, characteristics & aims of communist movement
7. at time Communist Federation only one of many socialist groups in existence
8. its members refugees and political outcasts of various nationalities
9. most of them workers & craftsmen living in several European capitals
a. under leadership of Germany communist cell
10. urged workers to embrace communism
11. adopted name communist because term much more radical than socialism
12. doctrine went beyond utopian socialism
13. implied abolition of private property
14. discussed program for violent overthrow of capitalism
a. in concluding infamous lines of Manifesto
b. “working men of all countries, unite”
15. Marx had hoped 1848 revolutions would be dawn of new era
a. but he would be disappointed by their failure
b. forced to flee continent & seek refuge in Britain after the revolutionary movement collapsed
D. NEXT STAGE IN MARX'S LIFE
1. arrived Eng in 1849 (age 31)
2. began life of studying & writing
a. subsidized by his collaborator Friedrich Engels
3. every day went to British Museum Reading Room
a. discuss reading room ambience
4. some years ago a prospective biographer of Marx went up to oldest attendant in reading room & asked
him whether he remembered a bespectacled & bearded little man who used to sit every day at seat G7.
After a bit of thought, attendant said: ah yes, sir I remember: a Mr. Marx it was, wasn't it? He came in
every day like clockwork for years, and then one day he didn't come in, and no one's ever heard of him
since
5. story may be apocryphal, but it illustrates Marx's elusive place in modern British socialist tradition
6. Marx always remained a foreigner in London
7. no translation of his Das Kapital attempted until years after his death
8. for years Marx followed the same pattern
9. at times extreme poverty especially during 1850's
a. more than once pawned his furniture, overcoat
b. 3 of his children - 2 sons & a dau died
c. mainly due to wretched conditions in which they lived
d. he could not even afford a coffin for his dead daughter
10. his living standard later improved but Marx never recovered from effects of these years on his health as
well as his family's
E. PERSONALITY
1. irascible & unappealing
2. bad father, bad husband
3. acquaintance said "he had never seen a man whose bearing was so provoking & intolerable"
4. contemptuously dismissed those who disagreed w/him as "bourgeois"
a. a word he pronounced w/particular distaste
5. personality can be understood by his
6. bitter political controversies w/other socialists & anarchists
7. which darkened his hopes to lay groundwork for a worldwide revolution
8. plus his own poor health & precarious survival
F. MORE OF MARX' PHILOSOPHY
1. Marx conceived of past in 5 stages
a. primitive communism
b. slavery
c. feudalism
d. capitalism
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e. (future) communism
2. each stage in past destroyed when its oppressed classes joined in revolution & created new society
3. thus slave society of ancient world gave way to
a. feudalism,
4. which in turn produced a rebellious class
a. bourgeoisie
5. who overthrew it at end of MA
6. & instituted capitalist society
7. at end would be victory of proletariat workers
8. & achievement of classless society after final revolution
9. “each person works according to his ability & receives according to his need”
G. Das Kapital = Capital
1. he saw advent of capitalism as
a. positive & necessary historical step
b. but he believed capitalist society had become destructive to human potential
2. Marx believed Europe nearing end of capitalist stage during his lifetime
3. oppressed classes (laborers) preparing to usher in final stage of communism
4. he said while political power resided w/ rich
5. it would be poverty & deprivation that finally motivates oppressed to rebel
6. while early socialists were preachers of moral reform
7. Marx was a prophet of revolution
H. CRITICS OF MARXISM
1. Marx never laid out a detailed battle plan for achieving the revolution
2. never fully explained degree of state ownership necessary for a communist society to exist
3. statistics he used outdated
a. & mainly from early part of Ind. Rev.
4. he misunderstood tremendous strength of nationalism
5. he clung to a concept of world of workers,
6. having viewed the IR during its most wretched phase in Britain
7. he unable to see capitalism could be a flexible economic system
a. one that could spread wealth to a far greater degree than he had anticipated
I. FINAL REMARKS ON MARX
1. his socialist philosophy eventually triumphed over most alternative versions of socialism
2. his call for working class revolution against capitalism
3. & for establishment of classless society
4. set in place ideology of 20th c communist revolutionaries
5. but irony
a. those places where communism adopted
b. had not gone through capitalist stage Marx said necessary to have workers revolt
J. Friedrich Nietzche
1. Germany philosophy - most famous 19th c.