Finally, competition between two factories leads to a crisis that the workers attempt to solve in six different ways most of them borrowed from historic models of communist or socialist change.
Each attempt fails, since true communism is not so easy after all. But it's also not that hard. At last, the people take everything into their own hands and decide for themselves how to continue.
Happy ending? Only the future will tell. With an epilogue that goes deeper into the theoretical issues behind the story, this book is perfect for all ages and all who desire a better world.
For the moment, Adamczak is relatively unknown outside Germany. Communism for Kids will change this. Readers of the world, rejoice! Communism for Kids , by Bini Adamczak, is in fact for everyone, an inspired and necessary book especially now, a moment when people feel that we are on the verge of the destruction of the world, and without any new world to hope for, or believe in.
Have two hundred years of capitalism brought us freedom? Or just more inequality than has ever been experienced by humans on earth? Global capitalism is not human destiny, it merely is. To think beyond it, with the help of Adamczak's primer, is to take a first step toward freedom, at least the freedom to imagine other worlds. This delightful little book may be helpful in showing there are other forms of life and living than the one we currently 'enjoy.
Search Search. Search Advanced Search close Close. Different classes with different interests argue or fight each other. Social change is the result. Marxism says that capitalists have to exploit the workers as much as possible, and make their pay as low as they can. The capitalists have to do this so they can create as much profit as possible for themselves, as quickly as possible. Workers, on the other hand, have to struggle to keep their wages up, and to keep the "rate of exploitation" low, so that they can live more peaceful lives.
This is what Marxism calls " Class Struggle ": where workers and their bosses fight against each other to gain for themselves. Marxists think that all of written human history has been divided by economic classes. One example is feudal society a medieval society controlled by feudal Lords and Nobles.
The ruling class got their power and wealth from the labor of peasants farmers. But, as peasants demanded more and more for themselves, small shopkeepers and tradespeople began to appear.
Many of these people formed guilds as well, and eventually began to employ workers. These workers were able to gain wealth for themselves at these jobs. These historical events created capitalism. In this way, Marxists think that history has been pushed forward by class struggle. They think that communism or socialism will be born from this struggle, just like capitalism was. However, they also think that capitalism will give way to communism, as the workers' struggle becomes more and more revolutionary.
The core of Marxist thinking is called Materialism. Materialism is a philosophical view that says that communities develop from the "ground up". It says that the "higher" qualities of culture like art , manners, customs , and religions are actually founded on the "lower" or simpler qualities of life.
These qualities include having enough of what people need to survive, like food and shelter ; who has money and what they have to do to get it; who is allowed to work, and who is forced to work. Changes in the higher qualities of culture sometimes called the "Superstructure" are often linked to changes in the lower qualities of life sometimes called the "Base".
One example is that in medieval times, people thought " honor " or duty to people with more power than them was very important. Today, in Western countries, many people see ambition being someone who works hard for their own goals as more important. This is because in medieval times, people worked their entire lives under lords who depended on them not only for work but for war.
Today, people work by themselves more, and our society lets some people move up from being poor to being rich. In this case, what people see as good and important depends on how the rulers get value out of their workers.
Marxism recognizes that in earlier time periods, we lived first under rulers who owned everything. Then we lived under lords who owned land with workers who lived on that land. In Marx's time, people lived under governments that allowed many people to own property. Eventually, Marxists believe that we will move to a society where everyone owns everything in common. This will be called socialism. In other words, human society has always been based on the economic forces that human beings can control.
For Marxism, this means that each society takes its form based on its "mode of production. Many Marxists believe that there will always be revolts and, with the right conditions, revolutions. In these revolutions, the workers will fight the capitalists and will eventually win.
During this process, they will set up a socialist "workers' state " a form of government where the workers are the rulers of society. This state will only be temporary. Its job will be to take power away from the capitalists, until all the capitalist countries in the world are defeated, and social classes no longer exist.
Marxists believe that if the working class makes itself the ruling class and destroys the basis for class society private property, or what Marx called "Bourgeois Property" , there will be a "classless society. The state will no longer be needed, and the world will have no borders. There will be communes around the world. Workers will organize production of goods and services based on what people need, not based on profits.
Marxism facts for kids Kids Encyclopedia Facts. All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles including the article images and facts can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise.
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