- 21 Feb 2009 02:46
#1807963
It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. - Karl Marx
In La Liberté Speech, delivered to the congress of the First International in Amsterdam on September 8th 1872, Marx discusses the possibility of a peaceful means to the revolution. This was only 11 years before the death of Marx. What I am wondering though is first, why, after all those years of researching and developing theories about revolution and worker struggles would he even propose this possibility? Secondly, did this suggestion help split the revolutionary members of society with the social democrats by providing justification for both sides as opposed to just a revolutionary struggle? Obviously, the majority of Marx's work was based upon the understanding of capitalism and developing revolutionary theories, but it just strikes me odd that it was mixed in with the other literature. As a side note, I've been meaning to discuss this but completely forgot about it until I was reading another piece of literature. Anyway, here is the quote and the link to the article:
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Karl Marx wrote:You know that the institutions, mores, and traditions of various countries must be taken into consideration, and we do not deny that there are countries -- such as America, England, and if I were more familiar with your institutions, I would perhaps also add Holland -- where the workers can attain their goal by peaceful means. This being the case, we must also recognize the fact that in most countries on the Continent the lever of our revolution must be force; it is force to which we must some day appeal in order to erect the rule of labor.
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It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. - Karl Marx