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Dmytro Ostapenko. d.ostapenko@latrobe.edu.au. Whether the Marxist theory could be put into practice in Russia in 1917? . Marx’s writing largely based on his experience in England – the most advanced industrial county of the mid 19 th century
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DmytroOstapenko d.ostapenko@latrobe.edu.au
Whether the Marxist theory could be put into practice in Russia in 1917? Marx’s writing largely based on his experience in England – the most advanced industrial county of the mid 19th century Some key ideas of Marxism - competition between capitalists leads to centralisation of economy and growth of large monopolies In the near future a few capitalists would own all means of production in a country. This would facilitate takeover of power on behalf of people.
Five stages of historical development • 1.Primitive Communism • 2.Slave Society • 3.Feudalism • 4.Capitalism • 5.Socialism (proletarian revolution) • 6.Communism: a classless and stateless society.
Russia was not ripe enough for socialism: the backward country: developed unevenly geographically and industrially 90 million peasants Small-scale industry– 2/3 of all industrial output in 1915 Russia produced just 5 % of world’s manufacturing production in 1913 (USA – 35%, UK – 14%, Germany – 15%)
Two main views on the pathway to socialism in Russia • Mensheviks: we have to follow Marxism because of the iron law of historical development • Bolsheviks: we can modified Marxism owing to power of the proletariat supported by non-socialist elements (peasants) and weakness of the bourgeoisie. What to do after the revolution little attempt was made to explain.