Communism
This is Karl Marx.
Marx was a German Sociologist, economist, journalist and diehard Socialist. He believed that, eventually, society would form itself into a system fair to everyone...in essence he was the founder of Communism as a Political philosophy.
To really understand Communism, however, you really need to look at the world in which Marx lived - that of Europe in the 1800s.
Europe at this point was, except for a very small, very lucky few, extremely hard to live in. This was the era of the Industrial Revolution, where families had to move to cities because new factories full of machines had been invented which completely wiped out most small-scale family-owned businesses.
This meant that cities across Europe went through incredibly accelerated growth. As more people arrived each day, rents skyrocketed along with competition for jobs. This was a race to the bottom- whoever would work for the cheapest wage would be given jobs. Factory owners got outrageously rich, creating a rigid class system with a tiny portion of wealthy people propped up on a mass of poverty stricken workers.
Marx was a German Sociologist, economist, journalist and diehard Socialist. He believed that, eventually, society would form itself into a system fair to everyone...in essence he was the founder of Communism as a Political philosophy.
To really understand Communism, however, you really need to look at the world in which Marx lived - that of Europe in the 1800s.
Europe at this point was, except for a very small, very lucky few, extremely hard to live in. This was the era of the Industrial Revolution, where families had to move to cities because new factories full of machines had been invented which completely wiped out most small-scale family-owned businesses.
This meant that cities across Europe went through incredibly accelerated growth. As more people arrived each day, rents skyrocketed along with competition for jobs. This was a race to the bottom- whoever would work for the cheapest wage would be given jobs. Factory owners got outrageously rich, creating a rigid class system with a tiny portion of wealthy people propped up on a mass of poverty stricken workers.
Task
1. Click this link to open a copy of the cartoon on the left in Google Drawing. Make a copy of this for yourself
2. Label the drawing where the arrows are. Pick out two things;
i) What can you see happening?
ii) What do you think this represents/ means?
3. Insert the Google Drawing into your LiveDoc.
4. What do you think the message of this cartoon is? (This question is effectively asking you what you think the artist feels about the historical situation being shown)
Tips - Use the following sentence starters to fully answer the question;
"The message of this question is..."
"This can be seen in the cartoon where it shows..."
"At this point in history..."
img source: http://www.gompers.umd.edu/cartoon%20pullman%20sm.JPG
1. Click this link to open a copy of the cartoon on the left in Google Drawing. Make a copy of this for yourself
2. Label the drawing where the arrows are. Pick out two things;
i) What can you see happening?
ii) What do you think this represents/ means?
3. Insert the Google Drawing into your LiveDoc.
4. What do you think the message of this cartoon is? (This question is effectively asking you what you think the artist feels about the historical situation being shown)
Tips - Use the following sentence starters to fully answer the question;
"The message of this question is..."
"This can be seen in the cartoon where it shows..."
"At this point in history..."
img source: http://www.gompers.umd.edu/cartoon%20pullman%20sm.JPG
Communism
A Communist system essentially aims to remove all class divisions between people in a society and have everyone as equal.
It was invented by a German philosopher called Karl Marx. Marx was writing at a time that saw monumental inequalities in the living conditions faced by people in Europe. He saw the working class, or "proletariat" (Pro - leh - tear - ee - at) as being exploited by the upper classes, or "bourgeoisie" (Boar - jwah - zie). He decided that this could not continue forever and that, eventually, the proletariat would rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie. In their place, small local governments called "collectives" would be established. Everyone would get a vote.
All land and wealth would be taken from the bourgeoisie and distributed evenly amongst the collectives. Everyone would now work for the good of everyone else, not just the few at the top of the system. People would not need to feel hard done by as everyone was to be exactly the same! Unfortunately, Marx died just before he finished writing about how this would actually happen.
The first Communist nation was Russia, when a revolution in 1917 resulted in the deaths of the Royal family and a Communist system taking their place.
A Communist system essentially aims to remove all class divisions between people in a society and have everyone as equal.
It was invented by a German philosopher called Karl Marx. Marx was writing at a time that saw monumental inequalities in the living conditions faced by people in Europe. He saw the working class, or "proletariat" (Pro - leh - tear - ee - at) as being exploited by the upper classes, or "bourgeoisie" (Boar - jwah - zie). He decided that this could not continue forever and that, eventually, the proletariat would rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie. In their place, small local governments called "collectives" would be established. Everyone would get a vote.
All land and wealth would be taken from the bourgeoisie and distributed evenly amongst the collectives. Everyone would now work for the good of everyone else, not just the few at the top of the system. People would not need to feel hard done by as everyone was to be exactly the same! Unfortunately, Marx died just before he finished writing about how this would actually happen.
The first Communist nation was Russia, when a revolution in 1917 resulted in the deaths of the Royal family and a Communist system taking their place.
Task - Aspects of Communism
1. Click this link to take you to a Google Drawing. Make a copy for yourself!
2. Use the Paint Fill tool to change the colour of each text box. Colour it RED if you think this is a positive aspect of Communism. Colour it Blue if you feel it a negative aspect.
3. Insert your work into your LiveDoc with the title "Aspects of life in a Communist system"
Keywords
Communism - Essentially a Political system that tries to make everyone in society equal
Bourgeoisie (Boar - jer - wah - zie) - The rich at the top of society
Proletariat (Pro - leh - tear - ee - at) - The exploited poor at the bottom of a society
Collective - A small group working together to make decisions equally