Marx the Romantic Hero

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1 Marx the Romantic Hero Week 5 Lecture 1 12 February

2 I. ARTISTIC / LITERARY ROMANTICISM A. Marx as Romantic Hero / Genius 2

3 Cf. John Stuart Mill: genius vs. mediocrity Cf. John Stuart Mill: genius vs. mediocrity 3

4 Cf. John Stuart Mill: genius vs. mediocrity Marx as Prometheus: a Romantic 4

5 PROMETHEUS Above: political democracy Left: social democracy 5

6 6

7 7

solve the deep crises set in motion by 18 th

---> slums The true revolution must be in

8 PROMETHEUS: Political. and Social Romanticism: 1760s-1830s How to solve the deep crises set in motion by 18 th - century rationalist dreams of progress that turn into monsters??? Political: Terror Economic: Capitalism ---> slums The true revolution must be in literature and arts --- turn to feeling, melancholy, nostalgia [e.g., RUINS! OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION!] 8

9 Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog [1818] 9

The Romantic Individual A new twist on subjective

he is dwarfed by nature and its terrifying

10 The Romantic Individual A new twist on subjective individualism [cf. Mill on genius vs. mediocrity ] New individualism: both heroic and lonely He faces the cliff: desire to go into the new And yet: he is dwarfed by nature and its terrifying possibilities Quest, adventure, struggle: change, progress, rebuilding, future: the modern 10

11 Rousseau s Romantic side become nightmare: The Innocent Individual in Nature Caspar David Friedrich: The Sea of Ice 11

Heavenly Twins --- Jacques Barzun, Darwin, Marx, Wagner Beethoven Symphony No.

12 FATE!!! DESTINY!!! INEVITABILITY!!! NECESSITY!!! INEXORABILITY!!! Es muß sein!!! FATALISM + PROGRESS = The 19 TH -C. Heavenly Twins --- Jacques Barzun, Darwin, Marx, Wagner Beethoven Symphony No. 5 [1807] World-famous theme: tah-tah-tah-tah! Beethoven myth: This is FATE knocking at the door. FATE. DESTINY. GIGANTIC FORCES OF NATURE against which humanity must struggle. 12

The Romantic Concerto [Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5] What is a Concerto? An interplay between a solo virtuoso [piano, violin, viola, tuba] and a large orchestra Beethoven Napoleon Marx Prometheus!

13 The Romantic Concerto [Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5] What is a Concerto? An interplay between a solo virtuoso [piano, violin, viola, tuba] and a large orchestra Beethoven Napoleon Marx Prometheus!! What does it represent in the Romantic imagination? THE GENIUS!!!!! Cf. Napoleon!!! Virtuoso --- Heroic Individual stands over/against the masses ---pulling all along to liberation NB: hybrid of tradition (elites) + modern (populist) Frankenstein!!! 13

14 II. Proletarianization of Labor -- A side-effect of the Industrial Revolution 14

Historical Change: Hardware [material conditions] Software [culture = ideas + values] Hardware : railroad/ steam /water Software : everything else that

net anonymity ) What else does the history of ideas prove, than that intellectual production changes in character in proportion as material production is

15 Historical Change: Hardware [material conditions] Software [culture = ideas + values] Hardware : railroad/ steam /water Software : everything else that must be changed including consciousness (e.g., access to professors! net anonymity ) What else does the history of ideas prove, than that intellectual production changes in character in proportion as material production is changed? Marx, Manifesto 241. Hardware of the Industrial Revolution: Railway / steam / water power Software : Change in the way work is organized, e.g., wage labor Change in relations of production.e., PEOPLE!!!--- both progress & grief 15

16 A. Hardware 1712: Thomas Newcomen invents first successful steam engine Coal industry starts approximately

17 1712: Thomas Newcomen invents first successful steam engine 1733: Flying shuttle loom 1767: Spinning Jenny 1769: Water Frame NB: Introduces non-human labor into spinning 1786: Power Loom 17

18 Connect to Newton / Enlightenment: Applied science Left Newtonians = mechanists Image is from Diderot s Encyclopédie Materialism might lead to atheism but it also inspires religious responses of wonder and awe!!! 18

landowners stay} BOTH INDUSTRIALIZATION AND URBANIZATION REQUIRE TRANSPORTATION The Train as icon of modernity:

19 MACHINES REQUIRE CHEAP LABOR INDUSTRIALIZATION GOES HAND IN HAND WITH URBANIZATION [ proletarianized labor] England: Enclosure movement Farmers evicted from enclosed lands and migrate to CITIES as cheap labor {France/ Germany: small landowners stay} BOTH INDUSTRIALIZATION AND URBANIZATION REQUIRE TRANSPORTATION The Train as icon of modernity: MOVEMENT -labor {people off land into CITIES} -raw materials -manufactured goods -FOOD!!! [for all those people living in CITIES!] 19

20 Börsig Ironworks, Berlin [1840s]: Built 500 locomotives by 1854 Industrialization entails Urbanization [large pools of labor] Good-bye village, hello big city 20

21 Subjective Individualism: both gains and losses 21

22 William Frith, The Railway Station (Paddington Station),

23 Claude Monet, Interior of the Gare Saint-Lazare,

24 Monet, The Europe Bridge at Gare Saint-Lazare [1877] Postcard: Argenteuil --The Railway Bridge [c ] 24

25 SUM: Hardware of proletarianization 25

26 B. Software [mentalités] Gap / lag-time between the invention of hardware and the catching-up of software 1. Creation of an underclass 26

] we are proletariat HOURLY WAGE: our labor is commodified Measured in hours and currency - quantity e.g.

27 Estate / Order = based on bloodline/ genealogy Class = based on relationship to production The invention of class We are defined by our relationship to means of production If we own the means we are bourgeois If we sell our labor [our bodies cf. Locke!] we are proletariat HOURLY WAGE: our labor is commodified Measured in hours and currency - quantity e.g., piece-meal work The software [mentalité] of class Change in the way work is organized (i.e., wage labor ) and the relations of production (i.e., PEOPLE!!!) 27

28 Urban proletarian family Sweatshops / Child labor 28

29 Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London Slums [St. Giles] Software POSITIVE Rise in middle-class standard of living Cotton: invents a wardrobe; fashion Hegel!!! ready-made [ pret-a-porter ] Diet: : consumption of meat skyrockets 29

30 NEGATIVE: Bitter conflict: capital vs. labor 2. Urban misery: overpopulation cholera 30

31 Medieval waste management Modern waste management mentalities haven t caught up with population growth 31

32 Hardware [population] changed; Software [mentalities] stayed same Result: Cholera epidemics Cholera: spread through contaminated water 1830s: beginning of modern epidemics: France: 100K; Britain: 50K; Russia: 238K 1854: 150K in France alone 32

33 Cholera: thought to be spread through the air [ miasma ] 33

34 Shelley: Frankenstein s question: Was the misery inevitable or unavoidable? VERTIGO Marx: the monstrous consequences of technology Technology should enhance human life but ends up destroying it C) Karl Marx: Romantic Solution 34

35 1. Theory of Alienated Labor 18 th -c. Adam Smith: DIVISION OF LABOR -- How exciting!!! 35

Romantic 19 th century: How awful!!! Proletarianization of Labor : creative self-expression v.

Factory work / wage [proletarian] labor: -- our process of labor (expenditure of ourself, cf.

] Notice: Marx s complete dependence on Locke s notion of Labor --- it is my body s investment but no longer my

36 Romantic 19 th century: How awful!!! Proletarianization of Labor : creative self-expression v. repetitious self-alienation Artisanship = self-expression vs. Factory work / wage [proletarian] labor: -- our process of labor (expenditure of ourself, cf. John Locke) is separated from the end-product [e.g., a paper you hate to write!] Notice: Marx s complete dependence on Locke s notion of Labor --- it is my body s investment but no longer my self-expression -- imposed on me from someone else a form of slavery Result: alienation from product human misery; end of human fulfillment/ selfexpression--alienated from others & from self NB 1: Marx thinks he has made a scientific argument but it is actually a deeply moral one NB 2: We are all Marxists now 36

37 2. Theory of Dialectical Materialism Dialectical synthesis [from Hegel]: History is not random: has a reason / logic of its own THESIS ANTITHESIS SYNTHESIS e.g. Undergrads learn that they need sleep via a dialectical process 37

38 Marx: A Left-Hegelian Change comes through a CLASH OF OPPOSITES Not a straight line but rather a progressive dialectic of forces (thesis-antithesissynthesis) Dialectical materialism: Thesis: Feudalism [ Three Orders ] Antithesis: Capitalism Synthesis: Communism WHY IS MARX ROMANTIC? HE BELIEVES THAT THE HISTORICAL DIALECTIC IS INEXORABLE [ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY] Bottom Fifth Second Fifth Middle Fifth Fourth Fifth Top Fifth This law moves regardless of our desires: a) Capital: increasingly concentrated [in franchises and monopolies] b) Capital reserved to fewer bourgeois c) Proletariat rises up, crushes few remaining bourgeois, creates a classless society This is the unavoidable dialectic of history. 38

39 WHY IS MARX ROMANTIC? HE BELIEVES THAT THE HISTORICAL DIALECTIC IS INEXORABLE [ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY] Bottom Fifth Second Fifth Middle Fifth Fourth Fifth Top Fifth WHY NO REVOLUTION??? This law moves regardless of our desires: a) Capital: increasingly concentrated [in franchises and monopolies] b) Capital reserved to fewer bourgeois c) Proletariat rises up, crushes few remaining bourgeois, creates a classless society This is the unavoidable dialectic of history. WHY IS MARX ROMANTIC? HE BELIEVES THAT THE HISTORICAL DIALECTIC IS INEXORABLE [ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY] Pre-Marx: reactionary stop advance of capitalism return to pre-industrial society. Marx 19 th century Romantic dialectical optimist push capitalism / industrialization along speeds up inevitable dialectic leads inexorably to higher synthesis Lenin th century Pessimist: not going to happen on its own Needs a violent revolution / TERROR 39

Social Democracy: Individuals in Community

O Neill Media: PN 1993.5.R9 S73 Social Democracy: Individuals in Community Week 3 Lecture 2 31 January 2008 1 I. The Proletarianization of Labor : A side-effect of inventing capitalism Pre-revolutionary