European Socialism Assignment1 – Marx’s Historical Materialism

European Socialism Assignment1 – Marx’s Historical Materialism

Instructions: this assignment is due in class on Wednesday, October 5. It should be approximately three pages, typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins on each side. Please proof-read carefully. Note that I cannot accept e-mailed papers as I cannot download and evaluate digital files

 

In his analysis of “The North American Civil War” of October 1861, Karl Marx employs his “materialist theory of history,” or “historical materialism” to demonstrate what he believes are the underlying reasons for the eruption of that conflict.

In doing so Marx also offers a very different theory of ante-bellum United States history and what drove it toward the Civil War then one generally finds in most interpretations of that history, including the country’s class relations, its changing demographic and economic dynamics, its internal balance of power between classes and regions, issues of territorial expansion and even issues of moral judgement concerning the issue of slavery before 1860.

Discuss these issues as presented in that document, to what degree they adequately or inadequately explain the issues of U.S. history they engage with, and whether or not historical materialism as presented in this newspaper article is a particularly insightful approach for understanding complex social developments involving politics, economics, war and peace, class power, and morality of this era.

Use specifics from the article in presenting your assessment and clear in your conclusions about the usefulness or lack thereof of Marx’s theoretical approach.

Karl Marx, The North American Civil War