The Literary Theory: Marxism and Neo Marxism
By Dr. Karuna Rajeev
"Revolution is the indispensable midwife of social change.”
- Karl Marx
On Thursday, the 9th of September, Jabberwock conducted a lecture on Marxism and neo-Marxism, the third installment of The Literary Theory Series. The lecture delivered by Prof. Karuna Rajeev was received with a lot of enthusiasm by a large number of students from both years of the department despite being conducted in the online mode.
Prof. Rajeev explained Marxism through the lens of sustainability and equality. She distinguished Evolutionary and Revolutionary socialism through examples backed by theory. She steered the lecture in an interactive way instilling thoughts and questions from the students. The path to communism was explained step by step and the lecture successfully elucidated why Marx thought revolution was inevitable for a social change. She walked the participants through the different stages of social evolution and how communism was its final stage for Marx. Marx’s belief of every state including a socialist state being a dictatorship was pointed out and its reason was briefed.
The professor also sketched the realities of today’s capitalist world before the students and showed how the numerical majority is oppressed by the privileged minority in a capitalist society. The attendees were encouraged to think and reach their own conclusions about how in a capitalist society, the rich get richer and the poor are exploited. Prof. Rajeev enunciated how Marx saw communism as the ideal society which is a classless, stateless, private property-less society.
Towards the end of the session, students asked their doubts and shared their thoughts which were addressed by the speaker and that concluded an enriching and thought provoking session which explored the ideas of Marxism.
- Karl Marx
On Thursday, the 9th of September, Jabberwock conducted a lecture on Marxism and neo-Marxism, the third installment of The Literary Theory Series. The lecture delivered by Prof. Karuna Rajeev was received with a lot of enthusiasm by a large number of students from both years of the department despite being conducted in the online mode.
Prof. Rajeev explained Marxism through the lens of sustainability and equality. She distinguished Evolutionary and Revolutionary socialism through examples backed by theory. She steered the lecture in an interactive way instilling thoughts and questions from the students. The path to communism was explained step by step and the lecture successfully elucidated why Marx thought revolution was inevitable for a social change. She walked the participants through the different stages of social evolution and how communism was its final stage for Marx. Marx’s belief of every state including a socialist state being a dictatorship was pointed out and its reason was briefed.
The professor also sketched the realities of today’s capitalist world before the students and showed how the numerical majority is oppressed by the privileged minority in a capitalist society. The attendees were encouraged to think and reach their own conclusions about how in a capitalist society, the rich get richer and the poor are exploited. Prof. Rajeev enunciated how Marx saw communism as the ideal society which is a classless, stateless, private property-less society.
Towards the end of the session, students asked their doubts and shared their thoughts which were addressed by the speaker and that concluded an enriching and thought provoking session which explored the ideas of Marxism.
Written by Aavani Gokul