WorksheetsKarl Marx, Human Nature, & the Communist Ideal
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 8mins
In his 1844 Economic & Philosophical Manuscripts, Marx said that human desires could be dictated by culture -- even without people knowing.
True
False
Marx believed that money
was a "fixed" desire like food & water
was a "relative" desire that reduced humans to an abstract, arbitrary measurement of worth
was necessary, and the more of it, the better
How did Marx define "labor"?
A human's expression of life itself, an act of freedom, self-creation, individuality, and power.
What people do only because they have to, regardless of the economic system. People do not like labor or work by nature.
The pain men have to go through just like women to produce something of worth
According to Marx, the proletariat is
the worker
the middle class
the property owner
the bourgiosie
Capitalists, according to Marx,
always used the "shift" typewriter key to type capitol letters.
owned money or property, as well as the means of producing more of both.
maximized their own profit at the expense of workers
Marx thought that human labor in a capitalist system was not "free" because
it was reduced to an abstract symbol (money) & dehumanized in capitalism
things in capitalism cost money & weren't distributed by the government for free
capitalism pitted workers against each other, limiting them as individuals and as a class.
According to Marx, why was communal ownership of capital needed as an alternative to capitalism? Select all that apply.
To reduce inefficiency between producers and supply chains
To eradicate poverty caused by economic inequality
To return to individuals the dignity of their labor
To create a stronger nation state
The inspiration for Marx's idea of a world-wide worker movement realizing that it should see its members as united v. divided came from
his tour of American manufacturing plants
Frederick Engels
Thomas Hobbes
Georg Hegel's "universal mind" which, like a master & slave, realizes its inter-dependence upon the other
20th c. Russians tried to put Marx's theories into practice. The results?
An agrarian society-turned-industrial power in one generation
A violent, oppressive culture ruled by fear & punishment for not meeting government demands
Some individuals who freely contributed to something they believed they would own, & reap the benefits of, equally with others.
A global empire that failed, disintegrating in 70 years by 1989.
Communism as a theory does not work out in practice because it does not account for . ..
human nature being selfish, less concerned with others than with self.
human nature being lazy, content to do only the minimum needed to get by if possible.
human desire to work hard and achieve excellence if able to reap a reward equal to the effort.
humans unmotivated to work, let alone suffer, for abstract ideas ("the nation," "the collective," or a world-wide "group")
human curiosity, creativity, innovation, and risk-taking
