Book contents
- The Marx Revival
- The Marx Revival
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Editor
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- 1 Capitalism
- 2 Communism
- 3 Democracy
- 4 Proletariat
- 5 Class Struggle
- 6 Political Organization
- 7 Revolution
- 8 Work
- 9 Capital and Temporality
- 10 Ecology
- 11 Gender Equality
- 12 Nationalism and Ethnicity
- 13 Migration
- 14 Colonialism
- 15 State
- 16 Globalization
- 17 War and International Relations
- 18 Religion
- 19 Education
- 20 Art
- 21 Technology and Science
- 22 Marxisms
- Index
- References
3 - Democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 May 2020
Edited by
Book contents
- The Marx Revival
- The Marx Revival
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Editor
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Text
- 1 Capitalism
- 2 Communism
- 3 Democracy
- 4 Proletariat
- 5 Class Struggle
- 6 Political Organization
- 7 Revolution
- 8 Work
- 9 Capital and Temporality
- 10 Ecology
- 11 Gender Equality
- 12 Nationalism and Ethnicity
- 13 Migration
- 14 Colonialism
- 15 State
- 16 Globalization
- 17 War and International Relations
- 18 Religion
- 19 Education
- 20 Art
- 21 Technology and Science
- 22 Marxisms
- Index
- References
Summary
‘The Marxist critique of bourgeois democracy’, wrote Ernest Mandel, ‘starts from the idea that this democracy is formal because the workers do not have the material means to exercise the rights which the bourgeois constitutions formally grant all citizens’. So, for instance, ‘Freedom of the press is just a formality when only the capitalists and their agents are able to get together the millions of dollars needed to establish a daily newspaper.’ These observations neatly sum up a standard Marxist critique of ‘bourgeois democracy’. They do not imply that Marxism is in principle opposed to the rights and freedoms associated with ‘liberal democracy’. They simply suggest that the ‘bourgeois’ form of democracy is bogus, or at least inadequate and incomplete, because it fails to confront the fundamental inequalities of class power which determine political outcomes, even while it may allow for workers’ organizations that can partially redress the balance.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Marx RevivalKey Concepts and New Critical Interpretations, pp. 51 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Draper, Hal (1986), Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution, Volume III: The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’, New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew, Kenworthy, Lane, and Su, Yu‐Sung (2010), ‘Income Inequality and Partisan Voting in the United States’, Social Science Quarterly, 91 (5): 1203–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geras, Norman (1985), ‘The Controversy about Marx and Justice’, New Left Review, 150: 47–85.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James, and Jay, John (1961), The Federalist Papers, New York: New American Library.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Geoff, (2008), Diggers, Levellers, and Agrarian Capitalism: Radical Political Thought in Seventeenth Century England, Lanham: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl (1975), Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, MECW, vol. 3, pp. 229–346.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl (1979), The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, MECW, vol. 11, pp. 99–209.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl, and Engels, Frederick (1976), Manifesto of the Communist Party, MECW, vol. 6, pp. 477–519.Google Scholar
Thompson, E. P. (1968), The Making of the English Working Class, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Richard G., and Pickett, Kate (2011), The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.Google Scholar
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (1986), The Retreat from Class: A New ‘True’ Socialism, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (1995), Democracy against Capitalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 3
- Cited by