1What is historical materialism?
The view that history is driven by material conditions and class struggle
2What are alternative theories Marx rejects?
Great man theory and Hegelian idealism
3How does Marx understand human nature?
Humans are productive beings expressing themselves through labor
4What is wage labor?
Workers sell their labor while capitalists take the product and profit
5Who are the bourgeoisie?
Owners of the means of production
6Who are the proletariat?
Workers who must sell their labor
7What are the means of production?
Tools, factories, land, resources
8What are relations of production?
Class relations based on control of the means of production
9What is alienation from the product?
The worker does not control what they produce
10What is alienation from the act of production?
Labor becomes external and coerced
11What is alienation from species-being?
Humans cannot engage in free, creative labor
12What is alienation from other humans?
Workers compete instead of cooperating
13What does communism advocate?
Abolition of private ownership of the means of production
14What is communism’s guiding principle?
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs