L+O+R++--++M+a+r+x+i+s+m+!

M a r x i sm

Karl Marx ( 1818- 1988) was a German philosopher, political .economist and socialist revolutionary who started the philosophical and political theories and movement of Marxism He was primarily concerned with the issues of the working class “proletariat” who he felt was neglected and alienated from the elite classes of the “Bourgeoisie”. He also concerned himself with the ideals of capitalism, disagreeing with them, claiming that the political movement was too materialistic. He also was interested in historiography - he writing of history, claiming that all history that had been produced, sans him, concerned only about the upper classes of society, and hence he felt that historians were intrinsically emitting an elitist philosophy through their way of telling history. As a result of this, he established the Marxist form of history which is colloquially referred to as “history from below”. His philosophies and theories were the basis of the political revolution known as communism. The goal of Marxism was - "**the creation of social and economic utopia by the revolution of the proletariat which would centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the state."**

This is a video of some of Marx's"inspirational" quotes---also in the video is some exciting music and one impressive beard:::: []

Brecht was taught Marxism by his friends Karl Korsch and Walter Benjamin, both highly original thinkers and staunch anti-Stalinists. Through them, he acquired a love for dialectics, confidence in the working class’s ability to liberate itself, and a marked distrust of official Communist leaders.

Brecht’s turn to Marxism also changed his way approach to theatre. He had always rejected naturalistic theatre style that tried to present the audience with a perfect illusion of reality. For productions of Drums of the Night he recommended hanging a banner above the stage saying “Don’t Stare So Romantically!”

// The theory, arising from a Marxist notion of drama as a vehicle for rational didacticism, describes theatre as Brecht, in a sense, wished it to become. This theory is only partly realised in his own work. Brecht would say that this is the result of the theatre's (and society's) not being ready yet for the final, perfected version of epic theatre. Modern theatre critics might say that Brecht's practical sense of what works in the theatre has (happily) overruled the more extreme applications of his theory. //