The big thing to know with Marxists is that they believe in the dialectic. That is that all of human history is characterized by class struggle. Marx was influenced by Hegel’s idea of the thesis (original movement), antithesis (response to that movement) and synthesis (final result, always in the direction of progress.) However, Marx took that and applied it to economics. So in history we’ve seen Lords vs. slaves, then landowners vs. serfs, and finally the capitalists vs. the bourgeoisie. Marx believed that that final state (industrial capitalism) is a critical stage in political/economic development, and only the poor working conditions brought on by industrialization will trigger a worldwide proletariat (URBAN workers) revolution. This revolution will go through stages. First a dictatorship of the proletariat (communism, the state controls all property and means of production) and finally a stateless society.</p>
Socialism is a broader term, but it typically refers to more moderate people like Edouard Bernstein (a revisionist) or Charles Fourier (utopian socialist). They were more supportive of using the political system to bring about greater government ownership of the means of production in a peaceful and gradual manner. The utopian socialists emphasized cooperation and small groups to reach a good, egalitarian, socialist state (these guys were ridiculed by Marx for being unscientific)</p>
Another important branch of Marxist/Communism is Leninism. Lenin emphasized that the proletariat revolution does not necessarily have to come out of industrialization or capitalism. That is why he led the Russian Revolution in an unindustrialized nation. He also emphasized that a small “vanguard” of elites is necessary to guide the course of the revolution.</p>
That’s awesome; I haven’t read this thread for a while, so coming back to see your suggestions is good because those are the exact topics that I re-read. I just don’t trust my memory, though, but I’ll try.</p>
Can anyone explain to me the difference between the Price Revolution and the Commercial Revolution? No matter how many times I read my book, I cannot differentiate them in any solid way.</p>
^All the way up to sinohellenic’s differentiation of socialism, Marxism, etc.</p>
Could anyone explain the major differences between Marxism-Leninism and Stalin’s own views on Marxism? I find Russian history to be particularly hard to retain, but I do remember that Krushchev bitterly condemned Stalin’s tactics because they veered away from Marxism-Leninism, and so, he started a campaign of “de-Stalinization.”</p>
JoanFL, that’s probably the first time I ever heard that, lol, but if kids in your school typically do well with it, see how they study, although this tip, quite frankly, might have come a little too late.</p>
The reason for my saying that most people use PR was because of a thread I started in early October, asking for review book recommendations. I haven’t checked in a long time, but few, if any, recommended Barron’s:</p>
I seriously doubt those nuances will be on the test. Instead, know that:
Lenin allowed some capitalism under his New Economic Policy because War Communism didn’t work</p>
Stalin trashed those and instituted the five year plans, which tried to get the USSR industrialized by forcing certain amounts of production. He had killed anyone who he was paranoid about; he killed the wealthy peasants.</p>
So I just took all the released exams and I got about 83% average. I suppose that’s okay, but I was using Crash Course as a sole resource. The author of that book simply looked at all the past exams, compiled the most tested subjects, and then wrote about them. I don’t know if that’s going to be so great come test day, as while the subjects might be similar, there are probably random aspects of certain subjects that had not appeared on previous exams and will be tested. For example, something random about Robespierre. He has frequently generated questions on the AP exam, but every year the questions focus on different aspects of his hold on France. I’m simply worried that Crash Course has taught too much to the test :(</p>
It’s good that you took all the tests, though. I only got to take two so far since I haven’t been managing my time wisely, :(. About 83% is pretty good considering you used only Crash Course, but what happened to MEH? I could have sworn you were using that, too… </p>
“…as while the subjects might be similar, there are probably random aspects of certain subjects that had not appeared on previous exams and will be tested. For example, something random about Robespierre.” That is, sadly, true. Even if I take a practice test and review the chapters based on the questions I tanked, the next practice test will have something new thrown in, so it feels as if a detail makes a difference. That’s the particularly annoying side to APs.</p>
I was using MEH, thelastyogurt, but I didn’t think I would have enough time to finish it. I’m thinking that I will stay home for the rest of the week and read it through just once. In addition to EH I have four other exams to study for though, so it’s just a lot to manage in a short, short amount of time. </p>
And as for the FRQs, since 2001 there has always been one on women’s rights, and one on the Cold War.</p>