Cesaire contends that Europe is to blame for both “the proletariat problem and the colonial problem,” that is, for making the world into its slaves and for assuming political dominance over it, he underlines that these are distinct facets of the same political struggle and history (Balandier 23) A rebellion of the proletariat and a movement of colonies against the colonizer must co-occur to overthrow bourgeois rule and create a new society. Cesaire stresses the interdependence of the bourgeoisie and proletariat concerning European colonized peoples. In particular, he contends that the main objective of imperialism was to provide the European bourgeoisie with access to more excellent resources and inexpensive labor, which meant that it included the majority of the non-European globe in the global proletariat.
In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin authorized population deportations to sparsely populated rural areas. Russia was attempting to establish and strengthen a protective barrier between itself and Western Europe to safeguard itself from threats from aggressive Western European countries. Soviet officials argued that a structure of political and commercial reliance between neighboring governments and the USSR was necessary to prevent the repetition of such expensive combat. Instead of being economically exploitative, the Soviet invasion of the “social democrat countries” was primarily ideological. However, economic growth was a significant factor in the Soviet Union’s ambition to expand control in its satellite countries (Cockram 301). In Central Asia, the Soviet Union practiced domestic colonialism. By favoring Slavic settlers over Kyrgyz locals, the authorities in Kyrgyzstan promoted grain production over the livestock, continuing the disparities of the tsarist colonial era.
Remember that when Levi writes in Survival in Auschwitz that “the Lager was preeminently a gigantic biological and social experiment,” he is referring to the fact that the Jewish inmates, as well as all the other survivors of the Nazi concentration camp machine, were made to endure living conditions that were possibly unprecedented in human history. Some people help one another, while others are on the system and plunder (Mariani 87). Others join the political elite, which results in the exploitation of their people. Primo warns them that due to the conditions in the camp, they cannot judge the prisoners according to the same ethical and moral norms they use to evaluate people outside. Instead, a significant portion of a prisoner’s day is devoted to disrupting or assimilating the system. Since open revolt would ensure execution, it is rarely demonstrated.
According to Rousseau, the advancement of the arts and sciences has taken them away from virtue and diminished rather than enhanced virtue inside the world. He bases this claim on both historical evidence and logical thought. With the publication of his “Discussion on the Arts and Sciences” in 1749, Rousseau burst into the intellectual scene in Europe. He contends that advancement in the arts and sciences has taken people away from virtue and has diminished rather than promoted virtue in the world. He bases this claim on both historical evidence and rational reasoning. Rousseau proceeds first to historical data, contending that people learn from studying the past that moral decay usually goes hand in hand with advancement in culture and knowledge. The polite and sophisticated society had lost its historical virtues and strengths since the Renaissance. Rousseau claimed that although inequality is founded on property, it rises as the human soul develops. He also asserted that inequality, where the wealthy continued to amass wealth while the poor continued to live in apoverty, was caused by human vanity and wealth discrepancies.
According to Rousseau, there are two types of inequality: natural and moral. The first refers to differences caused by a person’s physical traits, age, or level of health. On the other side, man is to blame for the moral imbalance. Natural disparities are inherited and cannot be avoided, in contrast to ethical inequalities, which are artificial and may be avoided. According to Rousseau, the wild man is inherently more robust and ordered than the adjacent animals. Man is morally blind and has no idea of right and evil. He exists to satisfy his fundamental needs—food, sex, and leisure. According to Rousseau, the natural man is identical to an animal, except that he can improve his life. As man conquered challenges presented by essence and other living creatures, he would eventually need to find ways to simplify existence greatly. Rousseau also proposed that languages develop with man’s capacity for complex thought. Cries, gesticulations, and a few imitations sounds made up the language.
His political writing is based on Rousseau’s charges of personal corruption in modern European politics. He declares himself opposed to the Renaissance and its tenet that progress in the arts and social sciences is closely tied to progress in politics and morality. (McKeane 502). According to Rousseau, the growing acceptance of doctrine by enlightenment elites results from its vulgarization, which is motivated less by a genuine love of enlightenment and more by the desire for society’s honors and reputation. Modern civilization promotes new forms of dependence and servitude, far from liberating Europeans from their previous captivity in feudal Europe. Social graces, according to Rousseau, are only a façade of virtue employed to mask one’s self-centeredness and vanity.
Contrary to Enlightenment, Marx did not associate individual freedom with emancipation. He vehemently disagreed with individualism, both as a theory of social behavior and as a means of concluding the nature of human nature. Marx’s ideas could also be seen as a critical adaptation of the western secular enlightenment, centered on the economic ‘Man,’ and the tremendous dialectical awakening. This focused on the spiritual component of the human being that was once thought to be shared with the spiritual, referred to as the ‘Mind.’ Two competing enlightened beings, which clashed in the debate between Plato, Athens, and the Sophists and which Marx critically unified, contest the assertion of rationality. He critiques capitalism’s inherent production limitations and its market as not being an example of freedom or equality.
Marx’s primary concern, though, is with ontological injustice—the forced separation of the human being into the status of a product. However, he still adheres to the Promethean Enlightenment ideas of innovation, creativity, and economic, participative, and global democracy. Marx condemned Hegel for rationalizing, idealizing, “transforming and glorifying” markets and private property. However, he keeps essential aspects of the idealist view of human nature, such as the belief that people are “universal, thus free beings.” The proletariat is the conceptual “universal class” since any other class cannot exploit it. Unjustified skepticism exists over the validity of these ideas and beliefs. For instance, Rawls misrepresents them by classifying them with desires or preferences. Ideologies, values, and enlightenments are debatable in discussion and should be so.
The main focus is on destroying capitalism and advancing communism to stop injustice, environmental harm, excessive materialism, and breaking international economic cycles. The Enlightenment Era, which first emerged during the French Revolution, gave rise to the phrase “eradicating inequity.” Though they were already prevalent, the ideas of “liberty,” “equality,” and “fraternity” grew more during the Age of Enlightenment. The Third Republic was the last to see it establish itself. Since it was included in the 1958 Constitution, they were regarded as a part of French national heritage. Marx held the view that capitalism would ultimately collapse. The alienated, exploited workers would topple the owners and seize control of the means of production, establishing a classless society. The Russian Revolution expelled Russia from the conflict and caused the Russian Empire The USSR, the first communist nation in the world, replaced Russia’s historic monarchy to become the Union. The USSR, the first communist nation in the world, replaced Russia’s landmark monarchy.
Significant changes marked the modern era with the emergence of science as a discipline, the rapid advancement of technology, and the construction of largely secular civic politics and legal systems. Additionally, throughout the history of modern Europe, building on innovations like the written word, the early modern era witnessed a considerable increase in global trade and business activity that has been referred to as a “commercial revolution.” However, World War II was the bloodiest conflict in recorded history; death toll estimates range from 35 million to 60 million (Peters 886). Furthermore, between 1939 and 1945, at least 60 million civilians in Europe were displaced; of these, 27 million fled their respective nations or were forcibly expelled (Churyumova and Holland 344). Death, destruction, and large-scale emigration had all shown how frail and exposed the proud countries of Europe had become.
Works Cited
Balandier, G. “The colonial situation: A theoretical approach.” The New Imperial Histories Reader, 2020, pp. 23-40.
Churyumova, Elvira, and Edward C. Holland. “Kalmyk DPs and the Narration of Displacement in Post-World War II Europe.” Slavic Review, vol. 80, no. 2, 2021, pp. 341-362.
Cockram, N. R. “A counter-enlightenment of the present: A defense of John grays’ modus vivendi liberalism.” Critics of Enlightenment Rationalism Revisited, 2022, pp. 301-316.
Mariani, Maria A. “Close Reading of a Title: On Survival in Auschwitz.” The Ethics of Survival in Contemporary Literature and Culture, 2021, pp. 247-264.
McKeane, J. “Poetics of history: Rousseau and the theater of Originary mimesis by Philippe lacoue-labarthe.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 53, no. 3, 2020, pp. 502-504.
Peters, M. A. “The enlightenment and its critics1.” Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol. 51, no. 9, 2018, pp. 886-894.