Hegelian Dialectics
The philosophical concept that in the world of ideas, change occurs as the result of a synthesis, or coming together of opposing forces: a given idea (thesis), when challenged by a new and opposing idea (antithesis), results in a new concept (synthesis) which is somewhat closer to the truth than the initial two ideas.
Dialectical Materialism
Karl Marx's application of Hegel's dialectical method to an explanation of all world events.
Historical Materialism
Marx's economic interpretation of history, which stresses economics as the basis for all human actions and historical events.
Communism
A belief in the achievement of socialism by revolutionary means, particularly by class warfare.
Marxism
Communism according to the exact words and predictions of Karl Marx.
Scientific Socialism
What Marx and Engels called the ideas contained in The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital; scientific laws explaining the economic determination of history, class struggle, and the inevitable downfall of capitalism with the eventual triumph of workers over the moneyed class.
Prophet of the Proletariat
Karl Marx.
Capitalists
The class which provides or controls the money that underwrites the production of goods. Technically, capitalists are the upper class of the bourgeoisie, known as the "haute bourgeoisie," or high middle class, the most hated class under Marxism.
Bourgeoisie
The middle class. Technically, it includes the "petite bourgeoisie," or small middle class—the small shopkeepers, government officials, lawyers, doctors, independent farmers, and teachers—and the "haute bourgeoisie." The term is generally used by Marxists to describe the owners of private property. (Bourgeois is the spelling of the adjective form.)
Proletariat
Lowly wage earners, or workers.
Anarchism
The support of no system of government; the belief that government, controls, and authority are oppressive.
Father of Anarchism
Pierre Proudhon.
