European History Questions
Lesson 16 1. Why is Marxism and attack on liberalism? Marxism is an attack on liberalism because Marxism in not based on liberal principles. Marxism is against capitalism, and espouses a classless society. Marx’s work was an attack on the society of the time, and much of society was based on liberal principles — an increased standard of living, more opportunities for social movement upward, new governments, and more rights for people and workers. All of these represent a more liberal society, one that Marx found abhorrent. Marx may have been a radical, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a liberal, and he wasn’t. Still Marxism appealed to many and spawned socialist government that has lasted in some form through the 20th century in different parts of the world. Marxism became a symbol of oppressed workers, fighting the chains of the capitalist owners. 2. Discuss the Christian attack on liberalism. The Christian attack on liberalism came from all denominations. They felt “progress is just another name for materialism,” and that individualists were just really selfish. Roman Catholics were especially critical of liberalism, they went so far as to issue a syllabus of the “principal errors of our time,” which included many allusions to liberalism and modern thought. This was a time of great disagreement between the conservative Christians and the more liberal state governments, especially in France, Italy, and Spain. After the turn of the century, both sides mellowed a bit, and the conflicts died down.