Part 2, Chapters 11-12 Summary and Analysis

Marx and Engels called their method of analysis "Dialectical Materialism." The concept of the dialectic refers to the Hegelian concept of change. The dialect consists of the thesis, the antithesis and the synthesis. The thesis is the original idea or thing that is negated by the antithesis. The elements of both the thesis and the antithesis unite to produce the synthesis, which results in things being on a higher level than they were before. For example, bourgeois society is the thesis and the antithesis is the proletariat. The thesis came about as a result of the end of feudalism while the antithesis is the result of modern society. The synthesis will be the resulting socialist society, which is a higher level of development than capitalism. The Marxist view is that history is a series of these interactions...