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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Marx distinguish between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in terms of morality?

2. According to Trotsky, why did the 1905 revolt fail?

3. How do Marx and Engels describe the proletariat?

4. What is Marx's fundamental critique of capitalists?

5. What does Edmund Wilson say Marx discovered through his work with the International Working Men's Association?

Short Essay Questions

1. How was Engels brought to socialism?

2. What is dialectical materialism?

3. Describe Ferdinand Lassalle's career.

4. What conditions made Russia a good candidate for a transition to communism?

5. Why, according to Trotsky, did the 1905 Soviet fail?

6. What are the ten points addressed in the Communist Manifesto?

7. What defined the views of Marx and Engels on international relationships between nations?

8. Describe the relationship between Lenin and Trotsky.

9. Describe Marx's relationship with Proudhon.

10. Why hadn't Marx and Engels thought that Russia would have the revolution they anticipated?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using Michelet's method of looking at paradoxes in a culture, can you say that there was a moment when the Russian Revolution became inevitable as the choice people would make in response to the paradoxes or contradictions of their times? What forces had been held in paradoxical stability that were now resolved or translated into another relation?

Essay Topic 2

Cite a contemporary class conflict that fits neatly into the dialectical materialism model of bourgeoisie and proletariat fighting. Choose one conflict that does not fit neatly into the model. Explain how the cases either fit or do not fit.

Essay Topic 3

Which thinkers would have been satisfied with the Russian Revolution as the fulfillment of their work? Which thinkers would have been horrified? Explain how three philosophers' work would have been fulfilled or betrayed by the Communist Revolution.

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