POL 315
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MARXISM
Antagonistic contradictions are overcome through a bitter struggle by
social revolution while non-antagonistic are usually resolved through
education, persuasion, self-criticism etc. The absence of antagonistic
interests and contradictions in socialist society does not mean that it has
no contradictions at all. The contradictions here can be resolved
successfully within the framework of the existing social relations.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The law of unity and conflict of opposites deals with contradictions. The
conflict of opposite is the source of the development: The conflict
between opposites signifies the striving of each to obtain predominance
over the other in a process or phenomenon. The unity and conflict of
opposites exist in nature and in society.
5.0 SUMMARY
The law of unity and conflict of opposites states that opposite forces will
attract or unite and the same forces will repel each other, just like
between male and female, assimilation and excretion, day and night,
motion and rest, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It is by the process
of unity and conflict of opposites that sustainable renewals are
guaranteed in nature and in society.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i. Explain productive forces as basis of contradictions in society.
ii. Illustrate the inevitability of conflict in society.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Describe how conflict and unity of opposites play out in
capitalism.
2. Demonstrate how conflict can be eliminated in a bourgeois
society.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Callinicos, A. (2010). The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx. London:
Bookmarks.
Engels, J. (1986). An Introduction to Karl Marx. Cambridge, England.
Hook, S. (1994). From Hegel to Marx: Studies in the Intellectual
Development of Karl Marx. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Mclellan, D. (1973). Karl Marx: His Life and Thought. New York:
Harper and Row.
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