A Marxist Reading - A 'How To' Guide

1. A Simple Guide to Marxist Analysis

When looking at your reading material, here are three questions that are central to Marxist thought:

1.1 How does the material portray the relationship between the bourgeoisie the proletariat?

Simply put: what's the relationship between the owners and the workers? Does the author want us to sympathize with the rich or the poor characters?

1.2 Does the material encourage class consciousness?

Simply put: is the reader encouraged to become aware that they're part of an exploitive system that needs change?

1.3 Does the material support the proletariat revolution?

Simply put: is In the coming class war (where the workers overthrow the owners to create a classless society), what side is the author on? Remember, if they don't take a side then they're supporting the bourgeoisie by encouraging things to remain the same.

2. What is Marxism?

Marxism is a perspective that originated with Karl Marx in the mid-1800s. It was the age of industrialization in Europe (factory production, invention, and the growth of cities) and Marx emerged with a long-lasting critic of capitalism.

2.1 How did Marx understand the world?

Marx studied how humans make things. He divided human history into four different stages characterized by our changing ways of making stuff:
prehistoric societies hunted and gathered, ancient civilizations used slaves, feudal societies had serfs and Lords and modern society used capitalism.
Basically, if we're simply considering the power to make stuff, capitalism kicks ass. Consider shoes. A modern shoe factory can produce more shoes in a single day than any slave or cobbler could have made in their lifetime. Marx was impressed by the power of capitalism but he was also concerned with how the controlling class of people exploits the working class of people.

2.2 What is capitalism?

'Capital' is the resources someone has to invest (consider it 'extra money'). People with 'extra money' can risk it by building factories to make more profit. It's easy to see that there is a division between the people with 'extra money' (owners or as Marx labeled them "the bourgeoisie") and workers ("the proletariat"). In a capitalist society you are born into a world where all of the property is owned by someone else. You have to inherit a share of it or use your labour to buy your own piece.

Although capitalism is amazing at making stuff it is also incredibly exploitive. Child labour, dangerous working conditions, and long hours of repetitive labour were common in Europe during Marx's time (and can still be seen today). Marx saw that factory production would be able to satisfy basic human needs and predicted that the workers, upon realizing this, would rise up and overthrow the owners. This revolution would be violent since the bourgeoisie were unlikely to surrender their privilege peacefully. Marx foresaw that the final stage of human production would be a classless society. He believed that this was a scientific fact. Thus, Marxists believe that the workers' revolution is not an ideal fantasy but an inevitable historical fact.

2.3 Futhermore

Marx's prediction of a classless community is the basis for the political ideology known as communism. Communist countries such as the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba have had revolutions but not in the manner that Marx predicted. For instance, the peasantry played a decisive role in these revolutions despite Marx's theory that revolution would only happened once peasants had moved into cities to become the proletariat ad gain class consciousness. Thus, there are many strands of Marxist thought (Leninist, Stalinist, Maoist, etc.).

Additionally, Marx thought that the revolution was going to happen in his lifetime (well before the rise of consumerism and the invention of the iPod). It didn't happen. Marxist scholars struggled to explain why. Vladimir Lenin argued that industrialized countries had spread their factories around the world and slowed the process of class consciousness.

Communist countries believe in solidarity with other countries struggling with their own revolution. The Cold War was a period in history where the Soviet Union and the United States sponsored many civil wars in order to support communism and capitalism respectively.

3. A Marxist analysis of Pokemon

Here are our three questions of Marxist analysis applied to Pokemon. It may seem silly (I certainly laughed while doing it) but the results are surprisingly indicative of the pervasive triumph of the capitalist mentality (class, competition, hierarchy).

3.1 How does the material portray the relationship between owners (the bourgeoisie) and workers (the proletariat)?

We can consider the children in the show to be the bourgeoisie. They carry little creatures, Pokemon, with them and use them to increase their own status. The Pokemon work for their masters by fighting each other. The Pokemon respond to the bourgeois commands and are rewarded by returning to their cramped living space or 'Pokeball' in order to be carried around for another fight. The proletariat, in this case the Pokemon, feel intense guilt for failing their masters and incredible joy for providing them with victory. We are meant to like the Pokemon, such as Pikachu, who are subservient and duty-bound to serve their master in spite of severe physical pain.

3.2 Does the material encourage class consciousness?

Although humans and Pokemon are clearly part of two separate classes there is no attention drawn to this division. In fact, it is presented as natural and necessary. The audience is encouraged to adopt the bourgeois perspective that the goal is to "catch'em all". The story follows the competitive bourgeois struggle to become ranked number one. Furthermore, the Pokemon are organized into their own class system where creatures of a higher class are superior in strength to Pokemon of lesser status. The audience is encouraged to accept competition and hierarchy as natural features of the world. The Pokemon show no desire to rebel against their masters. No one suggests that this stratification exists let alone questions the inherit injustice.

3.3 Does the material support the proletariat revolution?

There is no sign that the Pokemon should rebel against this oppressive system nor is there any encouragement for the audience to desire a revolution. One has the feeling that if the Pokemon did revolt against their overlords then we would be encouraged to cheer for the humans to restore order.