A world without Marxism

An idea that I'm considering fleshing out into a TL.

Assume Karl Marx and Fridrich Engels are never born and the Communist Manifesto is never written. How would history change?
 
Mostly for the better, since no bloody communism.

What would you prefer? More Fascism? Revolutionary Anarchism?

There were half a dozen competing ideologies eager to replace the ossified imperialist systems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Marxism, Anarchism, Corporatism, Syndicalism, Corporationism, Technocracy, etc). Revolution and chaos will continue for want of Das Kapital, I'm sure.
 
It can be argued that in the climate of the 19th Century, something like Marxism was inevitable. Somebody was going to look at the injustices caused by early capitalism and try to invent a way to fix it. Whether that ideology would be as utopian as Marxism is another question. Perhaps instead of Marxism, a more pragmatic ideology emerges that advocates wealth redistribution without the state owning the means of production? A sort of quasi-socialism that acknowledges private property but sees the right of caring for the poor and the elderly as more crucial than a worker's paradise?

I could see a movement emerging that decides to care for the disenfranchised, perhaps by making fields more level. I don't necessarily believe it would have been as utopian, and hence prone to authoritarianism as Marxism turned out to be.
 
It can be argued that in the climate of the 19th Century, something like Marxism was inevitable. Somebody was going to look at the injustices caused by early capitalism and try to invent a way to fix it. Whether that ideology would be as utopian as Marxism is another question. Perhaps instead of Marxism, a more pragmatic ideology emerges that advocates wealth redistribution without the state owning the means of production? A sort of quasi-socialism that acknowledges private property but sees the right of caring for the poor and the elderly as more crucial than a worker's paradise?

I could see a movement emerging that decides to care for the disenfranchised, perhaps by making fields more level. I don't necessarily believe it would have been as utopian, and hence prone to authoritarianism as Marxism turned out to be.

It´s possible if you want to make a more positive TL than OTL. Marxism was just one kind of socialism, and in fact there were many others that wanted to end property rights.

Marxism won out possibly because of the Paris Commune, where the Marxists avoided being killed by not participating in the revolutionary activities. (No historical imperative so they staid with hands put) and in the aftermath took over all the underground leftwing activities in the most revolutionary central of Europe thereby spreading all over the world. (I like the theory but my sources aren´t good, it was a radio documentary:rolleyes:).

Anyway, I think you´d get some sort of a revolutionary movement. Mind you even if Bolsheviks win in Russia (not certain), they still might not end up as a stateowned country, the NEP of Lenin privatized things and with no Stalin coming up (a possibility) things might be different.

So yes, idealogically speaking Socialism can take many turns.
 
What about a less radical form of Communism? In my timeline, there's an ideology that comes up, called Social Capitalism. It's an actual ideology I believe, but I don't know how long it's existed. It makes up part of Marjan Brikin's "Unionist" ideology, which mixes Social Capitalism and Nationalism slightly.

Social Capitalism is basically capitalism, but with government measures to prevent corporations or big business.
 
In the Hearts of Iron 2 Mod, Kaiserreich, Anarcho-Syndicalism is the dominant replacement of Communism.
 
Someone else would've come up with something very similar to Marxism. All Karl did was read Plato's The Republic through the lens of the French Enlightenment, then jot down his thoughts.

You want real change? Stop the French Enlightenment from ever happening.
 
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