Summary
Summary Trotsky on morality
- Module
- Marx and Marxism
- Institution
- Oxford University (OX)
Notes on Trotsky's writings on bourgeois morality
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Leon Trotsky – Their Morals and Ours For comparisons to be drawn between Marxism and fascism, Stalinism and Trotskyism,
capitalism and Marxism etc, there must be some common ground between the theories
Bolshevism is attacked for its apparent adherence to the Jesuit maxim ‘The end justifies the
means’
Bourgeois and petty-bourgeois enemies of Bolshevism often claim morality is granted by
God, or by intuition, which amounts to the same
Philosophical idealism was a step forward for moral philosophy, the step between religion and
materialism
o To appeal to eternal moral truths now represents a step backwards
This (and the experience of the Jesuits) shows that rejection of the principle ‘the end justifies
the means’ is impossible
o Indeed, utilitarianism embraces precisely this doctrine
o But this doctrine does not tell us what to do – it raises the question ‘what justifies the
end?’
This search for universals is pointless unless the universality of class
struggle is recognised
‘Morality is one of the ideological functions in this struggle. The ruling class forces its ends
upon society and habituates it into considering all those means which contradict its ends as
immoral.’
o Morality is necessary for any antagonistic regime to survive
o It is a product of social development, and hence not universal
What about the fact that moral precepts exist in common between societies/epochs?
o Yes, but they are unstable, and liable to be overridden by other considerations
depending on the circumstance (the end justifies the means)
Moral norms are vacuous because people feel their class allegiance comes before their
membership in society
o Class deception is the reason why bourgeois morality is dressed up as religion,
philosophy or common sense
o The industrial revolutions allowed the living standards of the proletariat to rise with
the bourgeoisie, democracy to arise etc, and this reconciliation facilitated reformist
tendencies and the emergence of moral precepts
WW1 shattered this and led to fascism as the synthesis of imperial turpitude
A means can only be justified by its end, but the end must be justified
o In the case of Marxism, the end is justified if it leads to increasing the power of man
over nature and to the abolition of the power of man over man
o Permissible are only those means which unite the revolutionary proletariat, incite
them, imbue them with consciousness, raise their courage etc
o Dialectic materialism does not know dualism between means and end – means are
constantly becoming ends etc
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