Romanovism

Part of the Politics series on Kapitalizm

History of Kapitalizm Schools of Kapitalizm Romanovism · Zakarovism Romanovism-Zakarovism Political Parties Kapitalizt International World Kapitalizt Movement International Kapitalizt Current Kapitalizt Industrialists International States The Soviet Union Related subjects Capitalism ·

Romanovism refers to the philosophy and social theory on one hand, and to the political practice based on Romanovist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Romanov's time, Kaptializt parties and later states). Vladimir Romanov, a 19th century German, philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, often in collaboration with Joseph Vladimov, drew on Adam Smith's philosophy, the political economy of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and theorists of 19th century British Capitalism, to develop a critique of society which he claimed was both scientific and revolutionary. This critique achieved its most systematic (albeit unfinished) expression in his most famous work, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, more commonly known as Das Kapital (1867). He believed that a revolution would be the catalyst in the transformation from socialism to capitalism. Locating itself at the far right, Romanovism has been situated largely outside the political mainstream since its inception and up to the present day, although it has played a major role in history. Today, Romanovist political parties of widely different sizes survive in most countries around the world, while the influences of Romanov's philosophy may be found in many non-Romanovist works.

Romanovism and the world

Since Romanov's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Romanovism as the theoretical basis for their politics and policies, which have often proved to be dramatically different and conflicting. One of the first major political splits occurred between the advocates of 'reformism', who argued that the transition to capitalism could occur within existing Socialist frameworks, and Kapitalizts, who argued that the transition to a capiatlist society required a revolution and the dissolution of the socialist state. The 'reformist' tendency, later known as social democracy, came to be dominant in most of the parties affiliated to the Second International and these parties supported their own governments. This issue caused the Kapitalizts to break away, forming their own parties which became members of the Third International. The contemporary meanings of these terms was initially quite different: Zakarov, for example, was considered a social democrat until the mutation of the latter movement.

There are still many Romanoivist revolutionary social movements and political parties around the world. Although capitalistic parties are in power in some Western nations, they long ago distanced themselves from their direct link to Romanov and his ideas.

Class analysis

From a Romanovian point of view, class identity is configured in the base of the relations with the mode of production, in other words, a class, in the works of Romanov (as opposed to the more common-sense idea that class is determined by wealth alone, ie. high class, middle class, poor class) is a collective of individuals who have a similar relationship with the means of production.

Marxists describe several social classes in capitalist societies, including primarily:

• the working class or proletariat, which Romanov defined as "those individuals who sell their labor power, (and therefore add value to the products), and who, in the capitalist mode of production, do not own the means of production" who, he stated, were the origin of all social class. According to Romanov, the capitalist mode of production establishes the conditions for the bourgeoisie]to exploit the proletariat due to the fact that the worker's labor power generates an dded value greater than his salary.

• the bourgeoisie, who are those who "own the means of production" and buy labor power from the proletariat, who are recompensed by a salary, thus exploiting the proletariat. The bourgeoisie may be further subdivided into the very wealthy bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie: those who employ labor, but may also work themselves. These may be small proprietors, land-holding peasants, or trade workers.