What is the Marxist interpretation of the English Civil War?

Answer 1

marxism as a theory didn't exist at the time of the civil war, it wasn't concieved by Karl Marx until the 19th century. However, he would probably have taken the side of the parliamentarians or roundheads as they fought for the people and it was taking power away from a single autocratic ruler. According to marxism, the next step towards a comunist state would have been for the parliamentarians to crush all opposition (Which pretty much happened) then to return to their previous places and let the country govern itself (This was never likely to happen)

Answerthe previous answer misses the point. Of course MARX was a 19 cent person but there is a marxist view of the English civil war. Read some works by CP Hill and others. It is not really my thing but in any situation classic marxist can see a progressive and a non progressive side,and the rebels were of course the progressive side. AnswerPut simply, Marxists see the English Civil War as a most important stage in the class struggle of the middle classes against the aristocracy. AnswerThe previous two contributors made headway into the true Marxist explanation of the so-dubbed "English Revolution," using the concept of economic determinism one can go further. The English Civil War was an all-too-necessary transition from the feudal mode of production to the capitalist: a minority, bourgeois revolution. It possessed social divisions between the ruling class, which consisted of the outmoded Stuart Monarchy, the nobility and the established Anglican Church, and the emerging middle class of merchants, gentry and Puritans. (Though revisionists have shown that a good number of Royalists rose from the middle class.) The prevailing and radical Calvinist sentiment, outlined later by German sociologist Max Weber as the Protestant Ethic, contributed to a heightened sense of vocation, labor and signs of salvation in the form of wealth. E.g., the foundations of the modern capitalist system. The lower classes were represented by the Levelers and Diggers, whose demands can be likened to the Sans Culottes of the French Revolution, but made little in the way of inroads. The result of the three wars was an elimination of the old institutions of the monarchy and state church, the establishment of an independent church and an ostensibly limited government based on individual rights. The latter meant few opponents to the ascendancy of the bourgeoisie in political and economic power. Of course things did not go as smoothly as the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell gave way to the military Dictatorship of the Protectorate, which fell apart with Cromwell's death and the Restoration of the Stuarts under Charles II in 1660. This reestablished order would again be torn asunder in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which instituted the modern Parliament and the Bill of Rights.