Central to Marxist theory is an explanation of social change in terms of economic factors, according to which the means of production provide the economic base, which influences or determines the political and ideological superstructure. Marx and Engels predicted the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat and the eventual attainment of a classless communist society.Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and socialist revolutionary. Marx addressed a wide range of issues, including alienation and exploitation of the worker, the capitalist mode of production and historical materialism, although he is most famous for his analysis of history in terms of class struggles, summed up in the opening line of the introduction to the Communist Manifesto: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." The influence of his ideas, already popular during his life, was given added impetus by the victory of the Russian Bolsheviks in the 1917 October Revolution, and there are few parts of the world which were not significantly touched by Marxian ideas in the course of the twentieth century.mod 1 |m0d| adjective informal modern.
noun Brit.
(esp. in the early 1960s)
a young person of a subculture characterized by stylish dress, the riding of motor scooters, and a liking for soul music.The mod subculture began with a few cliques of teenage boys with family connections to the garment trade in London in 1958. These early mods were generally middle class, and were obsessed with new fashions and music styles, such as slim-cut Italian suits, modern jazz and rhythm and blues. Their all-night urban social life was fueled, in part, by amphetamines. It is a popular belief that the mods and their rivals, the rockers, both branched off from the Teddy boys, a 1950s subculture in England. The Teddy boys were influenced by American rock n' roll, wore Edwardian-style clothing, and got pompadour or quiff hairstyles.As the lifestyle developed and was adopted by English teenagers of all economic strata, mods expanded their musical tastes beyond jazz and R&B, to also embrace soul (particularly Motown), Jamaican ska and bluebeat. They also developed a distinct brand of British beat music and R&B, exemplified by bands such as the Small Faces, The Who and The Yardbirds. Lesser-known British bands associated with the mod scene include The Action, The Creation, and John's Children.Mods would gather at all-night clubs such as the Twisted Wheel Club to show off their clothes and dance moves. They would typically use scooters as their mode of transportation, typically either Lambretta or Vespa. One reason for this is that public transit stopped relatively early, and scooters were cheaper than cars. After a law was passed requiring at least one mirror be attached to every motorbike, Mods added 4, 10, 32 mirrors to their scooters as a mockery of the new law.A youth subculture known as rockers (associated with motorcycles and leather biker jackets) sometimes clashed with the mods, leading to battles in seaside resorts such as Brighton, Margate, and Hastings in 1964. The mods and rockers conflict led to a moral panic about modern youth in Britain.
