The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte begins with one of Marx’s most famous statements: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce” (10). How is this quote relevant to Marx’s key ideas in the essay?

Choose an example of how Marx uses the theory of base and superstructure in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Explain how it is an example of base and superstructure. Based on this example, do you find the idea of base and superstructure a useful way of looking at history? Why or why not?

Marx argues that the bourgeoisie had to relinquish their political power in order to maintain their social power. How does Marx depict the nature of each type of power? Why does he suggest that there are sometimes tensions between the two types? In what ways, if any, can political and social power be reconciled?

Marx discusses the differences between a bourgeois and a proletarian revolution (13-14), arguing that the February Revolution soon became a bourgeois revolution. What are the differences between a bourgeois and a proletarian revolution, according to Marx? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Marx’s analysis of this event?

Throughout The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx describes the Second Republic as a government dominated by the upper bourgeoisie, particularly bankers and large landowners. How do the economic and class interests of each group influence the government? What does Marx’s analysis reveal of his theories about the relationship between economics and politics more generally?

Marx criticizes the failings of the parliamentary forces under the Second Republic. How does Marx depict the nature and workings of parliamentary democracy? What does his analysis reveal about his views on freedom, equality, and/or civic participation?

How does Marx conceive of individual agency and the pull of wider historical forces? To what extent does Napoleon III have agency? In what ways, if any, is his agency curtailed?

Marx suggests in Chapter 7 that Napoleon III’s government is inevitably doomed. How does Marx indicate this? How do his predictions fit in with his views of history?