Karl Marx Multiple Choice Questions
1. Marx Differentiates two empirical conditions of a class: a class in itself and a class for itself. What does Marx mean by the latter?
A. This describes a class whose members cannot remember which
B. This describes a class whose members have realized they are
C. This describes a class whose members have no potential for
D. None of these
Answer: B. This describes a class whose members have realized they are
2. In 1848 Marx wrote in ”The Communist Manifesto” that there was a specter haunting Europe. What was this specter?
A. Communication
B. Hegelian thought
C. Religion
D. None of these
Answer: A. Communication
3. What is proletarianization?
A. The process whereby anybody who claims to be somebody today (especially celebrities) uses a sense of ‘inverted snobbery’ to proclaim their origins in the working class.
B. A process by which capitalist society impoverishes all (including the middle classes) but the capitalist class
C. A process by which capitalist society increases the wealth and quality of life of the working classes
D. None of these
Answer: B. A process by which capitalist society impoverishes all (including the middle classes) but the capitalist class
4. In their list of pre-capitalist modes of production, Marx & Engels suggested that there was a significant difference between the (first) so-called primitive mode and all the others. What was it that was different about this primitive mode?
A. We all carried clubs
B. People were sexually rampant
C. There were no classes
D. None of these
Answer: C. There were no classes
5. Marx once said that capitalist society would generate in individuals a ‘fetishism’ about:
A. Science
B. Commodities
C. Sex
D. None of these
Answer: B. Commodities
6. What is the name of Marx’s theory of human history?
A. Historical Materialism
B. Hypothetical Materialism
C. Historical Idealism
D. None of these
Answer: A. Historical Materialism
7. What is the title of Marx’s book which explains the workings of the capitalist economy?
A. Communist Manifesto
B. Private Property for Beginners
C. Capital Ideas
D. Capital
Answer: D. Capital
8. Why did Marx use a dialectical approach in his approach to the study of social relations?
A. The dialectic allows one to analyze social phenomena as parts of a social process
B. The dialectic provides one with an important insight into people’s speech patterns
C. The dialectic allows one to perceive society as thing-like, sui-generis
D. None of these
Answer: A. The dialectic allows one to analyze social phenomena as parts of a social process
9. Why did Marx reject the particular use made of the dialectic by the German philosopher George Hegel?
A. As a student of Hegel, Marx took a personal dislike to his teacher
B. Marx suggested that Hegel’s particular use of dialectic was an idealist. Marx sought to establish dialectical materialism.
C. Marx suggested that Hegel’s particular use of the dialectic was written in inaccessible prose
D. None of these
Answer: B. Marx suggested that Hegel’s particular use of the dialectic was an idealist. Marx sought to establish dialectical materialism.
10. Who said, “Everything that’s solid will melt into the air”?
A. Frederich Engels
B. Karl Marx
C. William Shakespeare
D. None of these
Answer: C. William Shakespeare
11. Karl Marx was a:
A. Philosopher
B. Actor
C. Director
D. Producer
Answer: A. Philosopher
12. Karl Marx was born in:
A. 1817
B. 1818
C. 1819
D. 1820
Answer: B. 1818
13. Karl Marx died in:
A. 1881
B. 1882
C. 1883
D. 1884
Answer: C. 1883
14. Karl Marx was also a:
A. Political economist
B. Humanist
C. Revolutionary
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
15. The birth name of Karl Marx was:
A. Heinrich Karl Marx
B. Karl Heinrich Marx
C. Karl Marx Heinrich
D. Karl Marx
Answer: B. Karl Heinrich Marx
16. The birth location of Karl Marx was:
A. Nevada
B. Prussia
C. Texas
D. Nrussia
Answer: B. Prussia
17. Karl Marx died in:
A. Paris
B. Switzerland
C. London
D. Australia
Answer: B. London
18. Karl Marx’s main interests include:
A. Politics
B. Economics
C. Class struggle
D. All of the above
Answer: B. All of the above
19. The amount of labor put into a commodity is a measure of its:
A. Use-value
B. Value
C. Quantity-value
D. Exploitation-value
Answer: B. Quantity-value
20. Why does Marx say that capitalists have more power than workers in the capitalist mode of production?
A. The capitalists control the means of production.
B. The structures of society favor the capitalists.
C. Workers are only selling labor in the abstract.
D. All of the above.
Answer: D. All of the above.
21. What does Marx say is the effect of the division of labor on the worker?
A. Loss of imagination and character
B. Increased ambition
C. More leisure time
D. Fairer working conditions
Answer: A. Loss of imagination and character
22. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Something can be a use-value without being a value, but it cannot be a value without being a use-value.
B. Something can be a value without being a use-value, but it cannot be a use-value without being a value.
C. Something can be a value without being a use-value, and it can be a use-value without being a value.
D. Something cannot be a value without being a use-value, nor can it be a use-value without being a value.
Answer: A. Something can be a use-value without being a value, but it cannot be a value without being a use-value.
23. Which of the following models reflects circulation in the modem capitalist system?
A. C-M-C
B. C-C-C
C. M-C-M
D. M-C-C
Answer: C. M-C-M
24. What is the value of labor power?
A. The joy it brings to the individual.
B. The amount of labor required to provide subsistence for the worker.
C. The value of the commodities the worker produces.
D. The amount of utility each laborer adds to society.
Answer: B. The amount of labor required to provide subsistence for the worker.
25. According to Marx, what is one of the simple elements of the labor process?
A. The work itself.
B. The object
C. The instruments of the work
D. All of the above.
Answer: D. All of the above.
26. According to Marx, what resolves the tension between workers and capitalists?
A. Force
B. Compromise
C. Divine intervention
D. All of the above
Answer: A Force
27. During which century was ”Das Kapital” published?
A. 19th century
B. 18th century
C. 17th century
D. 20th century
Answer: A. 19th century
28. Who published the last two volumes of “Das Kapital after Marx’s death?
A. Vladimir Lenin
B. Friedrich Engels
C. Joseph Stalin
D. John Stuart Mill
Answer: B. Friedrich Engels
29. Which of the following is a component of the “means of production”?
A. Methods of working (skills, forms of cooperation, division of labor, etc.).
B. Applied knowledge (science, etc.).
C. The instruments of production (tools, machines, etc.).
D. All of the above
Answer: D All of the above
30. The “mode of production” consists of each of the following EXCEPT:
A. Inevitable domination by capitalists.
B. The relations of production.
C. The means of production.
D. None of the above.
Answer: A Inevitable domination by capitalists.
31. Whose interests does the modern state serve?
A. The workers’ interests.
B. The Church’s interests.
C. The aristocracy’s interests.
D. The capitalists’ interests.
Answer: D The capitalists’ interests.
32. What country did Marx study in preparation for Kapital?
A. Germany
B. the United States
C. England
D. France
Answer: C. England
33. In modern society, who owns the means of production?
A. The Military
B. The Church
C. The Capitalists
D. The workers
Answer: C The Capitalists
34. What kind of value does a forest have?
A. Value
B. Use-value
C. Exchange-value
D. All of the Above
Answer: B. Use-value
35. Where was Marx from?
A. Germany
B. The United States
C. England
D. France
Answer: A Germany
36. What common element do commodities with an exchange relation have?
A. Demand curve
B. Labor input
C. Social utility
D. Personal usefulness.
Answer: B. Labor input
37. What does Marx mean by surplus value?
A. The component of a commodity’s value that exceeds the value of its inputs
B. The value of tax-exempt commodities.
C. The wages a worker receives in a capitalist economy.
D. The social utility that comes from consuming the commodity.
Answer: A. The component of a commodity’s value that exceeds the value of its inputs
38. In the C-M-C circulation, what Is the function of money?
A. A means of exploiting workers.
B. A constantly increasing end in itself.
C. A medium of exchange.
D. All of the above.
Answer: C. A medium of exchange.
39. Which of the following thinkers had the greatest impact on Marx?
A. Hegel
B. Burke
C. Aristotle
D. Rawls
Answer: A Hegel
40. Which of the following is NOT a trait of the C-M-C circulation?
A. The final product is a use value.
B. There is no reflux of money.
C. It has both a C-M and an M-C component.
D. The final product is an exchange-value
Answer: D. The final product is an exchange-value
41. What role did manufacturing play in the development of Capitalism?
A. It hindered its development.
B. It came about once capitalism had developed and, therefore, had
C. It encouraged its development.
D. None of the above.
Answer: C. It encouraged its development.
42. What must a worker’s wage be in order for him to be paid at value?
A. It must equal the value of the commodities the worker produces through his labor.
B. It must equal the amount of money necessary for him to remain a functional worker.
C. It must equal the social value of the coll1Inodity the worker is producing
D. It must equal whatever the worker and capitalist agree to in a free and equal exchange.
Answer: B. It must equal the amount of money necessary for him to remain a functional worker.
43. Which writer had concerns similar to Marx’s about the impact of the division of labor on the human character?
A. Aristotle
B. G.W.F Hegel
C. Edmund Burke
D. Adam Smith
Answer: D. Adam Smith
44. According to Marx, the history of all society up to his time is the history of:
A. Darwinian natural selection
B. Class struggles
C. The intellectual elite
D. General harmony punctuated by barbaric invasions
Answer: B. Class struggles
45. According to Marx, what is one difference between modern bourgeois society and societies of the past?
A. Modern society has class conflicts, while in the past different classes lived in harmony
B. Gradations of the class is more complicated in modern society than in the past
C. In modern society class antagonisms have been simplified into a struggle between two main rival groups
D. There is no substantial difference
Answer: B. Karl Heinrich Marx
46. Whl.ch of the following traits is characteristic of modern bourgeois society?
A. Exploitative class relationships are no longer hidden
B. Exploitative class relationships are hidden by religious illusions
C. Exploitative class relationships have been eliminated
D. None of the above
Answer: A. Exploitative class relationships are no longer hidden
47. The mistake made by ”Reactionary Socialism” is that it:
A. Reacted against the historical development of the bourgeoisie without understanding its context in the broader march of history
B. Supported the bourgeoisie’s developing power
C. Represented the interests of the working class, instead of the ruling class
D. All of the above
Answer: A. Reacted against the historical development of the bourgeoisie without understanding its context in the broader march of history
48. Conservative Socialism redresses social grievances by mitigating the suffering of the proletariat, with the unstated goal of:
A. Aiding the proletariat in its violate uprisings
B. Eliminating modern bourgeois society without a violent revolution
C. Restoring the feudal social system
D. Securing the continued existence of bourgeois society
Answer: D. Securing the continued existence of bourgeois society
49. Is it possible, according to Marx, for the Communist’s aims to be achieved without the use of force?
A. Yes, their aims can be achieved without force if the state makes worker-friendly reforms
B. Yes, their aims can be achieved without force if enough people join Utopian Socialist communities
C. Yes, their aims can be achieved without force if workers receive equal political representation in government
D. No, their aims can only be achieved with force
Answer: D. No, their aims can only be achieved with force
50. Which of the following thinkers had the most major intellectual influence on Marx?
A. John Stuart Mill
B. Aristotle
C. G.W.F. Hegel
D. Vladimir Lenin
Answer: C. G.W.F. Hegel
51. Which of the folio wing goals is the immediate aim of the Communists?
A. The unification r f the proletariat into a ruling class
B. The overthrow of the bourge01s supremacy
C. The conquest of political power by the proletariat
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
52. Which of the following is presented as a common objection to the Communist agenda?
A. No one will work if private property 1s abolished
B. The family will be destroyed
C. Communism violates property rights
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
53. During which century was the Communist Manifesto published?
A. The 19th century
B. The 17th century
C. The 20th century
D. The 18th century
Answer: A. The 19th century
54. Who wrote the Communist Manifesto with Marx?
A. Vladimir Lenin
B. Friedrich Engels
C. Joseph Stalin
D. John Stuart Mill
Answer: B. Friedrich Engels
55. What is the FIRST step in the working class revolution?
A. The raising of the proletariat to the status of the ruling class
B. The eliminating all conceptions of class
C. The creation of a permanent dictatorship of the proletariat.
D. None of the above
Answer: A. The raising of the proletariat to the status of the ruling class
56. Which of the following is NOT suggested as a likely development during the early stages of the proletariat revolution?
A. The abolition of all inheritance rights
B. State centralization of communication and transportation
C. The establishment of free education for children
D. An increase in the distinction between town and country
Answer: D. An increase in the distinction between town and country
57. What sort of political parties do the Communists say they will work with?
A. Those parties that will forward the ends of Communism
B. Any party that opposes the bourgeoisie
C. Those parties that promote worker-friendly reforms
D. All of the above
Answer: A. Those parties that will forward the ends of Communism
58. Which of the following is NOT a trait of the proletariat?
A. They are a class of modem wage-laborers
B. They do not have their own means of production
C. They are a small minority of the population
D. They must sell their own labor in order to survive
Answer: C. They are a small minority of the population
59. Which of the following is a component of the “means of production”?
A. The instruments of production (tools, machines, etc.)
B. Methods of working (skills, forms of cooperation, division of labor, etc.)
C. Applied knowledge (science, etc.)
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
60. What is the primary source of changes in man’s ideas?
A. Natural selection
B. Man’s material conditions
C. Progress towards reason
D. None of the above
Answer: B. Man’s material conditions
61. What system did modern industrial society replace?
A. Feudalism
B. Capitalism
C. Utopianism
D. None of the above
Answer: A. Feudalism
62. What does the proletariat stand to lose in their revolution?
A. Their property
B. Their class dominance
C. Control of their labor
D. Nothing
Answer: D. Nothing
63. The “mode of production” consists of each of the following EXCEPT:
A. The means of production
B. The relations of production
C. Inevitable class antagonism
D. None of the above
Answer: C. Inevitable class antagonism
64. Which of the following is a true statement about the struggles that dominate history?
A. They reflect class antagonism
B. They are sometimes visible but sometimes hidden
C. They either end in the reconstruction of society or total ruin
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
65. Whose interests does the modern state serve?
A. The proletariat’s interests
B. The aristocracy’s interests
C. The bourgeoisie’s interests
D. The Church’s interests
Answer: C. The bourgeoisie’s interests
66. In modern society, who owns the means of production?
A. The bourgeoisie
B. The proletariat
C. The military
D. The state
Answer: A. The bourgeoisie
67. Who will own property after the workers’ revolution is over?
A. The proletariat
B. The bourgeoisie
C. The nobles
D. It will be owned communally
Answer: D. It will be owned communally
68. Which of the following characteristics does NOT describe the bourgeoisie?
A. They are the employers of wage-laborers
B. They are the owners of the means of production
C. They are the class of modem Capitalists
D. They were the ruling class in the feudal period
Answer: D. They were the ruling class in the feudal period
69. This history of all societies is the history of struggles between what?
A. Religions
B. Countries
C. Classes
D. Races
Answer: C. Classes
70. According to Marx, the class struggle in his day was primarily between what two classes?
A. Bourgeoisie and aristocracy
B. Bourgeoisie and proletariat
C. Aristocracy and proletariat
D. Proletariat and the clergy
Answer: B. Bourgeoisie and proletariat
71. The modern state is committed to managing the affairs of what class?
A. Aristocracy
B. Proletariat
C. Clergy
D. Bourgeoisie
Answer: D. Bourgeoisie
72. What socioeconomic system proceeded bourgeois capitalism?
A. Anarchism
B. Feudalism
C. Socialism
D. Communism
Answer: B. Feudalism
73. The bourgeoisie are committed to what kind of trade policy?
A. Free trade between all nations
B. Free trade between politically allied nations
C. Free trade only within national boundaries
D. Free trade only between members of the same social class
Answer: A. Free trade between all nations
74. Capitalism necessarily suffers from crises of what?
A. Labor shortages
B. Overproduction
C. Underproduction
D. Trade embargoes from other countries
Answer: B. Overproduction
75. What new class has capitalism brought into existence?
A. Aristocracy
B. Proletariat
C. Bourgeoisie
D. Warriors
Answer: C. Bourgeoisie
76. The development of the bourgeoisie does what to the development of the proletariat?
A. Regresses it
B. Does not affect it
C. Advances it
D. Stops it
Answer: C. Advances it
77. The use of division of labor and machinery has done what to the industrial worker?
A. Enhanced his working experience
B. It has no effect
C. Decreased the demand for industrial workers
D. Removed the individual character and charm from his working experience
Answer: D. Removed the individual character and charm from his working experience
78. As capitalism develops, what happens to the vast majority of the lower middle classes who are neither bourgeois nor proletariat?
A. They become capitalist
B. They maintain their separate existence
C. They become proletariat
D. They migrate to other countries
Answer: C. They become proletariat
79. Of all the classes in conflict with the bourgeoisie, which is the truly revolutionary class, capable of advancing the progress of society?
A. Aristocracy
B. Proletariat
C. Clergy
D. Lower middle-class artisans and shop-owners
Answer: B. Proletariat
80. Why does the bourgeoisie no longer deserve to rule society?
A. It does not allow for the creation of genius
B. Its rule is not consented to by all people
C. It defies God
D. It cannot assure a continued existence of the proletariat
Answer: D. It cannot assure a continued existence of the proletariat
81. The essential condition for the existence of the bourgeoisie is the creation and augmentation of:
A. Manufactured goods
B. Technological innovation
C. Capital
D. Art
Answer: C. Capital
82. The proletariat revolution against the bourgeoisie will have what probability of success?
A. Low but not impossible
B. High but not certain
C. Certain
D. Impossible
Answer: C. Certain
83. What is the relationship between communism and the proletariat?
A. Communists represent the interests of the entire proletariat
B. Communists are indifferent to the plight of the proletariat
C. Communists only represent the interests of the proletariat in their country
D. Communists aid the bourgeoisie in exploiting the proletariat
Answer: A. Communists represent the interests of the entire proletariat
84. The immediate aim of communism is what?
A. Conquest of political power by the proletariat
B. Formation of the proletariat into a class
C. Overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
85. The theory of Communism can be best summed up in what single sentence?
A. Might make right
B. Every person has an inviolable right to life
C. The greatest happiness for the greatest number
D. Abolition of private property
Answer: D. Abolition of private property
86. What is Marx’s definition of the minimum wage?
A. The lowest wage at w;1ich the government will allow someone to work
B. The lowest wage for which a person will work
C. The lowest wage required to keep someone above the poverty line
D. The lowest wage necessary to keep a worker alive
Answer: D. The lowest wage necessary to keep a worker alive
87. The necessary condition for the existence of the bourgeois property, i.e., capital, is what?
A. Equal distribution of property among members of society
B. Meritocratic allocation of property
C. Unequal distribution of property favoring the bourgeoisie
D. Unequal distribution of property favoring the working classes
Answer: C. Unequal distribution of property favoring the bourgeoisie
88. Bourgeois culture does what for the vast majority of people?
A. Fulfils their desire for knowledge
B. Threatens the survival of their immortal soul
C. Prepares them for a life as a machine in the industry
D. Enables them to determine their own destiny
Answer: C. Prepares them for a life as a machine in the industry
89. Bourgeois culture can be best described as a reflection of what?
A. Common consensus on the best way to live
B. The conscious bourgeois desire to oppress the masses
C. Capitalism
D. Rational appreciation of true values
Answer: C. Capitalism
90. What aspect(s) of bourgeois society do communists wish to undermine?
A. Family organization
B. Jurisprudence
C. Religion
D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
91. The bourgeois family is founded primarily on what?
A. Love for all its members
B. The authority of the patriarch
C. Private gain on the part of the capitalist
D. Respect for Nature
Answer: C. Private gain on the part of the capitalist
92. According to Marx, how will public education in a communist society differ from public education in a capitalist society?
A. Communism will use introduce society into education while capitalism does not
B. Communism will not tolerate dissent in education while bourgeois culture does
C. Communism will use education to rescue society from bourgeois culture while capitalism uses education to ensure the survival of bourgeois culture
D. Communism will teach practical skills while capitalism does not
Answer: C. Communism will use education to rescue society from bourgeois culture while capitalism uses education to ensure the survival of bourgeois culture
93. What effect will communism within nations have on the relations between nations?
A. It will have no effect on international relations
B. It will leave communist nations prone to attacks from bourgeois nations
C. It will heighten international antagonism
D. It will weaken international antagonism
Answer: D. It will weaken international antagonism