The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the social composition of the mechanical devices portrayed in E. M. Forster’s novel The Machine Stops and of Franz Kafka’s In der Strafkolonie and how...Show moreThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate the social composition of the mechanical devices portrayed in E. M. Forster’s novel The Machine Stops and of Franz Kafka’s In der Strafkolonie and how this can be effectively used in order to interpret their imminent implosion within the stories. Beyond providing allegorical expressions for the destruction of Forster’s and Kafka’s machines, I will confront these devices with scholarly literature that highlight the social aspect of the machinic concept and, simultaneously, propose its transcendental dimension that exceeds its material structure and expands within social fields. Thus, the machines within Forster’s and Kafka’s stories are not merely operational structures or tools, but social entities with affective propositions.Show less
In this thesis, I demonstrate the influence of the events of the Paris Commune on the ideological and personal conflict between Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin within the First International. In...Show moreIn this thesis, I demonstrate the influence of the events of the Paris Commune on the ideological and personal conflict between Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin within the First International. In their writings, both Marx and Bakunin depicted the Commune as a historical phenomenon that confirmed their own ideas about socialist revolution. To Marx, the Commune figured as an example of a strong, central workers’ government. To Bakunin, the Parisians’ insurrection was initially an anarchist revolution, until Jacobins took over control and tried to organize Paris politically, thereby denying its anarchist origins. These conflicting interpretations of the Commune intensified the ideological and personal rivalry between the Marxist and Bakuninist factions inside the First International. Marx and the General Council increasingly acted authoritarian while the Bakuninists openly defied their legitimacy. In this strife, both factions claimed the Paris Commune on their side. Finally, at the congress in The Hague in September 1872, the Marxists enforced their doctrines of political action and enhanced powers of the General Council, and overcame the Bakuninist minority by expelling its spiritual leaders, including Bakunin.Show less
