Analysis of Karl Marx's Quotation, 'Men Make History but Under Conditions Inherited From the Past'

"We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange." (Marx, 424). In this sense, the bourgeoisie have the ability to change since they themselves are products of revolutions. In other terms, the bourgeoisie are an always changing class that has found ways to stay in power through political hegemony over the proletariat class. Marx conjures the proper preconditions for a successful rebellion but again contradicts himself through his own ideologies. Although Marx believes that capitalism will be responsible for the proletariat rebellion it is the same system that will estrange man from each other and thus prevent a successful revolt.

Karl Marx is most well kown for writing the Communist Manifesto which became known as one the “world’s most influential political

In 1848, Marx, a German philosopher, wrote a supposedly scientific account of his perspective on history entitled The Communist Manifesto. As a materialist philosopher, he believed that economics was at the heart of history. He examined the tools and technology being used to understand the material substructure of how people were fed and clothed.

Karl Marx is one of the most influential and revolutionary philosopher, economist and sociologist of the 19th century. His thoughts not only shaped our understandings of the capitalistic world but also created a new system of social organization, communism. His ideology also defined the key political figures of the cold war period such as Stalin, Mao and Castro. Without Marx, the modern history would have been completely different. Despite his rather bourgeoisie family background, he was able to closely observe the struggle of proletariat and identified the injustices in the capitalist system.

Marx proves that even when societies have fought for something like freedom, it does not always last. The bourgeois brought in capitalism, which brought freedom, but it brought freedom to the bourgeois and left the other classes behind with very little or nothing. This shows that economics have a massive hold on where the power in societies

First, even a quick glimpse at Marx’s writings is revelatory as to his conception of a fully realized human. At the core of Marx’s ideology, as the initial quote correctly discerns, is the idea that class struggle is at the core of all harm done to “the community” and the “welfare of all.” Indeed, he writes quite plainly in his and Frederick Engels’ most famous work, 1848’s The Communist Manifesto, that “every form of society has been based, as we have already seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes” (76) and that this oppressing class, the bourgeoisie, is “no longer compatible with society” (76). This idea lends itself to believing that the most important form of liberty is freedom from class; that once the existing class system is to fall, that all will have a more fully realized and more “human” life. To Marx, life without the weight of pressing class struggle is the highest life to which an individual can aspire.

Karl Marx was a communist researcher and coordinator, a key character in the historical locale of economic and hypothetical idea, and an awesome societal prophet. But it is as a sociological theorist that he commands our interest. Society, according to Marx, involved a moving equalization of contradictory powers that create social change by their strain and battle. Marx's vision depended on a transformative purpose of flight. For him, battle instead of quiet development was the motor of advance; strife was the father of all things, and social conflict the principal of historic process. This reasoning was in opposition with the greater part of the teachings of his eighteenth century antecedents, however tweaked in to much nineteenth century thought. To Marx the propelling power in history was the way in which men classify each other in their consistent battle to seize their work from nature. "The first historical act is . . . the production of material life itself. This is indeed a historical act, a fundamental condition of all history" (Bancroft and Rogers, 2010). A communist state would have the laborers possess the methods for generation and all would share the benefits similarly. The laborers would be working for themselves, not for the advantage of the business people. All types of government would gradually vanish, as the laborers comprehended the advantage of working for the benefit of each other. When this model situation happened, his optimal society that he called

Karl Marx drew from the philosophies of the great thinkers of his time to perfect his ideal communist system. He was born into a time when ideas of the Enlightenment were widespread. He read the works of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and the Comte de Saint-Simon (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). However, he was especially influenced by G.W.F. Hegel, the most prominent philosopher in Germany in the early 1800s (Microsoft Encarta). Hegel believed that ideas evolve through a continual process of contradiction and resolution and that human history is driven by this evolution. Consequently, Marx developed the belief that history evolves through a series of conflicts in a predictable, unavoidable

Marx believes that under capitalism the human beings ability to plan production to match the developing and ever changing needs of society is reversed into a drive for profits.

Karl Marx was the co-author of The Communist Manifesto, along with Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto is a pamphlet that was written to let the public know how the working class was being treated, and to try to get rid of the class system that existed at the time. Marx believed that many of the workers throughout England were not being treated fairly and that something needed to be done about it. Marx explains, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” 1 He continues on to talk about how while looking at human history you ought to not just look at great individuals or great conflicts, but instead look more at social classes and the struggles in which they go

Karl Marx is often called the father of communism, but his life entailed so much more. He was a political economist, philosopher, and idea revolutionist. He was a scholar that believed that capitalism was going to undercut itself as he stated in the Communist Manifesto. While he was relatively ambiguous in his lifetime, his works had tremendous influence after his death. Some of the world’s most powerful and most populace countries follow his ideas to this day. Many of history’s most eventful times were persuaded by his thoughts. Karl Marx was one of the most influential persons in the history of the world, and a brief history of his life will show how he was able to attain many of his attitudes.

That being said, Marx again is a dialectical thinker so believing only in constant change alone is one-sided in his perspective. Another quote raised by the instructor is the "unity of opposites." Essentially, this quote ties in with the dialectical method and suggests that although social change is inevitable in the eyes of Marx, it is at the same time not the only thing happening. Rather, Marx is hinting that there is an underlying theme that constantly remains the same. Simply put, this is the conflict between the capitalist and the worker, leading to the next issue to be covered in this paper.

This crucial opening to The Communist Manifesto holds the key to understanding Karl Marx's conception of history. Marx outlines history as a two dimensional, "linear" chain of events. A constant progression of class divisions being created and overthrown, one after the other, until the result is the utopian endpoint, otherwise known as communism.

Marxism regards the social, political, and economic theory that regards history evolving. Marx claimed to have discovered a “progressive pattern controlling human evolution'', which would eventually have society reach a point in the future where it would be a communist classless society. Marx said that people would no longer be oppressed, and the oppression of society would disappear when humans had reached the final stage of human evolution. Since Marx believed that ''law was an instrument of class domination'' he recognised that if society was ''classless'', the laws as a whole would have to be abolished. He thought that law stemed from class conflicts and the laws would have to be abolished to fully reach it's full potential as a classless communist society. (Augusto Zimmermann, 2009).

Karl Marx was a professional intellectual and philosopher. Throughout Marx's life, chance meetings with other professional intellectuals and philosophers helped guide Marx to his final destination. Although Marx died in March of 1883, some 122 years ago, his theories are still being studied, and in some cases, used in some governments. In his lifetime Marx explored many different social settings and groups. His final accumulation of work can be found in his Communist Manifesto, which he co-authored with Fredrick Engels. Although very meager at times, Marx lived an extraordinary life.