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Karl Marx, Adam Smith, And Andrew Carnegie

Better Essays

Catherine Lundy
Kurt Weber
Section #62
20th Cent. World History
Fall 2015
Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Andrew Carnegie The writings of Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Andrew Carnegie all made significant impacts in society not only in their time, but continuing to this day. Marx shared is opinions on capitalism and his views of the progression of human society in his writing, The Communist Manifesto which he wrote with Friedrich Engles and published in 1848. Marx believed in the idea of a society with no capitalism and the abolition of the bourgeoisie. Adam Smith wrote a book called The Wealth of Nations which was published in 1776. In his book he tells the reader what helps to build the economy of a nation and essentially advocates for capitalism. Andrew Carnegie was a self-made multimillionaire who gained his wealth by investing in the railroads. In 1889 he wrote an article titled The Gospel of Wealth in which he discusses the duty of the upper class to distribute their surplus wealth to those in need. All three of these men were influential in their works and ways of life, but all three had extremely different opinions on capitalism. Karl Marx’s viewed capitalism as something that was negative for our society, but that would eventually become a positive. Because of capitalism, the bourgeoisie (upper and middle class) would often oppress the proletarians (working class). In The Communist Manifesto he discusses how capitalism is part of the transition to communism. Marx

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