Karl Marx Historical Events

Karl Marx was born in Prussia on May of 1818 to a middle class Jewish family. As an adult, Marx attended school in Berlin where he discovered the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. Hegel’s main concept was the idea of dialect, which can be explained as the process of logical argumentation and refutation. Marx was greatly influenced by Hegel, which is shown in Marx’s belief that history evolves through a series of predictable conflicts (A+E Television Networks, LLC. 2013). Marx also believed social divisions and civil unrest were due to the increase in industrialization and the widening gap between rich and poor.

Karl Marx is considered to be one of the most influential thinkers of our age. Born in Germany in 1818, he was greatly influenced by philosophers such as Hegel, Feuerbach & St. Simon. He made an immense contribution to the different areas of sociology- definition of the field of study, analysis of the economic structure and its relations with other parts of the social structure, theory of social classes, study of religion, theory of ideology, analysis of the capitalist system etc. In this essay, we will deal with his contribution to the study of social development or the materialist conception of history.

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’s primarily aims to explain how communism will free men, end the class struggle. The work argues that class struggles, and the exploitation of one class by another is the source of all inequality. Marx’s theories become one the motivating force behind all historical developments. The work strongly advocates the freedom of the proletariats which Marx’s claims can only be achieved when property and other goods cease to be privately owned. He see’s that private property has been a problem through out history, capital that aids the ruling class to maintain control. Marx argues that the lower class come together in a revolution and gain power and eventually take the power away from the upper class.

In this essay I will discuss three of the main ideas from Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto”. I have chosen to look at class struggles, the abolishment of private property and the idea that states look after the dominant classes in societies. I chose these as I found them to be the three main ideas that stood out to me most after reading the book. I have delved into each one and shown why I think they are the three main ideas. I found them to be very interesting ideas which Marx has communicated very well.

The Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) had brought about significant changes in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and technology and subsequently established an era of unprecedented economic growth in capitalist economies. It was within this era that Karl Marx had observed the deprivation and inequality experienced by men of the proletariat, the working class, who had laboured excessively for hours under inhumane conditions to earn a minimum wage while the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, reaped the benefits. For Marx it was this fundamental inequality within the social and economic hierarchy that had enabled capitalist societies to function. While Marx’s theories, in many instances have been falsified and predictions

Marx's ideas on labor value are very much alive for many organizations working for social change. In addition, it is apparent that the gap between the rich and poor is widening on a consistent basis. According to Marx, the course of human history takes a very specific form which is class struggle. The engine of change in history is class opposition. Historical epochs are defined by the relationship between different classes at different points in time. It is this model that Marx fleshes out in his account of feudalism's passing in favor of bourgeois capitalism and his prognostication of bourgeois capitalism's passing in favor of proletarian rule. These changes are not the reliant results of random social, economic, and political events; each follows the other in predictable succession. Marx responds to a lot of criticism from an imagined bourgeois interlocutor. He considers the charge that by wishing to abolish private property, the communist is destroying the "ground work of all personal freedom, activity, and independence". Marx responds by saying that wage labor does not properly create any property for the laborer. It only creates capital, a property which works only to augment the exploitation of the worker. This property, this capital, is based on class antagonism. Having linked private property to class hostility, Marx

The “Industrial Revolution” that started in the 1780’s in Great Britain had many effects, but they were not fully felt until the 1830’s or 1840’s. The works done by Karl Marx talks about how the classless system was not the ideal form of government in Europe. Karl Marx formed and developed the modern day popular form of “social justice” known as Marxism or socialism. Marx’s problem with the struggles of social justice and society during his time era were that he could not accept the form of politics such as the classless system at that time and on the rebound he introduced his idealism. Marx also unified the theory of social justice with the practical beliefs that human activity is key. Marx’s approach to social justice is based on human relations as free from exploitation,

Opening his book with one short sentence he is able to set the historical context of his argument, frame the perspective from which he views society, and engage the reader in reflective thought that will set the tone for this compelling critique of society. “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (9) Viewing society from the perspective of the classes - a class being a group of people who share a role within the economy - Marx argues that all of history can be boiled down into the classes struggle for power. This inherently antagonistic relationship is the basis from which Marx trains his analysis and commentary. “[In] our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie…society…is…splitting up into two hostile camps…bourgeoisie and proletariat” (9) A one sided relationship between the working class, or proletariat 's and the ruling class, the bourgeoisie. The loser of this relationship is the proletariat, “... A class of laborer, who live only so long as they find work, and who finds work so long as their labors increase capital.” (15) Marx claims the working class contends with ever increasing worsening conditions until an eventual and inevitable revolt against their masters, the bourgeoisie.

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the

Karl Marx, also a philosopher was popularly known for his theories that best explained society, its social structure, as well as the social relationships. Karl Marx placed so much emphasis on the economic structure and how it influenced the rest of the social structure from a materialistic point of view. Human societies progress through a dialectic of class struggle, this means that the three aspects that make up the dialectic come into play, which are the thesis, antithesis and the synthesis (Avineri, 1980: 66-69). As a result of these, Marx suggests that in order for change to come about, a class struggle has to first take place. That is, the struggle between the proletariat and the capitalist class, the class that controls

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.

Marx rejected Hegel’s dialectics based on a movement of human thought and ideas, and argued that dialectics involved contradictions based on an economic system, otherwise known as dialectical materialism. Therefore, the dynamic for change eventually created by a process of dialectics lies in the conflict between two opposing factors (Lee and Newby 2000, pp. 114 - 119).

As Marx's writings were so diverse and had such great variety, the circumstances under which these writings were written are extremely important to understand. The next few points are to

The writings of Karl Marx (1818-83), according to Mingst (1999), are fundamental to the Marxist school of thought, even though he did not directly state all the issues that are today encompassed by Marxism. The theory of Marx on the evolution of capitalism based on economic change and class conflict: the capitalism of nineteenth century