Marx in 1875
Karl Heinrich Marx, (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a Prussian-German
philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary
socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the establishment of the social
sciences and the development of the socialist movement. He is also considered
one of the greatest economists in history. He published numerous books during
his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital
(1867–1894). He worked closely with his friend and fellow revolutionary
socialist, Friedrich Engels.
Born into a wealthy middle-class
family in Trier in the Prussian Rhineland, Marx studied at the University of
Bonn and the University of Berlin, where he became interested in the
philosophical ideas of the Young Hegelians. In 1836 he became engaged to Jenny
von Westphalen, whom he married in 1843. After his studies, he wrote for a
radical newspaper in Cologne, and began to work out his theory of dialectical
materialism. After moving to Paris in 1843, he began writing for other radical
newspapers. He met Engels in Paris, and the two men worked together on a series
of books. Exiled to Brussels, he became a leading figure of the Communist
League, before moving back to Cologne and founding his own newspaper. In 1849
he was exiled again and moved to London together with his wife and children. In
London, where the family was reduced to poverty, Marx continued writing and
formulating his theories about the nature of society and how he believed it
could be improved, and also campaigned for socialism—he became a significant
figure in the International Workingmen's Association.
Marx's theories about society,
economics and politics—collectively known as Marxism—hold that all societies
progress through the dialectic of class struggle: a conflict between an
ownership class which controls production and a lower class which produces the
labour for goods. Heavily critical of the current socio-economic form of
society, capitalism, he called it the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie",
believing it to be run by the wealthy classes purely for their own benefit; and
he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism would
inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction
and replacement by a new system: socialism. He argued that under socialism
society would be governed by the working class in what he called the "dictatorship
of the proletariat", the "workers' state" or "workers'
democracy". He believed that socialism would, in its turn, eventually be
replaced by a stateless, classless society called communism. Along with
believing in the inevitability of socialism and communism, Marx actively fought
for the former's implementation, arguing that social theorists and
underprivileged people alike should carry out organised revolutionary action to
topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic change.
Revolutionary socialist
governments espousing Marxist concepts took power in a variety of countries in
the 20th century, leading to the formation of such socialist states as the Soviet
Union in 1922 and the People's Republic of China in 1949. Many labour unions
and workers' parties worldwide were also influenced by Marxist ideas, while
various theoretical variants, such as Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, and Maoism,
were developed from them. Marx is typically cited, with Émile Durkheim and Max
Weber, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science. Marx
has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history. |
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