Karl Marx and Marxism

Who was Karl MarxA German Jew descended from a

long line of nobles

Regarded as the “Father of Scientific Socialism”

His work still have a profound impact on socialist thought

His Early CareerFounded a radical magazine in

Cologne, GermanyProsecuted for seditious writings

- acquittedContinued publishing – last issue

was printed in red ink (link with red being colour of communism)

The magazine was suppressed and Marx was “encouraged” to leave Germany

Moved to Paris – studied Machiavelli, Rousseau, Montesquieu and Hegel (well read)

Began to believe that economics ($$$, capital) was the driving force behind politics (really??) and the dialectic process. Marx called it “Dialectic Materialism”

Met Friedrich Engels the son of a German textile manufacturer in 1844◦Engels was a student studying the British

working classThe two became inseparable (maybe it was the beards)

Friedrich Engels

International Communist League

Marx headed up the International Communist League which promoted his ideas

To clarify the “Marxist Viewpoint” they wrote a 40 page pamphlet entitled The Communist Manifesto in 1848

The history of man is a history of socio-economic subjugation

Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat

“Haves” vs. “Have Nots”

Ruling Class vs. Subject Class

One group owns the Means of Production, the other group does all the Work!

The Manifesto was not embraced immediately

The Revolutions of 1848 , Marx is expelled from France

Impoverished, he worked for the New York Tribune, this employment ended with the civil war in 1865

In England he spent his time reading and writing in the British museum of National History, bankrolled by Engels $$$ (reading Darwin)

Das KapitalIn 1867 he completed Vol. 1 of

Das Kapital (Vol II, III would be completed by Engels)

Das Kapital was Marx’s masterpiece

Capitalism is the discrepancy between the value that labour produces and the amount that it gets back in wages

Marx the Man“Daddy Marx” to the neighborhood

kidsSea battles in the bathtub, set paper

boats on fire on the pond/fountainsHiking and lying on the grass reading

newspapersPoor health in general

◦Boils◦“to finish I must at least be able to sit

down. I hope the bourgeoisie will remember my carbuncles”

For the workers – but never did a days physical labour

A revolutionary – never manned a barricade

He provided logical proof instead of moral indignation/anger to demonstrate his theories◦Proved not only that change should

come, in fact it had to come

Evolution of his theoriesMarx influenced by:1. French Revolution2. Hegel3. Industrial Revolution in Britain

Wanted a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” the state will “wither away”

Orthodox Marxists pursue a literal application of Marxist principles

Revisionist Marxists believe Marxist principles must be adapted to changing social conditions

After 1918, Revisionists create socialism – pursuing international worker solidarity which is the natural enemy of nationalism, in 1914 nationalism wins the struggle

Orthodox Marxists create communism◦A variation of Marxism or Lenin on

Marx and Engel