Karl Marx Objective Essay

10-17-2012
Karl Marx: The King of Communism
No other person influenced political and social thinking in the nineteenth century more than Karl Marx. He is revered by many and hated by many others. However, even his haters cannot deny that his ideals changed the way we see the world, and most importantly, shaped 20th Century politics. While many contemporary historians andpolitical scrutinizers declare that his policies and ideas have been implemented or at least attempted with no success, it is still undeniable that his ideas live on, and most importantly, they still influence many politicians, revolutionaries and young people. Marx is, after all, the man that can be attributed with developing the modern communist and socialist philosophy.
The man who introduced theidea of Modern Communism and Socialism to the world was born in Trier, Germany, on May 5, 1818. In hindsight, it is ironic to think that Marx came from a comfortable middle-class family in Germany. Both his father, Heinrich Marx, and his mother, Henrietta, were descended from long lines of rabbis, thus making Marx an ethnic Jew; he wasn´t really a religious Jew, since his dad had been a protestantfor years. He studied in the University of Bonn, and later in the University of Berlin, where an interest in Philosophy soon developed in him. After completing his Doctorate in Philosophy, Marx married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843 and also took up journalism. However, by that time he had already become involved with a radical group of thinkers called the Young Hegelians, and he started to publishwritten his written works, which showed early and vague explanations of his ideas and ideas. It was from this point on that Marx started to affect history, since he started to manifest his ideas more clearly; the ideas that eventually would influence various political leaders, revolutions and movements in the 20th century where starting to take form.
When talking about Karl Marx, it isundeniable that it was not him as a person, but rather his ideas and ways of thinking that actually influenced society in many ways, leading to many repercussions. But then again, what did Marx believe in? What was his Philosophy? Well, today all his ideas, theories and systems are called Marxism, and those who believe in them are styled as Marxists. Marxism can be defined as a theory that was based on amaterialist approach to analyse history. This materialist approach led to the conclusion that the history of the world was all based on class struggles. As it was written in the Communist Manifesto (1848), the prime document that talks about Marx´s beliefs and which was co-authored by Friedrich Engels: ¨The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.¨ Now, Marxstated that this classes had been established based on their contribution to the means of production. Therefore, under the existing Capitalist society, he saw that there were two classes: the proletariat, which were the workers, and the bourgeoisie, the owners of capital, factories and of a higher social standing. In the eyes of Marx, the bourgeoisie has been abusing the proletariat by taking all thecredit and capital of their work for them. Hence, Marx believed that internal problems would surge within Capitalism, as it had happened with feudalism centuries before, and would eventually destroy itself. This would happen because eventually, the proletariat would get sick of the mistreatment and would stage a revolution and would subsequently take control of the state, establishing the¨Dictatorship of the Proletariat.¨ It would be the job of this Dictatorship to transition society to a socialist way of thinking, or partial private property. In turn, this would progress to a Communist society, that being a stateless, classless and moneyless society where all the means of production would be subjected to common ownership. Thus, in Marx´s words: ¨From each according to his ability, to...