Karl Marx

Author profile

born

May 05, 1818 in Trier, Germany

died

March 14, 1883

website

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/

genre

Politics, Social Sciences, Nonfiction

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Karl Heinrich Marx was a 19th-century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary. Often called the father of communism, Marx was both a scholar and a political activist. He addressed a wide range of political as well as social issues, and is known for, amongst other things, his analysis of history. His approach is indicated by the opening line Chapter 1 of the The Communist Manifesto(1848): "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, capitalism itself will be displaced by communism, a...more Karl Heinrich Marx was a 19th-century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary. Often called the father of communism, Marx was both a scholar and a political activist. He addressed a wide range of political as well as social issues, and is known for, amongst other things, his analysis of history. His approach is indicated by the opening line Chapter 1 of the The Communist Manifesto(1848): "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, capitalism itself will be displaced by communism, a classless society which emerges after a transitional period in which the state would be nothing else but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

On the one hand, Marx argued for a systemic understanding of socioeconomic change. On this model, it is the structural contradictions within capitalism which necessitate its end, giving way to communism:

On the other hand, Marx argued that socioeconomic change occurred through organized revolutionary action. On this model, capitalism will end through the organized actions of an international working class: "Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence." (from The German Ideology)

While Marx was a relatively obscure figure in his own lifetime, his ideas began to exert a major influence on workers' movements shortly after his death. This influence was given added impetus by the victory of the Marxist Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution, and there are few parts of the world which were not significantly touched by Marxian ideas in the course of the twentieth century. The relation of Marx to "Marxism" is a point of controversy. Marxism remains influential and controversial in academic and political circles.
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Average rating: 3.61 · 30,419 ratings · 1,632 reviews · 394 distinct works

	The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Gareth Stedman Jones 3.39 avg rating — 18,145 ratings — published 1848 — 279 editions	My rating:
	The Marx-Engels Reader by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Robert C. Tucker (Editor) 3.84 avg rating — 1,857 ratings — published 1971 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Capital, Vol. 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production by Karl Marx, Ben Fowkes (Translator), Ernest Mandel (Introduction) 4.09 avg rating — 1,794 ratings — published 1867 — 57 editions	My rating:
	Das Kapital [Abridged] by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels (Editor), Sergey L. Levitsky (Editor) 3.60 avg rating — 1,151 ratings — published 1867 — 81 editions	My rating:
	The German Ideology by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels 3.94 avg rating — 633 ratings — published 1932 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844/The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Martin Milligan (Translator) 3.99 avg rating — 496 ratings — published 1844 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx, D.D.L. (Translator) 4.02 avg rating — 488 ratings — published 1852 — 66 editions	My rating:
	Capital, Vol. 2: The Process of Circulation of Capital by Karl Marx, David Fernbach (Translator), Ernest Mandel (Introduction) 3.98 avg rating — 275 ratings — published 1885 — 31 editions	My rating:
	Selected Writings by Karl Marx, Lawrence H. Simon (Editor) 3.80 avg rating — 321 ratings — published 1968 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Capital, Vol. 3: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole by Karl Marx, David Fernbach (Translator), Ernest Mandel (Introduction) 4.00 avg rating — 205 ratings — published 1894 — 18 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Karl Marx

“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”
― Karl Marx

tags: duopoly , oppression , politics , representation , repression , society

180 people liked it

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways: the point, however, is to change it.”
― Karl Marx, The German Ideology

tags: action , change , ideology , philosophy , resistance , struggle

169 people liked it

“Religion is the Opiate of the Masses.”
― Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

tags: metaphor , philosophical , religion

114 people liked it

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Karl Marx

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