Karl Marx 18181883

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Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• By Megan Johnson

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Facts about Karl Marx

• Karl Heinrich Marx
• Born May 5, 1818 in Trier Russia
• Died March 14, 1883 in London UK
• School- Marxism, communism
• Main interest- sociology, politics, philosophy

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Communist Manifesto

• Karl Marx was credited as the foundation of
  modern communism.
• Marx argued that capitalism will inevitably
  produce internal intension which will lead to its
  destruction.
• Capitalism replaced feudalism just as Marx
  believes socialism will in its turn, which will
  lead to pure communism

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Continued

• This will emerge after a transitional period
  called the dictatorship of the proletariat. This
  is a period sometimes referred to as the workers
  state or worker democracy.

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Marxs Influences

• earlier German philosophical materialism
• French socialist and sociological thought
• the solidarity with the working class of
  Friedrich Engels
• Hegels dialectical method

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Background

• Marxs view of history which later became known
  as historical materialism certainly shows the
  influence of Hegel's claim that one should view
  ones reality dialectically.

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Karl Marx

• He was a German scholar and did not consider
  himself a sociologist but his ideas have a major
  effect on the field.
• Marx felt great concern for the poverty and
  inequality suffered by the working class of his
  day.
• His life was guided by principle.

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Who was Karl Marx?

• Karl Marx was the social scientist who understood
  the importance of conflict in social change.
• Parts of his writings were later used as a basis
  for comminism.

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Social Classes

• Marx identified several social classes in the
  nineteenth century. These classes are
  bourgeoisie, capitalist, and proletariat.

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Bourgeoisie

• The bourgeoisie are those who own the means for
  producing wealth in industrial society.
• For example factories or equipment.

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Capitalists

• The means for producing wealth is known as
  capital.
• Those who own them are called capitalist.

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Proletariat

• The proletariat work for the bourgeoisie and are
  paid just enough to stay alive.

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Class Conflict

• For Marx, the key to the unfolding of history was
  class conflict- a clash between the bourgeoisie,
  who controlled the means for producing wealth,
  and the proletariat, who labored for them.
• Out of this conflict would come a communistic
  society- one in which there would be no powerless
  proletariat.