Origin of Marxism Marx was born in Trier and was educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Jena.

In 1842, shortly after contributing his first article to the Cologne newspaper Rheinische Zeitung, Marx became editor of the paper. His writings in the Rheinische Zeitung criticizing contemporary political and social conditions embroiled him in controversy with the authorities, and in 1843 Marx was compelled to resign his editorial post, and soon afterward the Rheinische Zeitung was forced to discontinue publication. Marx then went to Paris. There, as a result of his further studies in philosophy, history, and political science, he adopted communist beliefs. In 1844, when Engels visited him in Paris, the two men found that they had independently arrived at identical views on the nature of revolutionary problems. They began a collaboration to elucidate systematically the theoretical principles of communism and to organize an international working-class movement dedicated to those principles. Marx and Engels came to see socialism as merely an intermediate stage of society in which most industry and property were owned in common but some class differences remained. They reserved the term communism for a final stage of society in which class differences had disappeared, people lived in harmony, and government was no longer needed. Marx and Engels asserted that the key to understanding human culture and history was the struggle between the classes. They used the term class to refer to a group of people within society who share the same social and economic status. According to Marx and Engels, class struggles have occurred in every form of society, no matter what its economic structure, or mode of production: slavery, feudalism, or capitalism. In each of these kinds of societies, a minority of people own or control the means of production, such as land, raw materials, tools and machines, labor, and money. This minority constitutes the ruling class. The vast majority of people own and control very little. They mainly own their own capacity to work. The ruling class uses its economic power to exploit workers by appropriating their surplus labor. In other words, workers are compelled to labor not merely to meet their own needs but also those of the exploiting ruling class. As a result, workers become alienated from the fruits of their labor. The most influential achievement in political philosophy during the 19th century was the development of Marxism (see Political Theory). German political philosopher Karl Marx, who created the system known as Marxism, and his collaborator Friedrich Engels accepted the basic form of Hegels dialectic of history, but they made crucial modifications. For them history was a matter of the development not of Absolute Spirit but of the material conditions governing humanitys economic existence. In their view, later known as historical materialism, the history of society is a history of class struggle in which the ruling class uses religion and other traditions and institutions, as well as its economic power, to reinforce its domination over the working classes. Human culture, according to Marx, is dependent on economic (material) conditions and serves economic ends. Religion, he concluded, is the opiate of the masses that serves the political end of suppressing mass revolution. Marxism is a theory of revolution, of history, of economics, and of politics, and it served as the ideology for Communism. Although he was a philosopher Marx had disdain for merely theoretical intellectual work, stating, The philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point is to change it. It was the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that laid the conceptual foundation for the communist revolutions and regimes of the 20th century. Marx and Engels were German-born intellectuals who worked in various cities in Europe as teachers, journalists, and political activists. In 1847 Marx and Engels joined a small group of working-class leaders in the formation of the Communist League, and shortly thereafter the two men were asked to draw up its platform. In their Communist Manifesto (1848), Marx and Engels dismissed all of the reformers who had come before them as naive utopian socialists, claiming that their plans for communal property could not be achieved in capitalistic societies. Marx and Engels urged the workers of the world to unite to achieve scientific socialism, or communism. Branching out from the theories of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, they trumpeted communism as an unsentimental theory derived from immutable laws of history, and boasted that communism was already a specter haunting all of Europe and was acknowledged by all European powers to be itself a power.

In Paris, in 1844, Engels visited Marx, who had published works sympathetic to communism. The two men found that they had arrived independently at identical views and undertook to work together. Their many-sided collaboration continued until the death of Marx in 1883. It had two principal aspects: systematic exposition of the principles of communism, later known as Marxism; and the organization of an international Communist movement. Lesser aspects of their collaboration included journalistic writing for the New York Tribune and other publications. Marxs view of human history is both profoundly pessimistic and profoundly optimistic. Its pessimism lies in his belief that history reflects the oppression of the many by a small minority, who thereby secure economic and political power. It is optimistic on two counts. First, Marx believed that technical innovations bring about new ways of meeting human needs and make it increasingly possible for people to satisfy their deepest wants and to develop and perfect their individual capacities. Second, Marx claimed to have proved that the long history of oppression would soon end when the masses rise up and usher in a revolution that will create a classless utopian society. The first idea enabled Marx to bring attention in the modern era to Aristotles idealistic conception of human flourishing, which called upon people to develop and manifest many different abilities, including intellectual, artistic, and physical skills. The second idea motivated much radical activity during the 20th century, including the Russian Revolutions of 1917, the Communist victory in China in 1949, and the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

Marxists challenged conventional political science through most of the 20th century, charging that the discipline overlooked oppressive political relationships in the capitalist economy. According to Marxists, formal democracy is a sham because the dominant economic class in society always controls the government. The Philosophy of Karl Marx Karl Marx was in many respects the most influential political theorist of the 19th century. He sought to combine factual analysis and political prescription in a thorough survey of the modern economic system. Arguing that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, and that liberal governments and ideology were merely agents of the exploiting owners of property, Marx advocated the abolition of private property and predicted the demise of capitalism after a series of recurring crises. The abolition of property, and therefore of class exploitation, would make possible a situation in which individuals would contribute according to their abilities and take according to their needs. The state, following a transitional period in which the working class would rule, would eventually wither away. In the 20th century, Marxism has been the subject of conflicting interpretations. It served as the official ideology of a number of totalitarian states, and it was also the inspirational credo of many revolutionary and nationalist movements throughout the world (see Communism; Socialism). Dependency theory rejects the central assumptions of modernization theory. In the 1960s advocates of dependency theorymostly social scientists from the developing world, particularly Latin Americaargued that former colonial nations were underdeveloped because of their dependence on Western industrialized nations in the areas of foreign trade and investment. Rather than benefiting developing nations, these relationships stunted their development. Drawing upon various Marxist ideas, dependency theorists observed that economic development and underdevelopment were not simply different stages in the same linear march toward progress (see Karl Marx). They argued that colonial domination had produced relationships between the developed and the developing world that were inherently unequal. Dependency theorists believed that without a major restructuring of the international economy, the former colonial countries would find it virtually impossible to escape from their subordinate position and experience true growth and development. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Economic explanations of imperialism are the most common. Proponents of this view hold that states are motivated to dominate others by the need to expand their economies, to acquire raw materials and additional sources of labor, or to find outlets for surplus capital and markets for surplus goods. The most prominent economic theories, linking imperialism with capitalism, are derived from those of Karl Marx. Lenin, for example, explained the European expansion of the late 19th century as the inevitable outcome of the need for

the European capitalist economies to export their surplus capital. Similarly, contemporary Marxists explain the postwar expansion of the U.S. into the Third World in terms of economic imperatives. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. A root feature of communist states has been their subscription to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. As fashioned by Lenin, building on the earlier works of Marx and Engels, it is the belief that history advances by means of class struggle, always nudged in a benign direction by the leadership of a communist party. The theory foresaw that in capitalist societies, a small vanguard of professional revolutionaries was necessary to infuse the working masses with revolutionary fervor and overthrow capitalism. This would be followed by a brief period of proletarian dictatorshipin Lenins view, the communist party ruling on behalf of the working classwhich would establish a socialist state and put in place the foundations of a communist society. Eventually class differences would vanish, the state would be abolished, and people would live in affluence and harmony. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Communist Manifesto (German Manifest der kommunistischen Partei), declaration of principles and objectives of the Communist League (a secret organization of migr German artisans and intellectuals), published in London in 1848, shortly before the February Revolution in Paris. Written by Karl Marx in collaboration with Friedrich Engels, the Manifesto is divided into four sections, preceded by an introduction that begins with the provocative words, A specter is haunting Europethe specter of communism. In the first section, Marx outlines his theory of history and prophesies an end to exploitation. Identifying class struggle as the primary dynamic in history, he characterizes the modern world as the stage for a dramatic confrontation between the ruling bourgeoisie (the capitalists) and the downtrodden proletariat (the working class). Driven by the logic of capitalism to seek ever greater profit, the bourgeoisie constantly revolutionizes the means of economic production, the fulcrum of history. In so doing, it unwittingly sets in motion sociohistorical forces that it can no longer control, thus ironically calling into existence the class destined to end its rulethe proletariat. As the proletariat increases in number and political awareness, heightened class antagonism will, according to the Manifesto, generate a revolution and the inevitable defeat of the bourgeoisie. In the second edition, Marx identifies the Communists as the allies and theoretical vanguard of the proletariat. He emphasizes the necessity of abolishing private property, a fundamental change in material existence that will unmask bourgeois culture, the ideological expression of capitalism. After the revolution, economic production will be in the hands of the state, that is, the proletariat, organized as the ruling class. Because ownership will be in common, class distinctions will begin to disappear. The third section, criticizing various alternative socialist visions of the time, is now largely of historical interest but displays the author's formidable polemical skills. The final section, which compares Communist tactics to those of other opposition parties in Europe, ends with a clarion call for unity: Workers of All Countries, Unite! The Manifesto is the most concise and intelligible statement of Marx's materialist view of history. Hence, although it produced little immediate effect, it has since become the most widely read of his works and the single most influential document in the socialist canon. Contributed By: Lee Congdon HISTORIC DOCUMENTS The Communist Manifesto Marxs influence during his life was not great. After his death it increased with the growth of the labor movement. Marxs ideas and theories came to be known as Marxism, or scientific socialism, which constitutes one of the principal currents of contemporary political thought. His analysis of capitalist economy and his theories of historical materialism, the class struggle, and surplus value have become the basis of modern

socialist doctrine. Of decisive importance with respect to revolutionary action are his theories on the nature of the capitalist state, the road to power, and the dictatorship of the proletariat. These doctrines, revised by most socialists after his death, were revived in the 20th century by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, who developed and applied them. They became the core of the theory and practice of Bolshevism and the Third International. Marxs ideas, as interpreted by Lenin, continued to have influence throughout most of the 20th century. In much of the world, including Africa and South America, emerging nations were formed by leaders who claimed to represent the proletariat. 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Karl Marx and Marxism Karl Marx Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, defined communism. Their most famous work was the Communist Manifesto (1848), in which they argued that the working class should rebel and build a Communist society.Corbis The most influential achievement in political philosophy during the 19th century was the development of Marxism (see Political Theory). German political philosopher Karl Marx, who created the system known as Marxism, and his collaborator Friedrich Engels accepted the basic form of Hegels dialectic of history, but they made crucial modifications. For them history was a matter of the development not of Absolute Spirit but of the material conditions governing humanitys economic existence. In their view, later known as historical materialism, the history of society is a history of class struggle in which the ruling class uses religion and other traditions and institutions, as well as its economic power, to reinforce its domination over the working classes. Human culture, according to Marx, is dependent on economic (material) conditions and serves economic ends. Religion, he concluded, is the opiate of the masses that serves the political end of suppressing mass revolution. Marxism is a theory of revolution, of history, of economics, and of politics, and it served as the ideology for Communism. Although he was a philosopher Marx had disdain for merely theoretical intellectual work, stating, The philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways; the point is to change it. sidebar HISTORIC DOCUMENTS From The Communist Manifesto Many Socialist and Communist tracts were published in the early and mid-19th century, but the succinct expression of Socialist ideas and the dramatic rhetoric helped make The Communist Manifesto (1848) the central text of modern Socialism. In this excerpt from Part I, German political philosopher Karl Marx advanced the idea that the history of society is the history of struggle between the oppressed and their oppressors. Marx based the Manifesto in part on a draft prepared by German revolutionary political economist Friedrich Engels. open sidebar 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Marxism as a Philosophy of Education It is a cardinal tenet of the communist philosophy that the mode of production of material things determines the character of social and political institutions. Labor is the central preoccupation of the school is to be studied in all its economic, political, scientific, social and aesthetic aspect. Polytechnical education college offering vocational courses: a college offering a range of courses, some of them vocational or technical, at or below the bachelors degree level

Indoctrination esp. in matters of party policy Atheistic, morals taught originate in social class thinking. Communism rejects a moral education grounded in divine ordinance