500+ Words Essay on Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas, collectively known as Marxism, have had a profound impact on societies worldwide. Karl Marx’s work in economics laid the basis for the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital and has influenced much of subsequent economic and revolutionary thought. He published numerous books during his lifetime, among them, the most notable are The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Capital (1867–1894).
Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 to Heinrich Marx and Henriette Pressburg. He born into a wealthy middle-class family in Trier in the Prussian Rhineland, Marx studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin, where he became interested in the philosophical ideas of the Young Hegelians. After his studies (doctorate in philosophy), he wrote for a radical newspaper in Cologne and began to work out his theory of dialectical materialism.
He moved to Paris in 1843, where he began writing for other radical newspapers and met Friedrich Engels, who would become his lifelong friend and collaborator. In 1844, Marx wrote the “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” in which he first articulated the concept of alienation—the idea that in a capitalist society, workers become estranged from their labor, products, and ultimately, themselves.
In 1849, he was exiled from Germany and moved to London together with his wife and children, where he continued writing and formulating his theories about social and economic activity. He also campaigned for socialism and became a significant figure in the International Workingmen’s Association.
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Marx’s original theories about society, economics, and politics—collectively known as Marxism—hold that human societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed labouring class that provides the labour for production. He called capitalism the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,” believing it to be run by the wealthy classes for their interest; and he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism would produce internal tensions leading to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism. He argued that class antagonisms under capitalism between the bourgeoisie and proletariat would eventually establish a classless society, governed by a free association of producers. Along with believing in the inevitability of socialism and communism, Marx actively fought for their implementation, arguing that social theorists and underprivileged people alike should carry out organized revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic change.
Karl Marx died on 14 March 1883, in London, as a stateless person at the age of 64. He has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history. Revolutionary socialist governments espousing Marxist concepts took power in a variety of countries in the 20th century, leading to the formation of such socialist states as the Soviet Union in 1922 and the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Many labour unions and workers’ parties worldwide are influenced by Marxism, while various theoretical variants—such as Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, and Maoism—were developed from them. Marx is typically cited, with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science.