8/6/2019 Karl Marx and the Theory of Communism
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Karl Marx and the Theory of Communism
Background of Karl Marx
Karl Marx was a German philosopher who became fascinated
with
revolution and the nature of change within civilization. The
purposeof these changes would be the ultimate creation of an ideal
society.His ideas were not well received by his home country and he
was
forced to leave. He settled in Belgium and France for short
periodsbefore moving to England.
During his travels, Marx met Friedrich Engels who had similar
ideasabout revolution and the development of a new society. The two
men
began to write a number of articles and books discussing
thepossibilities of developing a communist state. They produced two
key
books Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto. The books
outlined the stages of evolution towards the ideal society and
becameguideposts for the future revolution in Russia.
The Communist Manifesto
Marx defined his ideas by examining human history to see if a
struggle for power existed. Hebelieved that there were two types of
people that existed historically. The haves and the have-
nots would be involved with a constant struggle for resources.
The haves were calledcapitalists because they had all the money
needed to build new factories, mines, railways or
other means of production. The capitalists would then force the
have-nots, who he called theproletariat (working class), to work
for them. This
situation was unfair in the distribution of wealth withina
society that would cause problems.
Problems emerge when capitalists pay the workingclasses very low
wages while keeping the profits for
themselves. In this manner the rich would becomericher and the
poor would become poorer. This
situation would lead to the working class becomingfrustrated and
angry, therefore rising up to seize the
means of production. The purpose of the uprising bythe workers
would be to distribute the wealth in a fair
manner among all members of society. This stage ofhistorical
evolution would be called socialism.
A socialist state would have the workers own the
means of production and all would share the profitsequally. The
workers would be working for themselves,
not for the benefit of the capitalists. All forms ofgovernment
would slowly disappear, as the workers understood the benefit of
working for the
