Karl Marx and Capitalism: The Origin of Communist Manifesto - Essay Example

[The [The [The Karl Marx (1818-1883) Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the of Trier inthe Rhineland, where he completed his early schooling. His father's side of the family was all rabbis. His father was a prosperous lawyer who adopted Lutheranism for himself and his family in 1824. His mother was from Hungary, and she never learned to read or speak German. At the age of seventeen, he was sent to the University of Bonn to study law. After he was in a duel, he was transferred to the University of Berlin. Instead of applying himself to studying law, Marx began to read the Latin, English, and Italian classics and became interested in philosophy. At the age of nineteen, he became a member of a group who gathered to discuss the interpretations of religious and philosophical views. The triumph of conservatism in government and education led Marx to hurry to complete his university work. Marx received his doctoral degree in 1841. The Communist Manifesto In October 1842, Marx turned to journalism and he became editor of a newspaper in Cologne. In the paper, he defended the wine-growing peasants against the wood-theft laws, and expressed his growing awareness of economic issues. This is where he first thought of the idea of physical force overthrowing physical force. Marx later said that this led him to move from pure politics to socialism. After this event, Marx married his longtime girlfriend, Jenny von Westphalia, a member of the aristocracy, and they went to Paris for Marx to study socialism. While in Paris, Marx met Friedrich Engels with whom he began a lifelong friendship. In 1845 Marx left France after the Prussian government ordered him to. Marx went to Brussels with Engels where he sketched his theory of history. There they wrote German Ideology, which was not published until 1932. They then joined a communistic society called the League of Communists. When the society met in London in 1847, Marx and Engels were both present. There they wrote the Communist Manifesto. Engels wrote a first draft, which was rewritten by Marx. Soon after its publication, in February 1848 Revolution broke out in France. Marx and Engels visited France while on their way to Cologne to help the revolution there (J.B.Collins, 25, 30).They then founded a newspaper and were able to support their campaign for revolution. The paper was then suppressed, and Marx was prosecuted for disloyalty and expelled from Prussia. He then went to England. Marx lived the last thirty-four years of his life in England. Living in Soho, he and his family lived off the money that Engels sent them. Most of his time was spent reading newspapers in the British museum or writing at home. Three of his six children died. In 1864 Marx again became active in politics. He organized the International Working Men's Association and served as the head of the general council (Haralambos, Michael, Sociology, 98,100). With and improvement in fortune in his last years, he looked for help with his declining health all around Europe and then returned to England no better off than he had been. Marx died on March 14, 1883, in London, and was buried at the Highgate Cemetery. Marx and Capitalism: Role of Capital and the Bourgeoisie Karl Marx is considered to be a historian, a philosopher, a political thinker, and an Economist amongst other things. There is a standard misconception that Marx had no idea of economics, by contrast he was quite the economist, and was able to layout the transition of capitalism to communism in a very logical and understanding way. The transition of capitalism arises through three core factors: the philosophy behind the capitalist system, the economic and the political part of it (Karl Marx And F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 140,142). Marx outlined the philosophical aspects, which outline the transition; Marx believed that every aspect of society could be characterizes as a thesis, whilst its contradictory other characterized as an antithesis. Marx believed that by refining the thesis and antithesis of something, a synthesis could be found. Similarly Marx proposed that capitalism be the thesis, whilst socialism the antithesis, and thus communism being the synthesis. The reason behind this transition being that Marx believed that communism could not be formed directly after the fall of capitalism, but first a period of socialism which would eventually lead to communism. Furthermore he doomed capitalism because he believed that in its own form it contained an antithesis, that being the workers - the proletariat. Marx started criticizing the capitalist system, in which Labor (only in Capitalism) is considered a commodity to be sold for profit. Furthermore the rift between the bourgeious and the proletariat seemed to be growing; in communism however all people being equal and having the opportunity to develop their labor skills rather than have them sold and bought. The way in which Marx predicted the fall of capitalism would be the overthrowing of it by a proletarian revolution. This revolution would not be a political one, where by governing bodies are removed and the machine of the state stopped, yet a social revolution. For the reasons mentioned above Marx believed that the transition could not be as smooth as to shift directly from Capitalism to Communism. The socialist stage would therefore come in between for as long as class antagonism continued (Levack, Muir, 40, 41). One of the first impacts of Marxism was felt in continental Europe. By the late 1800's, through the influences of the Internationals, it had spread to the European trade union movement, and the major socialist parties were a part of it in theory if not in practice. A major division appeared, however, between the socialists who believed that violent revolution was inevitable and those who said that socialism would be achieved by evolution. The success of revolutionary socialists, also called Communists, in the Russian Revolution and the establishment of an authoritarian Communist state in Russia split the movement (George Sand, 92, 95). By getting away from Russian Communists, many of the democratic socialist parties also moved slowly away from Marxist theory. Communists regarded Marxism as their strict doctrine. Because of this reason, Marxism has received a lot less popularity than it could have received.The Soviet, Chinese, and other Communist states were at most only partly structured according to Marxism, and while such Communist leaders as Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong claimed they used Marxism, all they really did was use a version of it to fit their own needs. Historical materialism: What role, if any, does the individual play One thing Marx wanted to do was to explain why the workers of his day and age worked so long and hard for miserable wages under terrible conditions. Marx predicted that because the workers could not suffer their misfortunes forever, they would inevitably wage a revolution to free themselves from oppression. This sounds like something very reasonable (Thomas Paine, 80, 83). People were working in bad environments for hardly anything. Nobody would want to do this and this is why he thought the lower class would start a revolution to change this. Marx, who devoted himself to help the working people in factories and other horrible conditions, never worked in a factory a day in his life. When he wrote the Communist Manifesto, he was barely able to live because he had no money. It is also ironic that during all the social and political disturbances of nineteenth-century Europe, Marx, chose to write rather than fight. It is strange in the face that Marx's books and articles were deemed perhaps more dangerous than bullets or guns. Even though Marx is looked on as the father of Communism, his ideas are very good. The fact of the matter is that they just will not work. Marx believed that communism was the ideal party as unlike the bourgeois democracy there is no class system. And communism believes that there are certain rights that you shouldn't be entitled to, for example freedom of press and movement, but bourgeois democracy believes you should have these rights. The reason why a communist country needs to prevent freedom of movement is if you are trying to pay everyone equally, then higher and more educated employees will move abroad as they will get better paid for their efforts (J.S.Mill, 70). The reason why Marx choose communism instead of capitalism is because Marx felt capitalism was cheating people off, for example merchants. Also the profit they were receiving didn't go to the government it went straight into their own luxuries and this wasn't fair on the people who were paying more for the goods when they could get it cheaper (Karl Marx and F. Engels, 101). Marx also believed that communism was the ideal party as they use their own produces instead of importing products, this saved money. Karl also thought the idea of communism fading into the background (as there would be no need of a government if everyone is equal, there would be no riots) was a good idea. The idea of communism is a good idea, that everyone is equal, everything is owned by government. But one thinks in practice it wouldn't work out, as the more educated employees would just feel left short. Works Cited Levack, Muir, Et Al. The West: Encounters and Transformations, Vol. II (Textbook). J.B.Collins, The Ancien Regime And The French Revolution. Thomas Paine, The Rights Of Man (Not Commonsense) Karl Marx And F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Haralambos, Michael, Sociology: Themes And Perspectives: 5th Edition, London: Collins, 2000. George Sand, Indiana. J.S.Mill, On Liberty. Read More