Karl Marx through his ideas of Socialism and Communism had a huge impact on many fields including politics and economics. He criticised the economic system of capitalism, many of which are relevant. However almost every time that his ideas have been implemented in the real world, the results have been disastrous. It is important to understand and analyse his ideas, to see if there is any relevance in them and if there is anything we can learn from it.
The Rise of Communism
The idea of communism came as a response to the rise of industrialization in Europe in the mid 1800s and a shift towards a capitalist mode of production. This led to a stronger divide between the working (proletariat) and the rich (bourgeoisie) class. As a result, many claimed that it was not enough to have equality before the law when there were many economic inequalities in the society. They demanded that there needs to be reforms in how property and capital was organised and distributed among citizens. One of the ideas that was suggested was collective ownership of property instead of private ownership.
The Communist League formed in late 1840s in London, consisting of members of the working class, who wanted the emancipation of the working class through the idea of collective property. They wanted to dissolve the capitalist society and its ideas of property and demanded the creation of a classless society. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were both members of the League, were entrusted as a summation of their ideas.
The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and published in 1848. It is considered to be one of the most important and influential political works of all time. It contains an analysis of the class struggle in an economic system of capitalism.
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