Karl Marx, Class Struggle & The Communist Manifesto
Marxism is the political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It places class struggle at the center of society’s development, especially the conflict between the bourgeois ruling class and the proletariat working class.
Marxist ideology was set out in The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and first published in 1848. Its opening idea is that the history of society is the history of class struggles.
Bourgeois and Proletariat
In Marxism, the bourgeois are the oppressors who own property and control the means of production, while the proletariat are the oppressed working class.
Core Beliefs of Marxism
Supreme Being
Marxism is atheistic and views religion as connected to oppression, social conditions, and economic structures.
Nature of Man
Marxism interprets human life largely through material, social, economic, and historical conditions rather than through a spiritual nature.
Reality
Marxism is materialistic and non-theistic. It denies the existence of a supernatural realm and holds that matter is all that exists.
Humanity’s Main Problem
Humanity’s main problem is understood through class conflict, especially the oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeois.
Afterlife
Marxism is atheistic and, therefore, likely holds that there is no afterlife.
Proposed Solution
Marxism proposes the eventual overthrow of capitalist structures and the movement toward a socialist and ultimately classless society.
Historical Interpretation and Impact
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Marx and Engels envisioned a workers’ state as a response to the political and economic dominance of the capitalist class, describing it as a “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
Communist Nations
With the rise of Communist nations in the twentieth century, Marxism developed into varied interpretations, including Leninism, Trotskyism, and Maoism.
Social and Political Consequences
Marxism has had significant influence on political movements, revolutions, and governments. Later Marxist regimes and movements produced different outcomes, interpretations, and applications of Marx’s original ideas.
Key Terms
Bourgeois
The wealthy elite who own and control the means of production and oppress the working class.
Dialectical Materialism
A method of looking at society in which change takes place on the basis of internal forces, moving from capitalism toward a classless, collectivist society.
Proletariat
The working class, including laborers, industrial workers, and farmers, who are oppressed by the bourgeois.
Sources
Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. The Communist Manifesto. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1975.
Smith, Huston. The World’s Religions. New York: Harper One, 1991.
Sowell, Thomas. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. William Morrow and Company, New York, 1985.