Karl Marx is a German philosopher and economic analyst. Karl Marxism is also known as the writer, Karl Kautsky, or simply Karl. Karl Marx was born in 1817 in Germany. A famous quote of Karl Marx says, “A boot is better than an iron heel…A millionaire is better than a poor man…A battle is fought out on behalf of the working class, and its victory is the aim of humanity.” From this quote, we can tell that Karl was a boxer for his entire life.
Karl Marxism is a key figure of late 19th century German politics and economics. His writings were primarily critical of capitalism, Marxism, and modern day neo-liberalism. Karl believed in the class struggle between capitalists and workers. According to Karl, Marxism is the ideology of modern revisionism. His works have been criticized by other philosophers including Sir Keynes. However, his work remains significant for those who want to understand how capitalism really works.
In his book The German Revolution, Karl von Clausewitz described Karl Marxism as a theory of revolution which sees history as a struggle between classes within society. Classes are then defined as groups of people who own different productive resources like land, money, factories, and labor. Karl wanted to apply this theory of class struggle to economics in general. After studying economics in college, Karl saw how capitalism’s objective of producing surplus value was destroying the natural values of mankind and was leading to social inequality.
The first section of The German revolution is the critique of Napoleon Bonaparte’s rule. The revolution was prompted by the French Revolution, which was against the wishes of the French people. According to Karl, Napoleon Bonaparte’s rule was based on a fraudulent theory that “there is no right or wrong place, people are equal,” as he separated the working class from the wealthy class and made them the objects of his personal power. Karl accused him of being a criminal, claiming that his rule was unjust and dangerous because it allowed the creation of privileged classes and privileges. Capitalist class controlled the working class using their economic power, and this system created a divide between the classes. Karl therefore argued that the only way to avoid such a divide and create a classless society was through the revolutionary upheaval.
The next section of the book concentrates on the conception of revolutionary theory. According to this view, dialectical materialism suggests that socialism and capitalism are not different but are actually identical. According to this concept, there is no difference between socialism and capitalism because both are systems of production based on class struggles. Furthermore, according to this dialectical view, there are two stages in the development of the world economy: pre-capitalism and capitalistic socialism. Capitalistic socialism is the idealistic socialism of unlimited collectivism, whereas pre-capitalism is characterized by the unequal ownership of the means of production by the working class and is characterized by exploitation of the working class.
Karl criticized the economistic conception of socialism as it limited workers’ power, and thus made possible the reproduction of capitalism within the framework of a democratic and community-based economy. According to him, a working-class control over the entire resources of the country is impossible, as the resources cannot be owned individually but only by the working class as a whole. Karl opposed the use of revolutionary slogans as they only have the task of making working class conscious of their rights and ability to defend them, rather than enlightening them so that they will consciously support a capitalist government and its agenda.
On the other hand, according to marxists, everyone is capable of becoming a revolutionary working class. Therefore, everyone has the right to become a communist. All the members of the working class should be organized in a way that the interests of the working class are safeguarded and they are able to attain a certain level of freedom and advancement as well.
Karl Marx and his ideas have played a vital role in changing the course of history, initiating a new era of class struggle. The concept of communist revolution is not new in fact, it can be traced back to the days of the Ancient Greek democratic revolution when the working class rose up against the capitalist classes. In the 20th century, it became a part of the world’s history due to the efforts of the oppressed people to achieve social liberation. Nowadays, it forms an integral part of every progressive revolution.