Karl Marx
Biography
Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany in 1818 to Hirshcel and Henrietta Marx. Hirschel Marx was a lawyer and one of the few Protestants living in the area. Under the influence of his father, Karl Marx studied law at universities in Bonn and Berlin and wrote a PhD thesis in Philosophy. Marx turned to journalism after completion of his doctorate in 1841 and rapidly became involved in political and social issues.
Karl Marx was married to Jenny von Westphalen and they moved to Paris after their marriage. He became a revolutionary communist and befriended Friedrich Engels there. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had a lot of similar ideas and agreed in most theoretical fields resulting in them publishing many books together. Karl Marx also found his own newspaper, Neue Rheinische Zeitung, in 1848. He died in 1883 in London.
Biography
Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany in 1818 to Hirshcel and Henrietta Marx. Hirschel Marx was a lawyer and one of the few Protestants living in the area. Under the influence of his father, Karl Marx studied law at universities in Bonn and Berlin and wrote a PhD thesis in Philosophy. Marx turned to journalism after completion of his doctorate in 1841 and rapidly became involved in political and social issues.
Karl Marx was married to Jenny von Westphalen and they moved to Paris after their marriage. He became a revolutionary communist and befriended Friedrich Engels there. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had a lot of similar ideas and agreed in most theoretical fields resulting in them publishing many books together. Karl Marx also found his own newspaper, Neue Rheinische Zeitung, in 1848. He died in 1883 in London.
Major Publications and Ideas
1844, Karl Marx published The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts that coined the term alienated labor and defined it as the product itself, productive activity (work), species being, and other human beings. He also depicted that workers under capitalism suffer from the four types of alienated labor in the book.
1845, Karl Marx expressed his objection to the philosophies of his day, materialism and idealism, in his book Theses on Feuerbach. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it” (thesis 11)
1846, Karl Marx published The German Ideology. In the book he objected to Bruno Bauer, other Hegelians, and Max Stirner and stated the materialist conception of history, that how far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown by the degree to which the division of labor has been carried. Also, there is a direct link between division of labor and forms of ownership. The ruling class, in ruling the material force of society, is simultaneously the ruling intellectual force of society. Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness no longer retain the semblance of independence. Human society consists of two parts: base and superstructure. Base is the forces and relations of production – employer-employee work conditions, the technical division of labor, and property relations. The superstructure is the culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. The base determines (conditions) the superstructure.
1844, Karl Marx published The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts that coined the term alienated labor and defined it as the product itself, productive activity (work), species being, and other human beings. He also depicted that workers under capitalism suffer from the four types of alienated labor in the book.
1845, Karl Marx expressed his objection to the philosophies of his day, materialism and idealism, in his book Theses on Feuerbach. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it” (thesis 11)
1846, Karl Marx published The German Ideology. In the book he objected to Bruno Bauer, other Hegelians, and Max Stirner and stated the materialist conception of history, that how far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown by the degree to which the division of labor has been carried. Also, there is a direct link between division of labor and forms of ownership. The ruling class, in ruling the material force of society, is simultaneously the ruling intellectual force of society. Morality, religion, metaphysics, all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness no longer retain the semblance of independence. Human society consists of two parts: base and superstructure. Base is the forces and relations of production – employer-employee work conditions, the technical division of labor, and property relations. The superstructure is the culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. The base determines (conditions) the superstructure.
1848, Karl Marx published the famous The Communist Manifesto, a co-work with Friedrich Engels. The book argued that history is a struggle between capitalists (owners of capital) and proletariat (workers). It also deemed that as capitalists become wealthier, the proletariat wouldn’t, thus the proletariats would become more and more dissatisfied, eventually resulting in a revolution and classless society.
1859, in his publication of Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the people”.
1867, Karl Marx published Das Kapital. The book focused on the study of the economics of capitalism and drew heavily on writings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. He explored relationship between labor, profit, and distribution of wealth, and analyzed the idea of commodity production. Finally he came to the famous conclusion that communism is the inevitable end to the process of evolution begun with feudalism and passing through capitalism and socialism.
1875, Karl Marx published the Critique of the Gotha Programme. Critique of the Gotha Programme is a critique of the draft programme of the United Workers' Party of Germany. In this document Marx addresses the dictatorship of the proletariat, the period of transition from capitalism to communism, the two phases of communist society, the production and distribution of the social goods, proletarian internationalism, and the party of the working class.
1859, in his publication of Contribution to a Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the people”.
1867, Karl Marx published Das Kapital. The book focused on the study of the economics of capitalism and drew heavily on writings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. He explored relationship between labor, profit, and distribution of wealth, and analyzed the idea of commodity production. Finally he came to the famous conclusion that communism is the inevitable end to the process of evolution begun with feudalism and passing through capitalism and socialism.
1875, Karl Marx published the Critique of the Gotha Programme. Critique of the Gotha Programme is a critique of the draft programme of the United Workers' Party of Germany. In this document Marx addresses the dictatorship of the proletariat, the period of transition from capitalism to communism, the two phases of communist society, the production and distribution of the social goods, proletarian internationalism, and the party of the working class.
Influence on Field of Economics
- Labor theory of value
o The value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity
- Falling rates of profit
o Competition in commodity and labor markets would lead to a fall in profits
- Increasing concentration of wealth
- Dialectical Materialism
o Every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency, while at the same time developing internal contradictions or weaknesses that contribute to its decay
- Labor theory of value
o The value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity
- Falling rates of profit
o Competition in commodity and labor markets would lead to a fall in profits
- Increasing concentration of wealth
- Dialectical Materialism
o Every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency, while at the same time developing internal contradictions or weaknesses that contribute to its decay