KARL MARX

KARL MARX and His Influence on Government Michael A. Cortez Mountain Pointe

US/AZ Government Mr. Waddell August 22, 2011

KARL MARX Karl Marx and His influence on Government

Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany in 1818 to a Hirschel and Henrietta Marx. Due to much anti-Semitism, Hirschel changed his name to Heinrich and left his Jewish faith to become Protestant. Later on, while Marx attended Bonn University to study Law, he mainly socialized and increased his debts. When Heinrich found out about Marxs debt, he agreed to pay off his debt on the condition that he transfers to Berlin University. After Marx transferred to Berlin University he became serious and dedicated to working hard on his studies. A lecturer known as Brno Bauer, a strong atheist whose radical political ideas made him a well-known figure with the police. Bauer first introduced Marx to G.W.F. Hegel, a well-known author and philosopher at the University of Berlin. Marx inevitably became infatuated with Hegels theories thus, becoming radically political. After Heinrich passed, Marx had to become independent and earn his own living by becoming a university lecturer. When Marx finished his doctoral thesis at the University of Jena, he hoped Brno Bauer would be able to aid him in obtaining a teaching post; however, Bauer was dismissed in 1842 for being an outspoken atheist and couldnt help Marx. When Marx tried journalism, many editors didnt want to employ or publish his work due to his radical political views. After moving to Cologne, Marx took part in a group called the Cologne Circle, which had its own newspaper, The Rhenish Gazette. After the newspaper published Marxs article on him defending the freedom of the press, Marx was appointed editor of the newspaper in the fall of 1842. Later on, Marx met a man by the name of Moses Hess, a socialist who had his own socialist meetings. Marx decided to attend the socialist meetings only to learn of the adversity the German working-class faced and was cogently informed that the only way for the adverse issues were end was by socialism. After Marx was well-informed, he wrote an article on the poverty faced by the Mosel wine-farmers and The Rhenish Gazette

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published his article, but it was ultimately banned by the Prussian government. Out of haste of being indicted, Marx married his current girlfriend, Jenny Von Westphalen, they both decided to move to France and as they did, Marx was offered to be the post of editor of a political journal, Franco-German Annals, where Marx applied Hegels dialect theory. While working in Paris, Marx was astounded by the poverty of the working-class Parisians, but also admired their comradeship. Marx now declared himself as a communist, argued that the working-class Parisians would eventually come to be the emancipators of society. After Marx published for Franco-German Annals in the winter of 1844, the journal was immediately banned in Germany. Later Marx identified the three types of alienation in a capitalistic society; he believed the only solution was communism. When Marx was in Paris he became close friends with Friedrich Engels, an author who shared Marxs view on capitalism. Engels decided to help Marx and his family financially which enabled Marx to concentrate on his economic and political theories. In January of 1846, Marx established the Communist Correspondence Committee which was created to intertwine socialist leaders of Europe. Swayed by the influence of Marx, socialist dignitaries in London established an organization known as the Communist League. Later in Brussels, Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto based on Engels draft, The Principles of Communism. After six weeks, The Communist Manifesto was finished and ready to be published. The following quote really expresses how timely The Communist Manifesto became revealed to the public and basically, how modern socialism came to be. Spargos (2003) documentation of the following: The first copies were received from the press upon the same day that revolution broke out in Paris, February 24. Thus the greatest political pamphlet in history

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4 was born amid the stirrings of revolution. The birth cry of modern socialism, Workingmen of all countries, unite! was scarcely heard by reason of the thundering of revolution across the English Channel. (p. 104)

When beginning to read The Communist Manifesto, The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles (Marx, Engels, & , 1999, p. 6) Which means that you shouldnt see social classes, but rather view Marxs way, Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. This is where bourgeoisie are the owners of the factories and the proletariats are the owners of practically limited to nothing thus, in order to survive, they must sell their services and products to the capitalistic society. Marx was trying to convey to the public the point of social classes and how they clashed. After Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto in March of 1848, the Belgian government expelled them both and they both ended up in Cologne, but before leaving Paris to move to Cologne, they established a new radical news source, The New Rhenish Gazette. This was founded to promote change and radical influence amid a revolution that occurred in Paris. While Marx was residing in France, the French authorities ordered for his exile and this is when Marx realized that the only country that was left for him to influence was England. When he became established in London, the Prussian authorities wanted him exiled and proposed this to the Prime Minister of England, John Russell, but he refused as he believed in the freedom of expression. Soon after Jenny Marx gave birth to her fourth child, the Marx family became destitute and evicted from their apartment sometime in March 1850. In 1852, Marx was offered many jobs at newspaper companies such as New York Daily Tribune and the New American Cyclopedia. In 1850, Ferdinand LaSalle, a wealthy socialist offered Marx a job at a newspaper in Germany, but Marx out of resentment of his homeland declined the offer. The first volume of Das Kapital is

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published in 1867 which included ideas such as surplus, division of labor, and the industrial reserve army. Marx believed that the laws of capitalism would bring about its destruction which he defended in his final part of Das Kapital. This book illustrated the problems the capitalists and oppression. The second volume of Das Kapital came about in 1871 with the help of Eleanor Marx, Marxs seventeen year old daughter. Marxs (2009) Das Kapital and Marx himself experienced the following issues: The learned and unlearned spokesman of the German bourgeoisie tried at first to kill Das Kapital by silence, as they had managed to do with my earlier writings. As soon as they found these tactics no longer fitted in with the conditions of the time, they wrote, under pretence of criticizing my book (p. 20) In 1881, Marx now had a swollen liver, but survived while his wife, Jenny, died in early December of 1881. On March 14th, 1883, Marx died. Political Beliefs Marx viewed government as another form of oppression and he felt it should be removed. Based on his writing, he strongly believed that the bourgeoisies would form a revolution against the government; that they would create a brief bourgeoisie run nation that would endure until it became obsolete. Marx was very anti-capitalist due to observing the conditions of the bourgeoisies and felt that all social classes should be equal thus, the invention of communism. Marx believed that the only way for a nation to operate is if the government controls everything; the government chooses your job, the government grants all citizens the same amount of pay, and that everyone works for the good of the state. Because Marx was weary or more so, ignorant of capitalism, he came to believe that communism would be the ultimate political, economical, and social situation for the people. Since many of the foreign governments exiled Marx due to

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his radical concepts and publishing; they didnt agree with his view and because the German bourgeoisie attacked Marx and his work, they didnt agree with him either.

Conclusion Marx had a very rough life from having his work attacked to the death of his children and wife and experiencing poverty. Even though he brought brilliant insight and concepts to economics, politics and social classes, he ultimately felt like a failure. He wasnt an Adam Smith, but he is the father of Communism and because of him, we understand an economical, political and social system that wouldve been dismissed by many people and nations in the 21st century. Thanks to Marx questioning and criticizing capitalism, hes helped many capitalist reevaluate the system of capitalism and build upon it. Marx also illustrated that even though people may criticize and dismiss your work; perseverance goes a long way and along the road lays the possibility of becoming an important historical figure.

Personal Opinion I think that the reason that Marxs communism didnt work was because nations that considered themselves communist were in some degree communist, but are also market and traditional economies simultaneously thus, the world has yet to experience an absolute rule of communism or any other type of economy in fact. Ideal communism may be too ideal so this is why Socialism is practiced; because its the closest to Communism. I think the only way for a nation or country to work is by mixing different economies at different levels, but more so in a balanced sense and the outcome is a nation that works even though its not an absolute economical function. If the United States were an absolute market economy, we most probably

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would fail as well because that would mean businesses are not intervened by the government which as we know, happens from time to time. I dont think Marx was a failure due to the fact that despite dismissals and criticism, he invented something known as Communism, as well as many economical and political theories that have developed and influenced the modern world.

KARL MARX Bibliography Karl Marx. (2011). Biography.com. Retrieved 09:20, Aug 23 2011 from http://www.biography.com/articles/Karl-Marx-9401219

Kreis, Steven. (2003). Historyguide.com. Retrieved 09:14, Aug 23 2011 from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html

Marx, Karl. (2009). Capital, a critique of political economy; the process of capitalist production. Berlin: General Books.

Marx, Karl, Engels, Friedrich, & , . (1999). The Communist Manifesto: with related documents. Berlin: Bedford and St. Martins.

Spargo, John. (2003). Karl Marx: his life and work. New York City: University of Press of the Pacific.