KARL MARXFOUNDER OF COMMUNISM

AND THE CONFLICT THEORY

KARL MARX• Born in Germany 1818• Began attending Socialist

meetings in Germany• Wrote The Communist

Manifesto with Friedrich Engels

• Though ignored in his life, his ideas gained rapid acceptance after his death in 1883

Karl Marx: Personal

• Full Name: Karl Heinrich Marx• Birth: May 5th, 1818• Death: March 14th, 1883• Enrolled in the University of Bonn studied

Law• Married Jenny von Westphalen and had

several kids, many of which died at a young age

• Daughter Eleanor was a committed socialist who helped in the editing of her fathers works

G. W. F. Hegel • Influenced Marx

•Theorized that a thought could not be separated from its opposite

•Believed unity could only be achieved by equalizing all opposites

•History should be viewed dialectically, through clash of opposing forces

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

• Pamphlet written by Marx &

Engels

• Summarized the inevitable

revolution, communist society

that would be born from it

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

“Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!”

MARXISMThe theory of the nature

of history and politics as

well as a prescription for

revolutionary action to

bring the industrial working class to

power and create a classless society.

Bourgeoisie class of capitalists(ruling class)

Proletariat class of wage labourers(working class)

Society divided into two distinct classes:

Marx’s Theory•Economics formed basis of human activities, determined who had power in society

• Believed working class (proletariat) was oppressed by the ruling class (bourgeoisie)

• Marxist Dialectical Method: existing social arrangement, (thesis), generates its social opposite, (antithesis), and a different social form, (synthesis), emerges from the struggle between the two

to achieve a classless socialist society:

1.) Abolish property in land

2) Raise income taxes

3) Abolish inheritance rights

4) Confiscate emigrant/rebel property

5) Centralize Credit

6) Centralize means of communication

7) Extension of factories, cultivate wastelands

8) Equalize liability to all labourers

9) Abolish distinction between town and country, equalize population distribution

10) Free education for children, abolish child labour

BibliographyEngels, Friedrich and Karl Marx. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Samuel Moore. London: Penguin Books, 1967.

Feinberg, Barbara S. Marx and Marxism. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985.

“Karl Marx.” 20 Dec. 2004. 17 Feb. 2005. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUmarx.htm>.

McClellend, Kent. “Conflict Theory.” 21 Feb. 2000. 17 Feb. 2005. <http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Conflict.html>.