Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818–March 14, 1883)

German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, humanist and revolutionary credited as the founder of communism.

Marx summarized his approach to history and politics in the opening line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto (1848): “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, socialism will in its turn replace capitalism and lead to a stateless, classless society which will emerge after a transitional period, the “dictatorship of the proletariat”.

On the one hand, Marx argued for a systemic understanding of socio-economic change. He argued that the structural contradictions within capitalism necessitate its end, giving way to communism. Marx argued that socio-economic change occurred through organized revolutionary action. He argued that capitalism will end through the organized actions of an international working class, led by a Communist Party.

While Marx remained a relatively obscure figure in his own lifetime, his ideas began to exert a

 major influence on workers’ movements shortly after his death. This influence gained added impetus with the victory of the Marxist Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution in 1917, and few parts of the world remained significantly untouched by Marxian ideas in the course of the twentieth century.

Karl Marx’s Tomb at Highgate Cemetery, London

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels monument in Marx-Engels-Forum, Berlin-Mitte

100 Mark der DDR note used in the German Democratic Republic. 100-Mark banknotes with Marx’s portrait circulated from 1964 until monetary union with West Germany in July 1990.

Selected Works

§         Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, 1843

§         On the Jewish Question, 1843

§         Notes on James Mill, 1844

§         Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, 1844

§         The Holy Family, 1845

§         Theses on Feuerbach, 1845

§         The German Ideology, 1845

§         The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847

§         Wage-Labor and Capital, 1847

§         Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848

§         The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, 1852

§         Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859

§         Writings on the U.S. Civil War, 1861

§         Theories of Surplus Value, 3 volumes, 1862

§         Value, Price and Profit, 1865

§         Capital, Volume I (Das Kapital), 1867

§         The Civil War in France, 1871

§         Critique of the Gotha Program, 1875

§         Notes on Wagner, 1883

§         Capital, Volume II [posthumously published by Engels], 1885

§         Capital, Volume III [posthumously published by Engels], 1894

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx