Karl Marx – The Father of Communism

Where would you find a Hallmark card for that?

Karl Marx – The Fourth Marx Brothers ?

Second only to Jesus Christ, Marx is the most influential man who ever lived

Never ran a company. Never held political office. Never oversaw any accounts. Never even held a job – any job. Supported throughout his life by His friend Friedrich Engles, The son of a wealthy factory owner Considered by many to be the greatest Social, Political and Economic philosopher of all time. Yet All applications of his theories have ended in failure..

Social scientists focusing on social classes Main focus was that social class dictated social life. If one is in the upper class, life was one of leisure and abundance While those in the lower class lived lives of hardship and poverty

While in Paris from 1843 to 1845, Marx meet with other radical thinkers and revolutionists, For Paris had become a center for social, political and artistic thinking Marx was able to study socialist theories that were not available to him in Germany.

While in Paris, Marx met and became lifelong friends with Friedrich Engels and was immersed into the socialist world, focusing on the conditions of the working class.

On the social ladder – the highest rung would be – whoever controls the production of manufacturing what people need to survive

Two types of people that existed historically. The “haves” and the “have-nots”

The “haves” called “capitalists” had all the money needed to build new “means of production.” “Have-nots,” called the “proletariat (working class), work for the man

The working classes have always lived in different circumstances and had different relations to the owning and ruling classes.

Middle Ages - serfs to the land-owning nobility Industrial Revolution - journeymen to the bourgeois masters. As manufacturing developed, journeymen became manufacturing workers who were then employed by larger capitalists

Translated – Slave will be cared for only because of the cash Invested in the purchase of said slave - Where as society could care less about the individual Proletarian – (factory worker) they are paid to work

In the industrial society, the aristocracy was replaced by the capitalists (also known as the bourgeoisie). These capitalists owned businesses with the goal of earning a profit, and the working class was replaced by the proletariat, the people who labored for wages.

A slave, property of one master, is assured an existence, however miserable it may be, because of the master’s investment The proletarian, property as it were of the entire bourgeois class which buys his labor only when someone has need of it, has no secure existence. This existence is assured only to the class as a whole.

Industrial Revolution – started with the development of steam engines – Machines made products faster and cheaper Revolutionized production Displaced workers.

Worker went from making the whole item to making just one piece of the whole item – then passing the item to another who added to it This division of labor made it possible to produce things faster and cheaper. The worker endlessly repeated mechanical motions which could be performed not only as well but much better by a machine..

Division of Labor Worker learns one job – no need for the Man to waste time and money teaching worker all the other aspects of production Becomes very good at it Able to produce items faster which saves money Disadvantages to this practice?

The price of an object is determined by who much it cost to make it Marx felt that the price of labor is also equal to the cost of production of labor. Translated – the true value of an object is based upon the production of labor

Cost of production of labor is determined by what it cost for the worker to live The worker will therefore get no more for his labor than is necessary The price of labor, or the wage, will be the lowest, the minimum, required for the maintenance of life.

. Labor is a commodity like any other Its price is therefore determined by exactly the same laws that apply to other commodities

Capitalism is an economic system where the means of production is owned by private individuals. The economy and the use of resources are controlled by individual business owners and private companies. A capitalist system is also known as free market enterprise.

Unfair distribution of wealth within a society would cause problems for Karl Marx

The wealthy would be the individuals who owned the land and factories. The wealthy would then control all elements of society - including the livelihoods of the lower, working class.

The lower, working class would work for hourly wages on the land or in the factories.

Problems emerge when capitalists pay the working classes very low wages while keeping the profits Rich become richer and the poor would stay poorer.

Marx hoped that this would lead to the working class becoming angry, and rising up to seize the means of production

Workers would distribute the wealth in a fair manner among all members of society This stage known as “socialism.”

A socialist state would have the workers own the means of production and all would share the profits The workers would be working for themselves, not for the benefit of the capitalists.

Under capitalism, Marx believed that the workers would become poorer and poorer and experience alienation. Workers becoming isolated from, their work, resulting in a feeling of powerlessness

To replace this alienation and extreme social class structure, Marx believed that capitalism had to end and be replaced by a socialist system that would make all equal and have all people's needs met.

In his work with Fredrick Engels, The Communist Manifesto, stated, 'The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. Marx called for a workers' revolution where the proletarians would rise up against the bourgeoisie, overthrowing capitalism.

Revolution will eliminate private property. No longer will man have the means of exploiting another man.

A “temporary” dictatorship will step in and help to re- develop society (re-build industry, create laws, etc.) The “temporary” dictatorship will voluntarily give up power, thus creating a classless, borderless utopia

All forms of government would slowly disappear, as the workers understood the benefit of working for the good of each other. Once this model occurred, his ideal society that he called communism would exist.

The Worker’s Utopia In the end, a classless society with no more oppression People will be free to choose how they labor, and can be productive..

It is here where the state withers away, here where “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” applies.

So I guess that true communism is a society where there is No government The people are the government And the wealth is divided equally amongst the people (What a pile of dung)

To Marx's despair, such revolutions occurred in various countries such as Russia but did not occur in industrialized nations such as Britain and Germany.

New Ideas vs. Old Ideas Clash of the Old with the New Combination of the two and the best of both ideas create a new idea This new idea soon clashes with a newer still idea and then mix and draw the best parts and a another new idea is born So On and So On