KARL MARX:
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KARL MARX [1818-1883]
þ BORN IN GERMANY, FATHER A PETTY LEGAL OFFICIAL.
þ STUDIED PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION AT UNIV. OF BERLIN.
þ DOCTORAL DISSERTATION --> ON THE STOIC & EPICUREAN
ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
þ BECAME AB ATHEIST --> BARRED HIM FROM UNIVERSITY
CAREER.
þ SO MARX WENT INTO JOURNALISM, BECAME EDITOR OF LIBERAL
COLOGNE NEWSPAPER IN 1842.
þ BECAME CONVINCED OF ECONOMIC BASIS OF POLITICS:
þ UNDERLYING POLITICAL THEORIES &
POLITICAL POWER
-- > ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF
VARIOUS GPS IN SOCIETY.
þ MARX'S NEWSPAPER SHUT DOWN BY GOVN --> MARX TO PARIS --
> MARRIED --> MIXED WITH SOCIALISTS.
þ MARX GREATLY INFLUENCED BY PIERRE JOSEPH PROUDHON
[1809-1865], A SOCIALIST LEADER.
þ P SAID "PROPERTY IS THEFT" &
THAT WHOLE PRODUCT OF
INDUSTRY SHOULD GO TO WORKER.
þ P SAID THAT PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF
MEANS OF
PRODUCTION ENABLED CAPITALIST TO APPROPRIATE WEALTH THAT
RIGHTFULLY BELONGED TO THE WORKER.
þ THIS CONCEPT WAS BASIC TENET OF
19TH-C SOCIALISM
& KEY TO MARX'S VIEW OF CAPITALISM.
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KARL MARX [1818-1883]
þ IN PARIS MARX ALSO MET FREIDRICH ENGELS [1820-1895],
SON OF WEALTHY GERMAN TEXTILE MFGR, WHO OWNED MILLS IN
GERMANY & ENGLAND.
þ ENGELS SUPPORTED MARX & HIS
FAMILY FOR NEXT 35
YRS.
þ MARX EXPELLED FROM FRANCE AT REQUEST OF PRUSSIAN GOVN.
þ MARX & ENGELS TO BRUSSELS IN 1848. WROTE THE COMMUNIST
MANIFESTO
þ MARX WENT TO LONDON, WHERE HE SPENT REST OF HIS LIFE:
þ MOST TIME SPENT DOING RESEARCH IN
BR. MUSEUM &
WRITING HIS GREAT WORK, DAS
CAPITAL.[VOL I, 1867,
VOL II, 1885].
þ MARX TOOK LEADING PART IN THE INTERNATIONAL, AN
INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST PARTIES.
þ MARX GAVE REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM ITS THEORETICAL FDN.
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KEY MARXIAM IDEAS
þ ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS ARE DRIVING FORCE OF ANY
SOCIETY.
þ RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION --> DEPEND ON MATERIAL POWRS OF
PRODUCTION.
þ ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY --> SUM TOTAL OF
RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION --> THE FDN ON WHICH RISE THE
LEGAL & POLITICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE & DEFINITE FORMS OF
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS.
þ MODE OF PRODUCTION --> DETERMINES SOCIAL, POLITICAL,
SPIRTUAL PROCESSES OF LIFE.
þ CAPITALIST VS WORKER --> THESE TWO CLASSES, BOURGEOIS
& PROLETARIAT, STAND IN OPPOSITION, SINCE CAPITALIST CAN
PROSPER ONLY IF WORKER IS EXPLOITED.
þ MARX'S ATTACK ON CAPITALISM BEGAN WITH HIS LABOR THEORY
OF VALUE.
þ TRUE VALUE OF ANY PRODUCT = AMOUNT
OF LABOR USED
IN ITS PRODUCTION.
þ LABOR NOT PAID THE FULL VALUE OF
THE PRODUCT -->
THUS EXPLOITATION.
þ CAPITALISM --> GIGANTIC MECHANISM IN WHICH LABOR TIME
OF WORKER --> PROFITS --> CAPITAL.
þ LABOR TIME IS OWNED BY WORKER.
þ BUT CAPITAL IS OWNED BY CAPITALIST.
þ THUS, CAPITALIST CLASS GROWS INCREASINGLY WEALTHY OUT
OF LABOR OF WORKING CLASS.
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KEY MARXIAM IDEAS [C]
þ EXPLOITATION OF WORKER ALSO HAS PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT --
> ALIENATION
þ WORKER SEPARATED FROM TOOLS OF PRODUCTION.
þ WORKER SEPARATED FROM THE PRODUCT.
þ PREVENTS FULL DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SELF.
þ RESULT: PERVASIVE ALIENATION THAT
DEHUMANIZES ALL
PERSONAL & SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS.
þ MONEY PAYMENTS TAKE PLACE OF HUMAN FEELINGS.
þ RESULT: A SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL
PATHOLOGY THAT
PERVADES ALL CAPITALIST SOCIETY.
þ OTHER KEY MARXIAM IDEAS:
þ BASE-SUPERSTRUCTURE THEORY
þ CLASS WARFARE
þ FEUDALISM --> CAPITALISM --> SOCIALISM
-->
COMMUNISM
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