Karl Marx
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Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, a small town on the border between France and Germany. He was originally Jewish but at the age of six his family converted to Lutheranism. Marx went to Bonn to study law and a year later gave it up to attend Berlin to study philosophy and history, where he received his doctorate in 1841 with a dissertation on ancient Greek philosophy. While studying at Berlin Marx joined the Young (Left) Hegelians who shared a general tendency towards political radicalism and outspoken atheism.
"The history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" (Accurately sums up entire work itself)
Quasi-proclamation of emancipation to the masses in Karl Marx's time
Socio-economic liberation of proletariat (Offers different forms on emancipation)
Demonstrates abolishment of class system resulting in complete mass equity
Before their prominence existed a feudal order (organized society led by aristocratic landowners and corporate guilds)
Manufacturing class : control of international and domestic trade, producing goods more efficiently than guilds, causing gain of political/economic power
French revolution "most decisive instance of this form of bourgeois self-determination", Bourgeois control insidious executive of modern state is "but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole Bourgeoisie"
Bourgeoisie ascendancy created new class: Proletariat
Bourgeoisie industries expand to increase capital ranks of proletariat swells (other classes, small business owners can't compete with bourgeoisie capitalists)
Development of Bourgeois industries caused proportional deterioration in condition of proletariat (can be slowed, not stopped)
Social communist hope : effect on behalf of proletariat, interests of communists don't differ from interests of proletariat class
Seek to develop class consciousness in proletariat (condition of emancipation)
Existence of capital (Bourgeois property) relies on unequal distribution
Success = to destroy remnants of Bourgeois culture which act to perpetuate (even implicitly) misery (family organization, religion, jurisprudence)
Previous movements share a misunderstanding proletariat struggle
Three common problems among previous socialist movements:
1) Regard previous modes of social organization as solution to present difficulties.
2) Deny inherent class character of existing conflict
3) Don't recognize violent revolution on part of proletariat is only way to eradicate conditions of oppression
Chapter "Position of Communists in Relation to Various Opposition parties" contains communist intent to "everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things"
Commodity = object created by labor of man, "creative labor manifested on an object of human labor which is put in relation to other objects of human labor, that is, an object which is circulated"
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