Karl Marx Essay

Karl Marx is arguably the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. He was a great philosopher, social scientist and historian who brought revolutionary views in to the social and economic space during his time. He was however not heavily regarded as so by scholars in his own lifetime-not until his death in 1883. Until recently, a great number of people forming almost half the population of the world, claimed to exist under Marxist regimes. The original ideas of Marx have often been adopted and modified to fit into political circumstances in the world today. Marx however, delayed publication on many of his writings, indicating that his work and intellect was not appreciated until recently.
It was Marx’s belief that …show more content…
It is observed that tasks that were originally dependent on the initiative of the craftsman become a series of mindless motor actions. The worker becomes a colleague and at the beck and call of the machine. Marx described this worker as an automaton in the world of the automaton and he possessed humanity only in the sense that he believes himself to be so. The proletarian in this sense is forced by the capitalist to depend on his behaviour as a commodity for the continuation of his life and ultimately survival. In this sense, like the capital in a factory he too is subject to exploitation.
Marx bring out the idea that bourgeoisie describes the behaviour of the proletarian, being a commodity and his dependence on the capitalist are, in the eyes of the proletarian, only a feature of his life as a human. Marx elaborates further on this concept in the Communist Manifesto, where he is keen to point out that the ruling ideas of each age have been the ideas of the ruling class. In this respect, it is thus the proletarian who is subject to bourgeois capital, and also bourgeois concepts of life in totality. The proletarian is alienated in this