Born on May 5, 1818, Karl Marx was and is one of history 's most important thinkers, as well as one of the most loved and reviled political game-changers (4). Coming from a long line of religiously Jewish men, including 3 rabbis from his paternal line, he broke away from religion altogether after his father was forced into Lutheranism in order to keep his job as a lawyer under Prussian laws. The persecution that Jews were subjected to in his home town of Trier influenced his idea that religion was “opium for the people”, giving the working class (or as he referred to them, the proletariat) false hope of attaining equity with the ruling class, an idea which became a pillar of his famous interpretation of communism, which has been called Marxism.
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Marxism, is, however, the most well known and most practiced form of communism which has been the foundation for many large nations. Created by Karl Marx and his life-long friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, Marxism is a branch of communism which rejects the tenets of capitalism by a historical method, pointing out the flaws of economic strategies adopted before capitalism and why they were replaced with capitalism, before showing capitalism 's flaws, including a discriminated against working class, an erratic boom-bust nature which was claimed to be unavoidable, and surplus labor, where workers produce more than they are given back; after this, Marx shows the advantages of communism, including a consistent economic climate, total equity between people, and total lack of a class …show more content…
It is here that Marx first adopts communism as his primary belief. While still in Paris, Marx met the man who would have the largest sole influence on him, Friedrich Engels. Engels was a radical like Marx, who had just written a book detailing the conditions of the working class in England; while working on this book, Engels began to form the idea that the working class would be the force which would drive away the capitalistic system and bring communism to the entire world. Marx, enthralled by this concept, added this thought to all future evolutions of Marxism. Together, Marx and Engels wrote a book criticizing, oddly enough, the ideas of his once strongest influence, G.W.F. Hegel. This book showed how far Marx 's philosophy had progressed in just the five years since he was a Young Hegelian. After finishing that collaborative work, Marx began to do research and drafting for what may perhaps be his most important work, Capital. This work studied French history as well as the concepts pushed by modern French socialists, and mixed this with Marx 's own communist beliefs and the remains of what he agreed with Hegel on to make the brew we know today as Marxism
Marxism, is, however, the most well known and most practiced form of communism which has been the foundation for many large nations. Created by Karl Marx and his life-long friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, Marxism is a branch of communism which rejects the tenets of capitalism by a historical method, pointing out the flaws of economic strategies adopted before capitalism and why they were replaced with capitalism, before showing capitalism 's flaws, including a discriminated against working class, an erratic boom-bust nature which was claimed to be unavoidable, and surplus labor, where workers produce more than they are given back; after this, Marx shows the advantages of communism, including a consistent economic climate, total equity between people, and total lack of a class …show more content…
It is here that Marx first adopts communism as his primary belief. While still in Paris, Marx met the man who would have the largest sole influence on him, Friedrich Engels. Engels was a radical like Marx, who had just written a book detailing the conditions of the working class in England; while working on this book, Engels began to form the idea that the working class would be the force which would drive away the capitalistic system and bring communism to the entire world. Marx, enthralled by this concept, added this thought to all future evolutions of Marxism. Together, Marx and Engels wrote a book criticizing, oddly enough, the ideas of his once strongest influence, G.W.F. Hegel. This book showed how far Marx 's philosophy had progressed in just the five years since he was a Young Hegelian. After finishing that collaborative work, Marx began to do research and drafting for what may perhaps be his most important work, Capital. This work studied French history as well as the concepts pushed by modern French socialists, and mixed this with Marx 's own communist beliefs and the remains of what he agreed with Hegel on to make the brew we know today as Marxism