A hugely influential revolutionary thinker and philosopher, Marx did not live to see his ideas carried out in his own lifetime, but his writings formed the theoretical base for modern international communism as well as a far-reaching intellectual and cultural movement, known as Marxism.
Karl Heinrich Marx was born on 5 May 1818 in Trier in western German, the son of a successful Jewish lawyer. Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin, but was also introduced to the ideas of Hegel and Feuerbach. In 1841, he received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena. In 1843, after a short spell as editor of a liberal newspaper in Cologne, Marx and his wife Jenny moved to Paris, a hotbed of radical thought. There he became a revolutionary communist and befriended his life long collaborator, Friedrich Engels. Expelled from France, Marx spent two years in Brussels, where his partnership with Engels intensified. They co-authored the pamphlet 'The Communist Manifesto' which was published in 1848 and asserted that all human history had been based on class struggles, but that these would ultimately disappear with the victory of the proletariat.
In 1849, Marx moved to London, where he was to spend the remainder of his life. For a number of years, his family lived in poverty but the wealthier Engels was able to support them to an increasing extent. Gradually, Marx emerged from his political and spiritual isolation and produced his most important body of work, 'Das Kapital'. The first volume of this 'bible of the working class' was published in his lifetime, while the remaining volumes were edited by Engels after his friend's death.
In his final years, Karl Marx was in creative and physical decline. He spent time at health spas and was deeply distressed by the death of his wife, in 1881, and one of his daughters. He died on 14 March 1883 and was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London.
[quote]It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.
- Karl Marx [/quote]
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"The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects, to his laziness, incompetence, improvidence or simple stupidity." Henry Hazlitt
@Gloomy We've all seen those memes - 20something sitting with an expensive haircut, designer clothes, $6 Starbucks drink and a $1,300 MacBook on her lap with a "Smash Capitalism!" sticker on it. Can't make this stuff up.馃ぃ
@graphite Do you think a 19th century factory worker wasn't just working hard enough and therefore had to live in one tiny room with his family that he was unable to feed?
@graphite He was a journalist so yes but given he went against the society of its time he was exiled from his home and earned little just like the factory workers back then so I am asking again Do you think a 19th century factory worker wasn't just working hard enough and therefore had to live in one tiny room with his family that he was unable to feed?
@graphite During his time child labor was common and workers were starving like wtf do you think the conditions of the industrial revolution were like?
@graphite probably not from the sound of it 馃し His focus was on the poor living conditions of the working class during the time, and his philosophy stems from the unequal share in lifestyle and opportunity between those working for and those owning said workplace, even though they are making what creates said profit.
In my home city during that time the water was so dirty that children were dying before they were adults, the workers shared tiny spaces and waste was in the streets. Do you know why the city decided to do something about it?. The cargo ships refused to dock there because they didn't want to get sick.
It was money and profit that made them change, not the dying and sick children or the bereaved families. Examples such as these are at the foundation of Marxist philosophy, that workers are not exploited and can be truly invested in the place they work.
@Emosaur That meanie Elon, providing all those good jobs for blue collar workers. Wait - you mean he [i]actually pays those people good salaries[/i]? What a monster. I know somebody who works for him - hit a home run getting a job there.
Random Google search: Do Tesla employees get paid well? Tesla pays an average salary of [b]$108,037 per year[/b], or $51.94 an hour.
@graphite He gives back worth that has been generated by others, he steals the surplus while having control over the workers working conditions and hours and then pays them back less than they actually have created in worth. The only thing he does is own the capital. He doesn't provide the jobs only the means of production.
@graphite [quote]Construction workers who helped build the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin that finished construction earlier this year accused their employers on Tuesday of violating numerous labor laws, including OSHA violations and wage theft.
Workers accuse their employers of knowingly giving them false OSHA certifications; denying them proper overtime pay, either by providing no additional pay or only offering one or two dollars over their regular pay; withholding pay; and lying to workers that they would receive double pay for working over holidays.[/quote]
