Karl Marx: biography of this philosopher and sociologist
Surely Karl Marx be remembered, not so much for his socialist and revolutionary ideas, but rather for the direct influence that his theories exerted on governments of half the world. This philosopher, economist and sociologist created a current of thought that inspired revolutions in favor of equality in a large part of the planet.
Without a doubt, as a historical figure, he leaves no one indifferent: political scientists, scientists, humanists, politicians, academics. In his works have been based political movements such as those linked to collectivist feminism, anti-racism and environmentalism, as well as the communists and part of the anarchists in general. Next we will give a brief review of the legacy and the life of Karl Marx .
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The life of Karl Marx: his thought
Karl Marx was a philosopher, thinker and economist influenced by authors such as Hegel, Feuerbach, Proudhon and Engels , being the latter his main colleague at the time of developing his work. He was a scholar who broke all the standards of political-economic doctrines, whose hegemony was held by industrial capitalism and pseudo-feudal, due to the exploitation suffered by workers.
Marx he made a strong criticism of the capitalist system , which he understood as a dynamic of relations and appropriations that had the effect of concentrating power and wealth in few hands across generations, and denouncing the irregularities of this system. From their point of view, under a false sense of freedom to choose, the poorest populations are forced to sell their labor power in exchange for a small part of what they generate, which means that they can never negotiate with iguasl. who gives them work, since the latter is always in a situation of superiority to own land, factories and machinery.
Their ideology is based on common interest, solidarity among the working class (the one that does not have means of production (such as the so-called factories, machines, etc.) and thus end with the plundering of a few in their desire to control the riches and resources of an entire country. captured first in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, in other books of his responsibility later, and especially in his work The Capital.
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Father of modern communism
Marxist-rooted communism was the culmination of Marx's thoughts and claims which, according to some experts, was misinterpreted by his supporters. In fact, Karl Marx himself would later say that he himself was not "Marxist".
The fact that this thinker encouraged the revolution of the workers against the owners of factories and machines in a context of strong poverty in Europe made him very persecuted and that he was banned from entering many countries.
Exiled in London in the mid-nineteenth century, and with serious difficulties to earn money because of political pressure against him, Karl Marx met with workers with the same desire for revolution , founding what would be known as "The League of the Just". Already in 1948, together with Friedrich Engels, he published what would be the founding charter of the organization: The Communist Manifesto.
Basically, the communist movement is governed by three pillars: the class struggle, the socialization of the means of production and, above all, the goal of ending the State , which he conceived as an apparatus created to subjugate the working class through laws that favor the rich. Contrary to what some people believe, Marx did not defend the elimination of private property in general, only that of the means of production, that is, of the objects used to generate profits.
In addition, this thinker pointed out that communism is opposed to nationalism , to be considered by Marx a mental framework in which people are arbitrarily divided without real justifications beyond feelings of identity and belonging to a collective. Thus, Marx defends a political struggle of a transnational nature, expressing the famous phrase "Proletarians of the whole world, unite!".
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His legacy in politics
Marx died being poor, since it was impossible for him to work because of the pressures of politicians and businessmen who controlled the (few) areas to which he could go, and depended economically on his colleague Friedrich Engels . However, in the intellectual field he was very successful, and his influences reach today.
On the other hand we have some examples of the establishment of communism in half of the countries of Eastern Europe, as well as of Southeast Asia, Latin America and some countries of the Middle East.
Some examples of countries whose foundation influenced the work of Karl Marx:
- The USSR
- The People's Republic of China until the death of Mao Zedong.
- The Yugoslavia of Josip Broz "Tito".
- The Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- Cuba, after the Cuban revolution.
- Salvador Allende's Chile before the Pinochet coup d'état.
- The People's Republic of Bulgaria by the hand of Georgi Dimitrov.
With regard to social movements , the struggle for the limitation of working hours, the right to strike, the creation of a minimum wage and education and public health systems are also political and social elements in which the work of Karl Marx appears.
