Karl Marx's Life
Karl Marx, with the help of fellow economists Engel and Hegal, sparked a whole new idea for economics. He was born in Germany and wanted to become educated. Unfortunately, he was kicked out the countries he tried to learn at, including his own, for being a political radical. Ironically, he found freedom to learn and write in the central location of everything he was against, England.
Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto in 1848, criticizing everything Capitalistic and envisioning a completely new idea for economy. He told workers that they were being exploited and taken advantage of by rich fat cats. Marx wanted the government to have full control over all aspects of the economy. Marx followed Hegel’s philosophy that “theories evolve through conflict.” He saw his Communism as a synthesis of capitalism and its criticisms. He believed that society evolution went something like this: feudalism to capitalism to socialism to communism.
Worker Alienation
Marx believed that any surplus value to labor is really exploitation of the worker, and he believed in what he called worker alienation. He saw that automation displaces workers and declines the standard of living. He saw that specialization, while more efficient, stops the worker from caring about their work and the hours away from life and family are stressful on individuals and can cause a breakdown of society. While the workers are toiling away at jobs they hate, the rich fats cats are the ones cashing in.
Communist Revolution
Marx foresaw a revolution in which the workers unite and rebel. He predicted that soon enough the markets be dominated by just a few companies. In reality, communist revolutions were only really happening in third world countries, but Marx would say that as soon as all the third world countries turned to communism that the rest of the world would too. Marx’s predictions didn’t come true because as time went on factory conditions steadily improved and Unions began to form. This led to an overall improvement in labor and happiness with workers.
Remaining Communist Countries
At its peak, the communist revolution was active in dozens of countries, most notably the Soviet Union and China. According to Pearson Education’s 2008 InfoPlease database, former communist countries include:
- Formerly Part of the Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan
- Other Asian Countries: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Yemen
- Soviet Controlled Eastern bloc countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romanoa, Slovakia.
- The Balkans: Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
- Africa: Angola, Benin, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Mozambique.
Currently only a handul of countries identified as communist remain: Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, China, and Cuba.
Further ReadingKarl Marx: A Life, by Francis Wheen (Paperback - Jul 2001)
Comrades! A History of World COmmunism, by Robert Service (Hardcover - May 2007)
