Philosophy

What Karl Marx Actually Said

Well, a small part of it, anyway

(Public domain photo, obviously)

Karl Marx (1818–1883) is not that difficult to understand, but a century of misinformation about what Marx actually wrote and advocated for has given people false impressions. Much of that false information about Marx came from those who claimed to be instituting his ideas but, in fact, were not. There has never been a truly Marxist society. No, the Communism of the Soviet Union and China were not true to Marx’s philosophy. Another huge chunk of that false information about Marx came from the capitalists whom Marx opposed and who wanted to stamp our Marx’s critique of capitalism.

You are free to agree or disagree with Marx, but at least base your opinion on what he actually advocated, not his crazed followers or his crazed enemies. Here is a short, basic version of Marx’s central argument against capitalism.

The March of Class Struggle

Armed with the Hegelian notion that history has a pattern and that history is developing along rational lines, Marx believed he saw that pattern.

The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed…