Karl Marx:

 German idealist philosopher, much his writing until the mid-nineteenth

century was inspired by his critique of Hegel's other followers and disciples.
 Main Works: Das Kapital and Communist Manifesto
 Based politics on a scientific theory of human association, and committing
themselves to individual freedom as the basic and most important principle
of politics.
Scientific Socialist:
Even though he was influenced by the Utopian socialists, Marx was committed to
a scientific theory of politics. He attacked Proudhon and the utopian socialists, for
being unscientific in their thinking. It was all about rejecting sentimentalism or
wishful thinking in trying to understand what was feasible and what was not
feasible in politics.

Historic Materialism
Marx is committed to the materialist conception of history. And the materialist
conception of history is the idea that was based on dialectical materialism.
 History goes in a zigzag direction of thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and then
the synthesis becomes the new thesis and so on, It has an endpoint (which
he thinks is a communist utopia), but it's not driven by ideas. Instead it's
driven by material interest
 The basic idea behind materialism that ideas, culture, beliefs, is what Marx
referred to as superstructure. It's not really important. What is important is
the economic base, so that economic interests drive everything over time.
And if you want to understand how a political system works you better
understand the economic system.
  All of human history can be explained and predicted by the competition
between antagonistic economic classes; or as Marx put it, “The history of all
hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

 The class that controls the Mode of Production also controls the State.

Marx believed that the productive forces in a society develop faster than
production relations and they may also conflict with each other. This conflict can
be resolved by; (i) replacing the old production relations with new ones
(ii) by destroying or overthrowing the old socio-economic formation, and finally,
(c) by replacing it by a new one.

Marxism affirms that this universal law had governed the entire history of human
societies, by governing all progress of material production and of society as a
whole. According to Marxism, there are five socio-economic formations. They are:

1. The primitive-communal.
2. Slave-owning.
3. Feudal.
4. Capitalist.
5. Communist.

Marx claims that, in each formation, the conflict between production forces and
production relations ultimately reaches the stage of revolution

Marx says that the primitive society was classless, as people lived in small
communes enjoying equal rights and everything was common. But in such
societies the level of economic development was very low. Later, with social
development and progress, classes evolved in relation to production
relationships, which introduced the fundamental dichotomy between the haves
and have-nots. In the capitalist societies, this difference is between the capitalists
who own the property and industrial houses and the proletariat or the working
class who are property-less. Marx also observed that there will be a constant
struggle between the classes of the haves and the have-nots and hence between
the capitalists (bourgeois) and the proletariat.

The significant contribution of Marx to philosophy consists in interpreting this

struggle as a struggle for overcoming alienation.

Marx on Alienation
 According to Marx, labour is the fundamental activity of man. In simple
terms it is the way by means of which man obtains the means of
subsistence by interaction with nature. In the case of living creatures other
than humans, there is no interaction between them and nature. Man’s
interaction with nature is labour and it is also an instrument for man’s self-
creation. But under capitalism the worker and the product of his labour are
separated, which ultimately leads to alienated labour.

 Marx observes that, ideally the product of labour should remain with the
labourer, as it is the way he creates himself and hence it is his essence. But
under alienated labour of capitalism, the proletariat does not have any
right over his product which is the result of his labour. He does not own the
means of production and hence he is forced to exchange the product of his
labour—which actually is his own essence—for money or wages. Hence his
relationship with the product characterizes alienation.

 He has no right or control over the product and hence it appears before
him as an alien object. It stands over and above him, opposed to him as an
independent power. The product, which is his essence, is separated from
him in the act of production itself. Hence he is alienated from himself in the
very act of production.

 Marx here proposes initiating a revolution by the proletariat class. The

dialectical relationship and the clashes between the capitalists and the
 proletariat leads to the formation of a classless society. Capitalists and
proletariats are the two classes, which constitute the thesis and the anti
thesis, and the classless society is the synthesis.

 Marx says that this dialectics actually emerges from the concept of private
property itself. Private property creates its own antithesis, as in order to
exist it must also maintain the existence of the propertyless working class.
But to be propertyless is to suffer the loss of essence and get alienated and
in order to overcome this the proletariat has to abolish itself as well as
private property. Hence in the Marxian idea of classless society, both
private property and class differences will disappear.

Marx on Capitalism:
He wasn't against capitalism because Marx thought capitalism was a necessary
step in getting to socialism.
He thought capitalism was the most innovative, dynamic, productive mode of
production that had ever been dreamed up, and there was no way you could even
think about a socialist or a communist society developing unless you had
capitalism first.
He thought capitalism was the most innovative, dynamic, productive mode of
production that had ever been dreamed up, and there was no way you could even
think about a socialist or a communist society developing unless you had
capitalism first.

Marx embraces a kind of doctrine of self-ownership and the idea that we own
what we make as the basis for his theory of exploitation, because his theory of
exploitation claims that people are, in fact, denied the fruits of their own labor
because of the way that the system is set up.
Dictatorship of the proletariat

 According to Marx, when men realize how capitalism robs them of this self-
determination and freedom (economic and social) the revolution will come.
 In other words, the proletariat will rise to take control of the forces of
production away from private owners and employ them to meet the needs
of all.
 Marx predicted that capitalism would ultimately be transformed by the
actions of the proletariat into socialism. The bourgeoisie is constantly
creating more powerful forces of production. Wealth is becoming more
concentrated. Labor is viewed as just another cost to be reduced in
industry.
 In attempts to maximize profits, capitalists automate factories or send jobs
to third world countries to be done by cheaper labor without the costs of
government regulation or the interference from labor unions.
 The proletariat are forced to accept lower wages or, worse, to become
unemployed. In Marx’s terms, they become “pauperized.”
 The middle class will be eliminated through the moves of monopoly
capitalism. The state will be blocked from providing real structural change
by the dominance of the bourgeoisie. The proletariat will comprise the vast
majority and become more progressive. Eventually these contradictions will
produce a revolutionary crisis.
 Then, Marx says, the proletariat will revolt for the benefit of all—this revolt
will mark the end of classes; the antagonistic character of capitalist society
will be at an end.
 It is here where the state withers away, here where “from each according
to his abilities, to each according to his needs” applies.