The Radical Philosopher: Karl Marx Part 1-An Introduction

Here we go again with another series of interesting and mindboggling biography of people that matter in our world’s history. We move our focus to Karl Marx, a renowned philosopher known for his thoughts and ideas on Communism, a form of government most people still find hard to come to terms with all around the world.
Like the previous posts on this blog, the biography on Karl marx will also be released in a series of posts so as to keep you entertained and well informed.

courtesy of biography.com

When we mention some of the vast thinkers that have greatly influenced and expanded our human knowledge, Karl Marx is definitely one of the names to reckon with. He belongs in the same class as Darwin and a few others. He was the first economist to describe the basic laws and mechanisms that drive the world’s economic order of which most of them are still relevant till date.

He greatly influenced the Chinese society and will continue to do so for years to come. The only thing that ever mattered to Marx was freedom since he provided an alternative to Capitalism. Indeed, most people are of the opinion that his thoughts do not seem to work out much with examples clearly seen in the cases of Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China and even in Castro's Cuba. Karl was a strong believer in the fact that social liberation of an individual could only happen if that hope for liberation was available to everyone.

Karl Marx was a philosopher, journalist and an economist whose ideas are still relevant 200 years after his death. His thoughts and ideas spark debates about Capitalism and social inequality in our modern world. He strongly believed that a philospher’s job was not only to interprete the world, but to also change the world. Over the years, many leaders have tried to come up with variants to his ideas in different parts of the world with each leader getting different results respectively. Marx's name has been used to start revolutions and turn societies on their heads.

However, Capitalism which Marx so despises has gained wide spread love and is in practice in almost every country on earth and remains resilient as it has come to stay. In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution was the central preoccupation in Europe. As we all know, everything comes with its pros and cons. The Industrial Revolution’s ground breaking inventions immensely changed lives positively, but it also brought catastrophic working conditions to the human populace. These treatments would later spark a number of uprisings across Europe.

Karl Marx's House In Trier, Germany

Around this period, Karl Marx was born in Trier, now Western Germany where he spent his childhood. He was born into a Jewish family and his father was apparently not allowed to practice law in then Prussia. This eventually lead to the conversion of his family into Protestantism. Born on 5th May. At the young age of 19, Karl Marx began to study law in nearby Bonn and a year later had to move to Berlin. He developed an interest in Philosophy there in Berlin which eventually became his area of focus. Marx had systematically studied works on Doctrine of Dialectics which turned out to be the cornerstone of his many bright future ideas.

Marx argued that industrialization gave rise to a new economic system; Capitalism, which consequently birthed a new class of people; The Proletarians. He believed these Proletarians would eventually cast off the yolk of Capitalist oppression and give rise to a new social order. Marx’s argument did not come to pass as he had predicted until 1917, long after his death. The revolution he had predicted started in a location Marx would not have thought of; Russia. Vladmir Lenin had kick started the communist revolution.

Look out for the next post coming your way soon for a continuation of the biography series on Philospher Karl Marx. Please leave commented and suggestions in the comments section. We continue to pray for our planet and praise those working on the frontline, fighting against the Pandemic ravaging earth at the moment. Do your part and #stay safe.

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