Karl Marx

Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, defined communism. In the Communist Manifesto, which they wrote and published themselves in London in 1848, Marx and Engels portrayed the natural evolution of a communist utopia from capitalism. This revolutionary theory added fuel to the social struggles that characterized Europe during the latter half of the 19th century. Marx theorized that competition among capitalists would force more and more of them to be enveloped by the growing masses. A proletarian dictatorship would rule until all vestiges of capitalism had been eliminated; a communist utopia would then naturally emerge. Marx and Engels founded the International Workingman’s Association in 1864 to actively advocate their position and consider ways to speed the process.

Archiv Fur Kunst und Geschicte

Appears in these articles

Economics; Communist Manifesto; History and Historiography; Open Society; Marxism; International; Marx, Karl; Communism; Revolutions of 1848; Sociology; Germany, Federal Republic of

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