The Life of Karl Marx
Marx, being a classical economist, dealt with positive economics. What he tried to do was the opposite of what most critics were trying to do at that time. Other people were challenging the actual natural economic laws, while Marx was trying very hard to work within and with the laws. In order for this to be done, Marx had to be well educated and know this material well. Otherwise it would have been very simple for anybody to criticize his work, and his ideas.
Karl Marx protested many aspects of the economic system, beginning very early on in his life. As a young man Marx decided to become an Atheist, proving that he did question virtually everything in his life, and he decided to begin his studies in the field of philosophy. After that concluded Marx studied journalism and began writing for a newspaper. This would lead to some trouble for Karl Marx. Very early on in his journalism career, Marx was expelled from the city of Cologne in Germany for writing radical articles in the local paper. From there he moved to Paris where more trouble ensued because Marx began to associate himself with socialists and other radical groups located in the area. Again, Marx was forced out of his new home in Paris for what he was doing, and he moved on to Belgium this time. It was here that this brilliant man continued studying the writings of classical economists, socialists, and other philosophers. One of the economists Marx thoroughly studied was David Ricardo, creator of The Ricardian Model. This was a theoretical model, which showed in great detail the way the market process directs and controls an economy of “Laissez-Faire” and competition. It also emphasized the importance of the growth of capital with regards to savings and investments. A large reason Marx criticized Ricardo was because his views concerning the future of the people were very negative while Marx tried to convince people they could take control and make things better. Another criticism of The Ricardian Model was that the model explained an economic system that encompassed things that would lead to it’s own destruction.
What exactly was going on during this time period that so many critics came out of the woodwork? People in the mid 1800’s were miserable. Most of them were living in very poor conditions where they lacked possessions and any opportunities to better themselves. The majority of the population just kept plugging along in order to survive. The people were starving and riots were taking place all over Europe. The overall population was increasing at a very high rate and the country could not keep up, nor did they even try to.
So in 1848 when Karl Marx was 30, he published a quite outspoken pamphlet that was an attack on the market system of that time. The title of this pamphlet was “The Manifesto of the Communist Party” and it was a pamphlet calling for and predicting the end of capitalism. Also helping create this pamphlet was Marx’s good friend Friedrich Engels. Together they asked the people to begin a revolution and ultimately overthrow the government in Europe and take over large corporations and factories that were being harshly run by capitalists. They said in this pamphlet:
“A spectre is haunting Europe. The spectre of communism.”
This quote took the problem of that time and threw it in front of people’s faces. It forced them to recognize what was going on, and it interested them and kept them reading.
When this pamphlet was released, Karl Marx was again exiled, and had to move on to make yet another new home in England. This time it was for good because this is where he spent the rest of his life. Marx got married, had a child, and carried on with the ideas that would some day make him one of the greatest economists of not just this century, but for centuries to come. Who knows what it was that made Marx so different from the others? He observed the same things that others observed, but always came to different conclusions. In fact, better conclusions because he has become more legendary and remarkable than the others. More and more people began to recognize the name Karl Marx, and many people had questions for Marx because of the very risky things that he said. One and maybe the only flaw that Marx had regarding his “Manifesto of the Communist Party” was that he wasn’t entirely sure what to say about what would be the outcome if communism was overthrown, except that he was sure that things would be better. What he did once say was:
“All will share in the output and without the selfish greed of the capitalists there will be enough for all of the people to have all they want of everything.”
This statement was probably something that raised a lot of people’s spirits and gave them hope that something might happen some day that will better their lifestyles. Other professionals didn’t agree with Marx for the most part, but common people being directly affected by all of this may have wanted somebody to listen to, and explain things to them. Marx’s plan was to overthrow the government. If people wanted to live better lives, they needed to listen to him and carry this plan out, and take back their capital. This would end capitalism.
Almost twenty years after his first pamphlet Karl Marx published the first part of his “book”, called Das Kapital, or in English: capital. At the time the first part of this book came out, people called it “remarkable.” Marx spent the past twenty years learning more than he already knew, and he progressed intellectually. In Das Kapital, Marx is a visionary, a revolutionist, a philosopher, and a poor bitter man. He comes across as a genius economist. This book explains how economic forces evolve, and will eventually lead to a revolution. That revolution being the overthrow of capitalism. He said that:
“Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.” Marx figured out what was actually going on behind closed doors, and he made it his duty to pass this information along to people who may not have understood why things were the way they were. Capitalists were forcing workers to work extremely long hours, and they weren’t receiving the pay they should have been. The capitalist keeps this pay for themselves and invests it into buying things like more equipment for their factories, and even opening more factories. With all this new equipment, the capitalists figure out that they need more help around, but this also increases the rate of pay, so capitalists do what they can to rid themselves of high wage laborers. This ultimately kills the economy because profit eventually falls to an incredible low. Marx goes on to explain how things just continue on in a downward spiral in which things just continue to get worse and worse. Marx never blamed the problems on change. He knew change could be good, but not when it was because of greedy capitalists.
The second part of Das Kapital was not published for another twenty years, and the third part was published nine years later. Both the second and third parts were published by Friedrich Engels, in honor of carrying out his good friend’s beliefs because it was Marx who gave people a reason to believe better times could come. He gave them the logical information they needed in order to take a stand, and eliminate the capitalists. After Karl Marx’s death his ideas were accepted and his spirit lived on in these people, and in the socialist movement. His original ideas continued to be used in other revolutions long after the specific one he was dedicated to wasn’t an issue any longer.
Personally I respect what Marx set out to do. This overthrow of capitalism was a huge issue at that time and people governing the country, and running these businesses didn’t want to hear what he had to say. This was obvious since Karl Marx was thrown out of numerous places and told to go live somewhere else. Though he did move on, he never stopped writing, or trying to get his point across and help people realize what they had to do if they wanted to better themselves, and better their homeland. Here in the United States, we have the freedom to say whatever we want, and protest what we want as long as they are non-violent protests, and there are people who still wouldn’t dream of doing what Marx did. I am probably one of those people. He put himself out on the line, and received so much criticism for what he was doing, but he kept going on, and putting out his publications despite what was being said. This is what amazes me about Karl Marx, and what I believe makes him such a great economist of the past. His theories, and his beliefs, and his drive to do what he wanted to do was so great and so powerful, that nobody can deny that he has made a huge impact on economic history. In the eulogy that Friedrich Engels gave at Karl Marx’s funeral he said:
“His name will endure through the ages and so will his work.”
So many years later, this is still true, and I believe it will continue to be this way for a very long time. This is such an important issue in economic history (The issue of capitalism) that it will always be discussed in classrooms, and it is inevitable that Karl Marx’s name will be mentioned and discussed, and will always appear in text books as long as there are text books. His name will endure throughout the ages.
