Karl Marx: biography of this philosopher and sociologist.

The life of one of the most influential philosophers in movements such as communism or feminism.

Surely Karl Marx is remembered, not so much for his socialist and revolutionary ideas, but rather for the direct influence that his theories exerted on governments halfway around the world. This philosopher, economist and sociologist created a current of thought that inspired revolutions in favor of equality in much of the planet.

Undoubtedly, as a historical figure he leaves no one indifferent: political scientists, scientists, humanists, politicians and academics. Political movements such as those linked to collectivist feminism, anti-racism and environmentalism, as well as communists and anarchists in general, have relied on her works. In the following we will give a brief review of the legacy and life of Karl Marx..

The life of Karl Marx: his thought

Karl Marx was a philosopher, thinker and economist influenced by authors such as Hegel, Feuerbach, Proudhon and Engels, the latter being his main colleague at the time.the latter being his main colleague in the development of his work. He was a scholar who broke all the standards of political-economic doctrines, whose hegemony was held by industrial and pseudo-feudal capitalism, due to the exploitation suffered by workers.

Marx made a strong criticism of the capitalist systemwhich he understood as a dynamic of relations and appropriations that had the effect of concentrating power and wealth in a few hands through the generations, and denounced the irregularities of this system. From their point of view, under a false sense of freedom of choice, the poorest populations are obliged to sell their labor power in exchange for a small part of what they generate, which means that they can never negotiate on an equal footing with those who give them work, since the latter is always in a situation of superiority since they own land, factories and machinery.

Their ideology is based on the common interest, solidarity among the working class (those who do not own the means of production (such as the aforementioned factories, machines, etc.) and thus put an end to the plundering of a few in their desire to control the wealth and resources of an entire country. This way of understanding social relations was first embodied in the Manifesto of the Communist Partyand later in other books of his authorship, and especially in his work Capital.

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Father of modern communism

Marxist-rooted communism was the culmination of Marx's thoughts and claims that, according to some experts, was misinterpreted by some of his sympathizers. In fact, Karl Marx himself would later say that he himself was not a "Marxist".

The fact that this thinker encouraged the revolution of the workers against the owners of factories and machines in a context of severe poverty in Europe caused him to be persecuted and forbidden to enter many countries.

Exiled in London in the mid-nineteenth century, and with serious difficulties to earn money because of political pressure against him, Karl Marx met with workers with the same desires for revolution, founding what became known as the "Marxist Workers' Movement.founding what would become known as "The League of the Righteous". Already in 1948, together with Friedrich Engels, he would publish what would become the founding charter of the organization: The Communist Manifesto.

Basically, the communist movement is governed by three pillars: the class struggle, the socialization of the means of production and, above all, the objective of doing away with the statewhich he conceived as an apparatus created to subjugate the working class through laws favoring the rich. Contrary to what some people believe, Marx did not advocate the elimination of private property in general, only that of the means of production, that is, the objects used to generate profits.

Furthermore, this thinker pointed out that communism is opposed to nationalismMarx considered it a mental framework in which people are arbitrarily divided without real justifications beyond feelings of identity and belonging to a collective. Thus, Marx defends a political struggle of transnational character, expressing the famous phrase "Proletarians of the whole world, unite!".

His legacy in politics

Marx died poor, since it was impossible for him to work because of the pressures of politicians and businessmen who controlled the (few) areas to which he could go, and depended economically on his colleague Friedrich Engels.. However, in the intellectual sphere he was very successful, and his influences reach to this day.

On the other hand, we have some examples of the establishment of communism in half of the countries of Eastern Europe, as well as in Southeast Asia, Latin America and some countries of the Middle East.

Some examples of countries whose founding was influenced by the work of Karl Marx:

• The USSR
• The People's Republic of China until the death of Mao Zedong.
• The Yugoslavia of Josip Broz "Tito".
• The Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• Cuba, after the Cuban revolution.
• Salvador Allende's Chile before Pinochet's coup d'état.
• The People's Republic of Bulgaria under Georgi Dimitrov.

As far as social movements are concernedThe struggle for the limitation of working hours, the right to strike, the creation of a minimum wage and of public education and health systems are also political and social elements in whose emergence the work of Karl Marx plays a role.