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Karl Marx: A Short Presentation
1. Who Was Karl Marx?
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Born: May 5, 1818 in Trier, Prussia (now Germany)
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Died: March 14, 1883 in London, England
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Profession: Philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, and journalist
2. Main Ideas
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Historical Materialism: History is driven by material conditions and class struggle.
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Class Struggle: Society evolves through conflict between classes — primarily between the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) and the proletariat (working class).
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Alienation: Under capitalism, workers are alienated from the products of their labor, from themselves, and from others.
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Revolution: Believed capitalism would eventually be overthrown by a proletarian revolution, leading to a classless and stateless communist society.
3. Key Works
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The Communist Manifesto (1848, with Friedrich Engels): A call to arms for workers of the world.
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Das Kapital (Volume I, 1867): A critical analysis of capitalism and its dynamics.
4. Legacy
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Founder of Marxist theory
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Influenced major political movements, revolutions, and ideologies throughout the 20th century (e.g., socialism, communism)
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Still studied in philosophy, economics, sociology, and political science today
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Karl Marx – Best Quotes
1. On Revolution and Change
“Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.”
— Theses on Feuerbach (1845)
2. On Capitalism
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
— The Communist Manifesto (1848)
3. On Work and Alienation
“The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces.”
— Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)
4. On Freedom
“The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”
— The Communist Manifesto (1848)
5. On Religion
“Religion is the opium of the people.”
— Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1843)
6. On Capital
“Capital is dead labour, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.”
— Das Kapital (1867)
7. On History
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please.”
— The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
Let me know if you want these quotes designed for a video, slide deck, or social media post — I can format them visually too.