Anybody know Karl Marx?

Question

I've been studying some different form of society and have always been wondering about communism. Does anybody believe in Karl Marx's ideas. Specifically, does anybody believe in one of his ideas that God was just a made up being by the rich to keep the poor hoping to have a better afterlife? what u guys think

Answer 1

Good question. According to Karl Marx, a society also evolves like any living organism: from the promitive stage to the most advanced stage. (c.f. Dialectic Materialism) To Karl Marx, Capitalism is just one transitional phase, which has to be fully developed, before it can reach to the next transitional phase "socialism" and then to the theoretical final phase "communism."

One thing that is not commonly known is that to Karl Marx, society also goes through evolution: in which capitalism is one of the phases and the communism being the theoretical final phase of thedevelopment. (c.f. Dialectic Materialism) Because Karl Marx simply thought that proletariats can take care of themselves, he did not lay out what's to come in communism. Whether or not Karl Marx counts as a communism really depends on what is meant by the word 'communism.' Strictly speaking, Karl Marx is not a marxist too; so 'communism' and 'marxism' are not the same too.

What's commonly understood in West as 'communism' come's from Lenin's interpretation on what's to come in the final phase of the society's development and etc etc. In fact, historically the word 'communism' was understood quite differently. i.e. First International, Second International, Third International...etc etc To Marx, countries like USSR, Cuba or even China are at somewhere between Capitalism and Socialism and never the communism.

To Marx, the society has the final stage (a communist society), as I said before, is not clearly laid out. He envisioned a thriving industrial society like Tokyo or Hong Kong; where people can walk into any store and get them for free. In a nutshell, it is a high tech utopia Karl Marx wanted to see.

In regards to existence of God, do I believe it? Religion may be tactically integrated into politics for politicans to take better control over public. At least in that sense, I agree with Karl Marx.

Answer 2

Marx was a big fan of encouraging class warfare and division to attain his political goals. His characterizations and demonization of certain classes of society--the rich, the entrepreneurs, the owners of production--were so ignorant that they must have been deliberate lies to stir resentment and rebellion. And apparently it worked quite well. Religion was just another tool for him to use to incite hatred against those he branded as ideological enemies.

Marx's ideas, and communism in general, fail on at least two counts. First, they ignore human nature, pretending that humans are completely altruistic and don't mind living in subservience and poverty. Which is kind of ironic, since many religions also preach this.

Second, they ignore the most basic laws of economics. The laws of supply & demand are in effect no matter what system you have in place, and when you introduce market distortions such as wage controls, centralized planning of production and price controls, these results cause harmful consequences and build up over time. Communism was not destroyed by capitalism, it imploded completely on its own, and no amount of tweaking or "great leadership" can prevent this inevitability. The only communist nations to flourish, like China and the former East Germany, have done so because they've moved strongly towards capitalism. All the others have either collapsed or remain mired in perpetual crushing poverty.

As can be seen from some of the other answers here, Marx's ideas still carry some credibility. I find this to be a dangerous thing, in the same way that creationism is still taken seriously by some. Peoples' attachment to his ideas seem largely emotional-based, as they sure as hell can't justify his ideas on either scientific, economic, moral, or practical grounds.

Answer 3

His "Religion is opium for the masses" comment wasn't saying that god was an invention for the rich. Rather it was an idea that the rich cherished, because it would stop poor people striving for a better life in the here and now. So they didn't invent the idea of God, but they were thankfully using it.

In many ways the ideas of Marx are still true. The reason why communism didn't work is because people who possess things (lots of them or few of them, that doesn't matter) are proud and protective of these and would want to keep them for themselves. Capitalism has cherished this idea by giving more to everyone (in capitalistic countries), rather then sharing everything. But his idea that the masses are controlled by a small group of influential people is still true, be it that it isn't the noblemen or the Bourgeoisies anymore but the very rich people now.

But rather then being optimistic like Marx was that people will get a better life if they are conscious of the powers that be and overthrow them, I'm inclined to believe that the masses will always be oblivious of this fact and live their little lives and try to be happy anyway.

Answer 4

Haven't met the man myself...

About his ideas... well, a friend of mine said once that communism will work from the very moment all 3 year olds stop saying "I" all by themselves.

His ideas may sound great if you live in a vacuum, but unfortunately it all goes against human nature (more specifically, people's survival instincts).

Answer 5

Ah "Religion is the opium of the masses" He didn't mean that god was made up for the poor. He meant that the poor satisfied themselves that poverty was gods will and there would be a better "after" life.

Answer 6

I prefer Groucho Marx

Answer 7

I've read the Communist Manifesto and I'm currently struggling through Capital. Great writer, very very interesting.

Answer 8

noooooo

i didn't know him... geez... he died in 1883...

and he was Jewish, by the way.... interesting in comparison to his adult religion if you can call it that...

ok, so i don't believe God was made up by the rich... what hope would the rich have? or did they not worry about that since they were poor?

communism doesn't work. an attempt for equality is a "nice" thought for a second, but not in reality!!! it has failed miserably in the past, and i would never give it a chance again.

Answer 9

ahhh but "Genesis", His Holiness the Dalai Lama said the communism is the closest form of government that relates to the Buddhist philosophy. The most practical for his religion.

Answer 10

Marxist ideas in theory are phenomenal, but his ideas in practice fail to work, because of greed, and desire.

Look at USSR: Stalin
Look at North Korea: Kim
Look at Vietnam: 50,000 American soldiers died in the most useless war in history.