Free Example of Evaluation of Karl Marx's Idea Essay

Since Thomas More wrote his “Utopia” in 1516 and most likely many centuries before, people have been dreaming about the perfect political and social system within their countries and all over the world. However, this dream is mainly nurtured by the working class, which in times of economic crisis cannot maintain their social role and is left behind with no means to work and live. Different political systems, theories, and ideas are used to gain better economic control in the country. According to Karl Marx’s idea, the one that controls economy also controls political area that is a tool which drives the thinking stream of society. Nowadays, Marx’s ideas are disputable among scholars, scientists, and researchers considering Marxism theory, issues of unemployment, and social inequality.

Karl Marx was born in Trier in the family originated from well-off layer. He gained a remarkable education in the university of law and was interested in studying philosophy. He became an inspirer of the revolution rather than a revolutionary himself. Karl Marx graduated with Ph degree in 1836 from a high rank University of Berlin. He began to work for a weekly newspaper but shortly became unemployed. Marx worked as a free-lance writer.  In 1849, he was exiled from Germany for his radical activities and settled in France, however, Marx was asked to leave the country. At the end, the scientist and his family stayed in London, where they lived in extreme isolation and poverty. Marx even asked his friend Engels to help cure illnesses of his children. He did not have money for medicine. Marx could not accept that kind of living, and most of his time till the end of his days, he spent time in isolation working on the masterpiece “Das Kapital”. This book has made his idea and convictions popular among the scientific thought of the world.

Karl Marx has created an economic doctrine that is called Marxism. It is based on the philosophy of history which explains the theory of revolution as a result of changes in society. According to Marx, individual thinking does not exist. He claimed that the majority of people followed the doctrines of their time and repeated ideas and attitudes of their days. Marx has extended an idea of the one who controls economic sector and mainly runs the process of thinking in society. Everybody who does not have an access to political area is parroting the ruling class. “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force”. Therefore, people do not know anything. They are production of the capitalist model. The general rule in his idea was that political history can be explained and predicted based on the relation between two antagonistic economic classes. Everything depends on that which class controls the state. 

Marxism was used widely in the 20th century and is still a rational core in the politics of some countries. During the 80’s, half of the planet’s population lived according to Marx’s ideology. Until the collapse of socialism, the Russian, Chinese, and Cuban were leading followers of Marxism. Marx’s doctrine has created one of the most technically perspective and highly developing communities. GDP of the USSR was on the third place in the world. 80 % of the population consisted of labor force occupying industry; almost whole society was working in production. Export was the main direction in the economic flow. Education was highly centralized. 98 % of children were attending schools in cities and 66% in the villages.  Almost 70 % of the population has gained a diploma in the specific field. Theaters, movies, and social grounds were created. People were employed and forced to work. Surely, this is not actually corresponding to the norms of Geneva Convention. However, people did not claim on the lack of money, only on the lack of production. There was no healthy market competition, but the market itself with thousands of factories, production lines, and industrial enterprises was growing and developing.

China is one of modern countries which are still living accordingly to the Marxism ideas and political believes. They set up capitalism ideas and in the beginning of the 90th became one of the most rapidly developing industrial countries.  Nowadays, China is the leading exporting country all over the world. Any household does not exist without at least one product from China. Chinese language has become one of the leading ones on the market. The working class is the largest in this country. It is much bigger that in Marx’s time and is growing every year. More and more fields are created to attract workers and working places. The workers are paid the same amount year after year although the prices rise rapidly. They still get employed and bring the best deposit into their country.

In the 2008, the world economic crises began. That time the sales of “Das Kapital” have risen. Some researchers considered it as renaissance of the capitalism. Half of the Germans confirmed in a survey that they did not think that the free-market economy is healthy. They would like to return socialism back. A huge percentage of the former social republics also confirm that they had better life objectives during times of socialism as there was a clear path that you could take and surely get a job and a constant income. Many people associate Marxism with the times of Stalin and his repressions, however, this is not the depth of its philosophy. Any idea and thesis can be interpreted in a different way. Everything depends on the one who takes it into action. If the ideas of socialism and capitalism could be studied by high rank professors and politics after being brought to action in a healthy and the repression-free way it could actually help the world to get out of the economic crises and moreover help to develop the third-world countries. This can be achieved only by clear mind and logical thinking.