Thursday, November 19, 2009

Karl Marx and Communism


Communism is basically a system that has a goal to get rid of private ownership and to also get rid of the classes of a society. Karl Marx was not happy with the Industrial Revolution. He believed that it was wrong how the factory owners would most of the money while the factory workers worked long, exhausting hours and got paid a low amount of money. Karl Marx's idea of communism was pretty much the same as the definition I provided above. He wanted everyone to share equal wealth, not one person to be paid more than the other just because of their position in the classes of the society.



Karl Marx wanted communism to take over the world because he believes that history has been a series of class struggles, mainly between the working class and the owners of the capital. The owners of the capital would be having all the fun while the working class would work these long hours with only a short period of time for food. This is why Karl Marx saw the owners of the factories as the 'bad guys' and the factory workers as the 'good guys'. He predicted that the 'good guys' would stand up for themselves and try to overthrow the 'bad guys' so that they could try to make a change of the situation.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution


Due to the poor treatment of workers in Europe, Karl Marx wasn't seen as a big fan of the Industrial Revolution. Women and children had to be sent out to work in factories just so that they could support their families since they were poor. They had no other choice after being struck with poverty. Factory owners liked that children were available to work because they were easier to control. The heartbreaking thing was that they were controlled by being violently beaten so that they could follow orders. Children were used to get coal from unsafe places in the mines and since they had small hands they would be ordered to reach into parts of machines. Sometimes young workers were forced to work eighteen hours a day, which didn't leave a fair amount of time for a much needed rest. Workers in a factory weren't even paid a well amount of money.


This is the reason why Karl Marx believed that factory workers should control the factories instead of the landlords. Maybe that way conditions wouldn't be so unjust. Karl Marx wanted workers to become one and go against their factory owners instead of keeping quiet and continuing to be treated unfairly. Factory owners lived the good life, something they did not deserve. It is the main reason why the Industrial Revolution inspired Karl Marx to invent Communism. Communism is basically the idea that people share the same wealth in a society. Communism wasn't all that good, though. These types of governments were strict and dictatorial. Workers would be forced to work on massive pieces of farmland. Those who wanted to print news stories criticizing the government weren't allowed to. If they decided to go against the Soviet government, they would suffer the harsh consequences.