KNTV PHILOSOPHY

KARL MARX (1818-1883)

The Big Daddy of communism and a revolutionary philosopher, Karl Marx was the man who urged workers to unite, but he didn't live to see his ideology put into practice.

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

00:00 – 04:12

Take a fish, and you can eat today. Take a rod, and you can eat every day. Marx said workers should seize the means of production for themselves.

04:13 – 07:00
WHAT was Marx's big idea?

Marx talked about the class struggle between the workers (who had no stake in the goods they produced) and the bourgeoisie (who enjoyed the fruits of the workers' labour and owned all the means of production). Marx thought the upper classes had an easy time of it, and that they used religion to keep workers in their place. Society was too competitive because under the capitalist system everyone was fighting for more wealth, so his answer was communism, where wealth could be distributed equally. Marx dreamt that workers would band together and revolt in order to grab control from the bourgeois minority.

07:01 – 11:44
WHO was Karl Marx?

Marx wasted his first year at Bonn University in socialising, and was moved to Berlin. He married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843, despite her family's disapproval, and the couple was always poor. Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a close and influential friend. Marx was untidy, none too clean and a heavy drinker. He thought nothing of staying awake all night and sleeping all day.

11:45 – 15:06
WHEN Marx was around, what else was going on?

The early 19th century was a time of uncertainty and, in Germany, freedom of speech was unknown. Society was based around agriculture, and life was hard. As the century progressed, communications improved, with the invention of the postage stamp, Morse Code and, in 1876, the telephone. The working classes were restless, and Marx and communism played a crucial part in the move towards change. Marx was inspired by the poverty he witnessed, and by Charles Dickens, who wrote about working-class life.

15:07 – 19:34
WHY did Marx's ideas happen?

As a boy, Marx listened in on intellectual conversation at home and saw poor people toiling for little reward. He was influenced by Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Georg Hegel (1770-1831). In Paris he met Engels, with whom he co-authored the Communist Manifesto.

19:35 – 24:00
WHERE have Marx's ideas left us now?

Almost half the countries in the world have been under Marxist rule during the 20th century. Many of these have moved far from Marx's ideals, having been led by cruel dictators, like Stalin and Pol Pot, who crushed the workers rather than liberating them. The destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolised the end of communism in Europe. Marx's ideas on free education, an end to child labour, and state ownership of major industries have been widely adopted. Many people still see communism as undesirable. Problems that dogged society in Marx's time still exist, and in capitalist societies the rich continue to have advantages over the poor.