Introduction to Marxism

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)• German Jewish economist and

philosopher.• Considered the founder of modern

communism.• 2 major publications. The Communist

Manifesto / Des Kapital.• Historian Francis Wheen considered

the "history of the twentieth century" to be "Marx's legacy”

• Marx predicted that the world would be engulf by an inevitable revolution of the poor overthrowing the rich and this would led to a permanent state of global communism.

Quotes from Marx.

• - 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'

• - 'The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.'

• - 'Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.'

• ‘Religion is the opium of the masses’• “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling

ideas…”

This Cartoon could be

considered Marxist. What does it mean?

How could this cartoon be considered Marxist?