KARL MARX
Vall Ajgaonkar, Daniel Dunlap,
Ethan Genteman, and Benjamin Schneider
AGENDA
His critique of the political economy
 Das Kapital
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Labor Theory of Value
Communist Manifesto
Flaws of Capitalism
 Inevitable World Revolution
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Lasting Legacy
 Marx’s Biography
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Fun Facts
CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL
ECONOMY AND DAS KAPITAL
CONTRIBUTION TO CRITIQUE OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY (1859)
States that British classical economists had erred
by confusing the laws of the development of the
economy.
 More generally speaking he thought they were
confused on the construction of society according
to the laws of nature, and did not take into
consideration the laws of motion of history
 Economic features are distilled from the features
of specific historical periods.
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thus feudalism, gave rise to capitalism, which
because of its own internal contradictions, would give
rise to another form of social organization.
CONTRIBUTION TO CRITIQUE OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY (1859)
Explained what Marx believed was a complex
system of relations among the individuals
characterizing society at a given time, and lays
down much of the groundwork needed to
understand Das Kapital more famous writing
 Made the distinction between the ‘economic base’
or ‘structure’ of society and its ‘superstructure’
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‘structure,’ consists of four economic features:
production, exchange, distribution, and consumption
 ‘superstructure,’ consisted of the remaining aspects of
society such as politics, religion, art, etc.
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MARX’S MODES OF PRODUCTION
The ancient mode of production
 The feudal mode of production
 The capitalistic mode of production
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DAS KAPITAL (1867)
Was a critique of capitalism
 Analyses the laws which regulate the capitalist
mode of production when reduced to their essence
 The analysis is simplified in abstract terms, in
the sense that only two classes exist in society,
the salaried workers and the capitalists
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Explores the relationship between value,
exchange, and commodities
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A commodity is an external object that satisfies a
human need either directly or indirectly.
MARX’S DEFINITION OF WEALTH
“the wealth of those societies in which the capitalist
mode of production prevails, presents itself as an
immense accumulation of commodities
LABOR THEORY OF VALUE
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Useful things
Quality and quantity
 Many attributes
 Can be used in many ways
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“use-value”
in relation to commodities' quality
 trait of the thing itself
 independent of the amount of labor needed to make
the commodity useful
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LABOR THEORY OF VALUE (CONT.)
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Exchange-value
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the proportion by which use-values of one kind exchange
for use-values of other kinds.
For example, corn and iron have an exchange
relation, which means that a certain amount of corn
equals a certain amount of iron. Each must therefore
equal a third common element, and can be reduced to
this thing.
The common element cannot be a natural property of
the commodity, but rather must be abstracted away
from its use-value.
Discarding use-values, only one property remains—
the commodities are the products of abstract human
labor. They are "congealed quantities of homogenous
human labor." This common factor in the
exchange-value of the commodity is its value.
LABOR THEORY OF VALUE (CONT.)

Implications
price of commodities comes from how much labor was
put into them
 objects with natural use-value:
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forests and other natural resources
 do not have value because no labor went into them
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Is this problematic?
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It is for modern theory, where exchange value is
rooted in people's subjective preferences.
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
HISTORY OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
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Written in Brussles, Belgium
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Authors: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
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Published on February 21st, 1848
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Story of the class struggles throughout history
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In 2010, a modernized comic book version was
released
AUDIENCE
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This was NOT a book but a political pamphlet
Targeted at the public to publicize the
Communists’ views and beliefs
Meant to be easily grasped by a general audience
“THE HISTORY OF ALL HITHERTO EXISTING
SOCIETY IS THE HISTORY OF CLASS STRUGGLES.”
IDEAS
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Proletariat vs Bourgeois
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Class Struggle is unavoidable in Capitalism
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Capitalism is unstable
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Personal status = Social status
MORE IDEAS
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Communists are the most advanced section of the
working class parties.
Communists and the Proletarians both have the
same goal.
Communism can be summed up into one
sentence: Abolition of private property.
GOALS
Analyze problems with capitalism and the effect
of class struggle
 Defend Communism from objections
 Outline demands for implementation of
communism
 Prediction of a World Revolution
 Declaration of Allegiance
 Rally the Proletarians and motivate a
Communist Revolution
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RECEPTION

European Revolutionary Wave of 1848

Marx was accused of arming Belgian workers
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Authorities used The Communist Manifesto as
evidence to blame Marx for collapse
Marx was forced to flee Brussels in Belgium
IN 2010, A MODERNIZED COMIC BOOK VERSION WAS
RELEASED
MARX’S LASTING LEGACY
WIDESPREAD INFLUENCE
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Marx is thought as one of the most influential thinkers in
history
Enormous influence on world politics and intellectual
thought
Remembered for his ethical message of “morally
empowering language of critique” against capitalist society
Marx’s ideas led to the establishment of governments using
Marxist thoughts to replace capitalism with communism or
socialism/market socialism
His intellectual thought has influenced academic study of
the humanities and arts
MARXISM
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Marxism as an economic and sociopolitical worldview
Marxism views the socialist system as being prepared
by the historical development of capitalism
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Historical Materialism
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Transition of capitalism to socialism is inevitable
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This conversion would lead to increased productivity
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The 1917 October Revolution was the first large scale
attempt to put Marxist ideas into practice
CRITICISM

Criticized for the inevitability of socialist revolutions
to overturn capitalism

Soviet Union collapse
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People’s Republic of China shifting towards a market
economy
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Increased profits from investments in human capital
and technology
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Labor Theory of Value
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Marxism as the ideology of totalitarian states
THE LIFE OF AN ANGRY MAN
EARLY LIFE
Born 1818 in Trier
 Eldest brother died at age
of 4
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Terrorized his lessintelligent siblings
Feared and revered in
school
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Clever pranks and
sarcastic quips
DUAL INFLUENCE

Marx loved his father

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Lawyer and vineyard owner
Neighbor Baron von Westphalen was like an
uncle to young Karl
Father: Newton, Locke, Leibnitz
 Baron: Shakespeare, Homer, Lord Byron
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KARL’S KILLER COLLEGE LIFE
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University of Bonn
Enjoyed drinking
 Gambled much of his father’s
money
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Transferred to University of
Berlin
Unkempt, shaggy
 Skipped class a lot
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Death of Father (1838)
Turning point
 Quickly finished his degree from
Univeristyof Jena
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THE YOUNG MAN AS A JOURNALIST
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Began work at Rheinische Zeitung
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But gained a wife!
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Became editor at age of 24
Govt shut down the paper
Marx lost job
Jenny von Westphalen
1843 moved to Paris
Met Freidrich Engels
 Loved the work of Hegel
 Began writing
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Main point: The foundations of capitalism were quickly
crumbling and that the masses would soon erupt in
revolution and shake the owners till they tumbled from
their pedestals
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Buchholz, Todd G. New Ideas from Dead
Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic
Thought. London: Penguin, 2007. Print.
 Vaggi, G., & Groenewegen, P. (2003). A Concise
History of Economic Thought. New York:
Palgrave MacMillan
 "Karl Marx." Wikipedia. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx>.
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