Karl Marx (1818-1883), the "father of Communism," wanted to reform the capitalist system. His definition of communism was a system of social organization in which goods are held in common. Communism is a dictatorship of the Proletariat (working class) which controls all activities to produce a classless society. Marx was German with a big education. He believed in the patterns of history. He saw lots of suffering and a rigid authoritarian government. He studied law and philosophy. He met Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in 1842. They visited in 1844 in Paris and began to work together. Engels was the son of an industrialist. Engels tells Marx about the abuses of capitalism and how very badly the workers were treated. Marx sees that the owners get incredibly rich while the workers remain very poor. Marx began to speak against capitalism. Marx was expelled from France in 1845. He lived in Belgium for a while. Marx (with Engels) wrote the Communist Manifesto denouncing the capitalist system in 1847. In 1848 (when the Revolutions of 1848 were ravishing the European continent), the Belgian government banished Marx, so he traveled to France and Germany. After he was banished from both countries, Marx settled down in England and worked on Das Kapital (first published in 1867). This book is a historical analysis of the economics of the capitalist system. Nobody read his books much in his day. He was a scholar, not a revolutionist. He later became interested in the French Revolution and why it ultimately failed. He thought that if he could understand that, he could make other revolutions succeed.
According to Marx there are 5 phases of history: 1. Primitive communal–when people hunted. 2. Slaves found in ancient Greece and Rome. 3. Feudal (Middle Ages)–knights and serfs. 4. Capitalist (from 1500 on). 5. Socialist-communist (the end of history). The engine of change (moving from one phase in history to another) is class conflict. Marx thought this class conflict is what caused all of the other phases of history to fail. This class conflict causes revolution. Dialectical Materialism is a logical argument/discussion about owns what. There is always going to be class conflict until the Communist phase of history begins, in which there will be only one class, so there will be no more class conflict, struggle, revolution.
The Bourgeoisie ("City Dwellers") are the ones who have the big money and industry. The Proletariat is the working class (lowest class in ancient Rome). The bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat. The bourgeoisie own the means of production (transportation, goods, etc.). The Surplus Value is the profit of the bourgeoisie. Cost includes the cost of goods, machinery, and labor. Price is the cost of something plus the profit (Surplus Value). The capitalist has done nothing to earn the surplus value and it should go to the workers. The workers are exploited!!
Actually, this is wrong cuz the capitalist owns the building, machinery, etc. and has money tied up in the factories–money he risks losing. The workers are exploited though cuz capitalists compete. People shop in a capitalist system. The lowest prices for the best stuff is what people buy. The bourgeoisie owner must cut wages to keep prices low. Everybody is trapped. Even the good owners who don't cut wages lose because those good owners will eventually go out of business and the workers will be unemployed. Pretty soon the workers revolt.
Marx says that starving workers are the makings of a revolution. It is the law of history. The workers will seize the plant, kill the owners, and there will eventually be a classless society. The lower class will set up the dictatorship of the proletariat. Everything will be owned in common. After everybody is equal, the dictatorship of the proletariat and government will be gone and everybody will be happy with no class distinctions. All this hoo-rah-rah is Marx's ideas, which, by the way, won't work. It won't work cuz: 1. It's unpredictable. Marx thought he had a basic law. According to him, the revolution of the working class should come in England first cuz they had the most industry and were the furthest ahead. Instead, it came in Russia, which was one of the countries which was furthest behind. 2. Marx said that working conditions would get worse and instead they got better with reforms and the workers unionizing. 3. People aren't as bad as Marx thought. People are not always driven by things (i.e. religion, greed, etc. are driving forces). Some people are very happy just existing with their lives as they are. 4. Accidents happen so that nothing is predictable or plan-able. The growth of labor unions and governmental control over businesses prevented revolution.
Marx showed how earning a living was decided by the level of economic life. Even your religion and friends are decided by how much money you make. The upper class are usually rich Protestants. Marx isn't really terribly scientific; he just guesses. A lot of what he thought would cause revolution happened slowly (labor unions, keep wages at a decent rate–minimum wage, etc. instead of revolutions). Marx didn't think this would happen–one strike during his time failed and the government began to regulate. Communism doesn't work because you are guaranteed a job and make the same amount of money no matter how much work you do. There is no reason to work hard. "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us" is a famous quote about life under communism.
Anarchism was based on Rousseau's ideas. The Romantic says that everyone is basically good. People turn bad cuz institutions corrupt them. So, if you get rid of the oppressing government and institutions, people will revert back to being good. Pierre Proudhon (1809-1865) was the father of anarchy. The black flag symbolized paranoia, that everyone (Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984) is watching you. They hated Marxists.
Socialism is the collective or governmental ownership and the democratic management of major industries (oil production, steel, coal, hospitals, air transportation, etc.)–things that are so essential to everyone that everyone should own it together. You own it through the government. Almost all of Europe is run like that. In the United States, the major industries are regulated by the government but not owned by the government. Socialists don't own everything or share everything.
Revisionism is a revision of Marx's ideas. They would settle for daily laws to make capitalism work. The lower and middle classes don't disappear. Marxists say revisionists have sold out.