Karl Marx and Veblen essays

Karl Marx and Veblen essays Karl Marxs Core Criticism of Capitalism Karl Marx was born in Trier in the German Rhineland in 1818 (Kemerling 2006). He earned a doctorate degree in Jena in 1841 where he wrote on materialism and atheism of Greek atomists. Later moving to Koln, he founded and edited a radical newspaper, entitled Rehinische Zeitung. His participation in forbidden political movements prevented him working as a journalist in Paris and Brussels to improve his living to support his growing family. Finally, he settled in London in 1849 and there lived in poverty, while studying and developing his economic and political thought and theories (Kemerling). From the start, Marx believed that reality has a material or economic, rather than abstract or idealistic, base (Kemerling 2006). He thought that philosophy itself should have practical use in order to change the world. He set forth his core economic analysis in his Economic and Political Manuscripts of 1844, which argued that the conditions of industrial societies would invariably separate or alienate workers from their own labor. He also opposed the lingering influence of religion over politics and suggested a revolutionary restructuring of European society. He explained his economic theories in his work, Das Capital, published in 1867-95, and Theory of Surplus Value, published in 1862. He and his colleague Friedrich Engles later together wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 aimed at precipitating social revolution. Communist Manifesto describes the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, explains the difference of Communism from other socialist movement s, contains a list of social reforms, and moves workers to unite and revote against existing regimes (Kemerling). Marxs historical materialism, his theory of history, holds that forms of society rise and fall as they proceed and then impede the development of human productive power (Woolf 2003) He s...