Initially, Communism began as a critique of liberalism and the importance given to self- interest and competition. Although Karl Marx is considered to be the perpetrator of Communism, the origin of Socialism can be traced back to 380BC. In Plato’s Republic, he says that in an ideal society, there is a communal sharing of goods although it is restricted to a particular class, the Guardians.
Saint Simon (1760-1825), a French aristocrat, was one of the first thinkers to give Socialism a scientific basis. According to him, there would be an establishment of an industrial society. In this form of society, the ‘individual’ has no importance or significance. He places more value on the production capacity of an individual rather the person as an individual entity himself.
Robert Owen (1771-1858) was another supporter of socialism. According to him, “Drunkenness, debauchery, theft and other evils
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As said in the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle.” Different classes will always have opposing interests, objectives and aspirations because of which class struggle is unavoidable. This is why Marx has modified Hegel’s theory of dialectics as a more materialistic interpretation of dialectics. This is also known as dialectic materialism.
Marx viewed history as the struggle of different classes over material or economic interests and resources. Material production has two components which are the forces of production and the social relations of production. The sources of production differ from society to society. Initially in a primitive society, the forces of production were wild animals and weapons such as the bow and arrow. Once society evolved into an agrarian one, the forces of production became the seeds, the ploughs etc. In the industrial society, the forces of production included raw material and