Karl Marx Research Paper

Karl Marx, one of the most controversial economic thinkers of past and current times. His legacy as one of the fundamental revolutionary minds behind communism with labels of a rather dangerous philosopher has earned him a reputation that will last centuries to come. Karl Marx first became famous for his revolutionary ideas after his time at the University of Bonn in Berlin. In Das Capital, Marx discusses the struggle between classes and presses for a need in revolution for economic justice. He saw that the worker was being treated unfairly. For Marx, he believed that production would occur among individuals, and that production in a capitalistic society favored the rich factory owners and the workers in a factory suffered. However, this “production

Marx’s ideas about the “labor theory of value” states that: the value of an exchangeable good lies in the amount of labor required to produce it. He vied that the value added by a worker is more than the wages he earns. We saw this rather odd aspect in our text and in a few discussion post. Marx later derived what he called labor power; a workers capacity to produces goods and service, and the hours worked should be relevant to the wage they earn. Although he is placed in the classical school of thought, Karl Marx is well renowned for his dislike of capitalism and pro communistic views. He thought that capitalism harbored and breaded class systems and was inherently unfair to the workers producing the goods and services. He blames capitalism for the very thing it tries to change. Marx believed that capitalism was doomed from the start due to implied winners and losers and an overwhelming control of the State by wealthy individuals. Marx thought that communism would create the best political and social economy the world had ever seen, but was he

This may sound like a cold war version of an essay, but the comparison between capitalism and communism is inherently different…Yet there are linkable aspects and similar trains of thoughts throughout. Marx viewed capitalism as unfair and believed that workers should be paid more than what the good is worth based on their time put in. Smith didn’t care about this as much, he cared about the morals and stability of the economy and figured that workers working towards their self-interest would always lead to a better economy thanks to the “invisible hand” ideology. Marx was a radical advocate of State or Government involvement to ensure an equal political suture among the classes. Smith on the other hand proclaimed that minimal government intervention in an economy was much better for fair prices and utility. Smith knew that self-interest was a prevailing factor in labor distribution and capitalized on the theory to form a uniform synopsis of political and economic thoughts. Karl Marx hit roadblocks in the production area with communism that could not be overcome during his time. What is interesting to me is that both of these men had structured their philosophies and predictions based off of capitalism. These great men sought to attain a stable economy, government and to reduce class tensions by ensuring a large and relevant middle class. They also both agreed that the price of a commodity is determined by