SIGNIFICANCE OF MARXISM

 In the mid-19th century, Marxism helped to consolidate, inspire, and radicalize elements
of the labour and socialist movements in western Europe, and it was later the basis
of Marxism-Leninism and Maoism, the revolutionary doctrines developed by Vladimir
Lenin in Russia and Mao Zedong in China, respectively. It also inspired a more moderate
form of socialism in Germany, the precursor of modern social democracy.  

ORIGIN OF MARX

Marxism originated in the thought of the German radical philosopher and economist Karl Marx,
with important contributions from his friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels. Marx and Engels
authored The Communist Manifesto (1848), a pamphlet outlining their theory of historical
materialism and predicting the ultimate overthrow of capitalism by the industrial proletariat.
Engels edited the second and third volumes of Marx’s analysis and critique of capitalism, Das
Kapital, both published after Marx’s death.