Name: Catasio, Bianca Marie Q.

Catasio
Year and section: Crim 1-1

“The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus,
the first fact to be established is the physical organization of these individuals and their consequent
relation to the rest of nature…Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness, religion, or
anything else they like. They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as
they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical
organization. By producing their means of subsistence men are indirectly producing their actual
material life. (Marx, German Ideology, 1845)”

My take of this is that Karl Marx made people aware of the value of education and the necessity of
knowing something about one's own country in order to be aware of inappropriate behaviors and to
recognize when something is wrong.

Karl Marx is a philosopher, and Marxism is a theory based on his views.

Marx, who was buried in High Gate Cemetery in North London, was born in Germany in 1818 and passed
away in London in 1883. Marxism is referred to as conflict theory because it holds that societies are at
odds with one another. According to Marxism, there is a battle between the rich and the poor. The
danger is that we begin to view Marxism based on what we understand about its relationship to
communism and the politics and oppression of the old Soviet Union. Marxism, as we understand it as
sociologists, is a political and economic philosophy, a view of how things are now, and suggestions as to
where id society is headed Marx did not hold this perspective; rather, he saw communism as a tool for
emancipation, leveling, creating a more egalitarian society, and bringing out the best in everyone—not
just the affluent and powerful.

We need to start with Marxism's adversary, capitalism, in order to truly comprehend it.
The kind of society that you and I currently inhabit is one that is based on capitalism. Marxism refers to
an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned. What this means is that our
society today is based on a small number of people who own factories, businesses, shops, and other
corporations; these corporations are not jointly owned by the owners and the employees, as is the case
with most corporations, but rather are owned solely by the owners. During the Industrial Revolution,
when Britain and other nations were undergoing a very dramatic upheaval, Marx began developing his
views. When the government passed the many enclosure acts in the 1700s and 1800s, ordinary people
no longer had a right to live on his land and were compelled to pack up and move to towns and cities
that were growing. The old feudal system, in which lords of the manor owned the land, meant that the
ordinary people had a freedom right to all land and it was held in common. Due to the growth of
factories and text mills, people who were previously free to raise their own livestock and cultivate their
own crops on communal land were forced to find employment in factories once they arrived in urban
areas. The employment of factory owners made it difficult and often dangerous for workers, and the pay
was extremely low. Since many factory owners did not want to pay high wages because doing so would
reduce their profits, children were often used as cheap labor. The Industrial Revolution helped spread
what is now known as capitalist ideology and gave rise to various social classes. Marx referred to the
workers as the Proletariat while the factory owners, who belonged to the middle class, were known as
the Bourgeoisie.
Marx supported the proletariat because he believed the factory owners were treating them unfairly.
However, Marx also believed that there was a system in place that worked extremely hard to keep the
poor in poverty while the wealthy continued to amass wealth. Marx believed that capitalism was based
on a system that encouraged inequality because the wealthy always needed someone to do the work
they did not want to do. This idea is known as a conflict theory because the proletariat and bourgeoisie
are at odds in society. However, Marx also believed that eventually the working class would realize they
had the power to change things through personal growth and education. Marx argued that such
revolutionary transformation could only be brought about by revolution; when the workers rise and
destroy the capitalist system already in place, a new one that guaranteed fair treatment for everyone
and shared ownership of all industries and businesses would be formed.

Marx referred to this system, which is collectively owned, as communism.