Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most influential political philosophers who propounded the ideology and theory of communism. His radical ideas on class struggle and historical materialism have changed and guided many revolutions. His ideologies of communism and Marxism have inspired the foundation of many communist regimes.

Karl Marx was born in Trier in 1818 in Germany and his parents were of Jewish ancestry. But due to contemporary laws prohibiting Jews,his father a lawyer converted to Christianity. Initially, Karl Marx was also a Christian but later he became an atheist. Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin and then he obtained his doctorate in Philosophy. After completing his doctorate in 1841 Marx began looking for an academic job but his radical ideas and views were not accepted. He turned to journalism and rapidly involved himself in political and social issues. Karl Marx met Friedrich Engels and it was at this point in time that Marx began to consider communist theory.

Karl Marx wrote and published many books like the Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital, and the German ideology. The Communist Manifesto jointly written with Engels is his most widely read work.’ The German ideology ‘also co-authored with Engels in 1845 is an outline of the class struggle and his theory of history. The Das Kapital criticizes the capitalist mode of production and offers views on historical materialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

In the 19^th century a series of republican revolts had taken place in Italy, Germany, France and the Austrian empire against the European monarchies. Marx’s ideas of communism and his revolutionary ideas inspired these revolutions. Due to his radical political beliefs and his association with these revolutions, Marx was exiled and he went to London. Marx believed in the ideology of the working classes i.e. The proletariat who will one day rise up against the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) and overthrow the capitalist system and replace it with communism.

After this supposed revolution which Marx assumed, in the beginning, a violent phase known as the dictatorship of the proletariat would start in which the working classes would own the means of production and all modes of production such as land, bank, and factories would be collectively owned. Marx was deeply disturbed by the concentration of wealth in the hands of the capitalist class. Marx saw capitalism as playing a dominant role in eliminating feudalism which was the social system in medieval Europe.

In history, Marx advocated the theory of historical materialism in which he argues history has been shaped by material conditions rather than ideals. Historical materialism asserts that the modes of production of the material conditions of a society are the main indicator by which a society is organized. Marx was of the view that from the beginning of human civilization history has been determined by class struggles and that the economic modes of production which include primitive communism, slave society, feudalism, and capitalism were based on the relationship between the ruling class and a class of slaves. For example, feudalism was based on the relation between nobles and serfs. In religion, Marx was of the view that religion is the opium of the masses and the sigh of the oppressed.It means that oppressed people turn to religion and that all modern religions are the product of exploitation by the bourgeoisie class(capitalists). Karl Marx did not believe in any religion and identified himself as an atheist.

The Marxist ideology of communism gave inspiration to the Russian revolution of 1917 in which the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin overthrew the autocratic Tsarist regime and replaced it with the  Soviet Union. Karl Marx’s principles of communism have also guided the People’s Republic of China which is a communist nation. Mao Zedong in particular believed in the ideology of the working classes and he was deeply influenced by Karl Marx.

Today Karl Marx remains the most prominent of all political thinkers and his criticism of capitalism and its eventual replacement with communism has become the focal point of most political discussions. His views on class struggle and revolution of the working classes have inspired many revolutions.

The Black Death in Europe

The Black death or the Bubonic plague was the greatest epidemic which hit Europe in the Middle Ages. It was a pandemic that killed up to 30% to 60% of the population of Europe. It started in 1347 and continued till 1351 in the 14^th century. The Black death originated in Central or East Asia. It travelled along the Silk Road from China to the Middle East, West Asia and the rest of Europe via the Italian peninsula.

The cause of the disease was most likely fleas which lived on the black rats and which got transmitted through merchant ships eventually spreading the disease throughout Europe. It affected the demographics of Europe and estimates place the population of Europe declined from 475 million to 350-375 million in the 14^th century.

The 13^th century Mongol conquest of China led to a decline in farming and combined with natural disasters and epidemics contributed to widespread famine in 1331 in Europe. In the Middle East the Muslim religious scholars believed that the disease was a martyrdom and mercy for believers, and it was a punishment for non-believers.

The main cause for the transmission of Bubonic plague was rodents which carried a strain of the bacterium Yersinia pestis.Plague was carried to Europe by the Genoese merchants of Italy in 1347.The Mongol army catapulted the infected corpses during the siege of Genoa in 1345-46.From Genoa the disease was carried by merchants to Sicily in Italy in 1347.From Italy the disease spread to France,Spain.In 1348 the disease was carried to Portugal,England,Germany,Scotland,Denmark and Netherlands. Eventually it spread to Russia.The disease also spread to West Asia and North Africa which led to population decline and a change in the economic and social structures. It spread by sea to Constantinople (Istanbul). By the summer of 1348 it reached Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. It also spread to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Morocco.

The symptoms of the disease were a fever of 38-41-degree Celsius, aching joints, headaches, nausea and vomiting. Left untreated, the persons who contracted the bubonic plague died with in a span of 8 days. In acute conditions the fever became severe accompanied by vomiting of blood. Spots and rashes caused by flea bites were the other symptoms of plague.

The death toll caused by plague varied greatly. In cities with greater population there was a greater mortality rate and it killed 75 to 200 million people in Europe and Asia. There was also an economic and religious impact of the disease. The population decline caused by the disease led to a shortage of labour and an increase in wages. For example, due to the Black death in England labourers, craftsmen and artisans suffered a reduction in their real incomes due to rampant inflation.

The plague also had a religious impact as various groups were persecuted such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, lepers and pilgrims. Europeans also came to believe astrological forces and the poisoning of wells by Jews as the causes for the outbreak of the disease. There were attacks against the Jewish communities and in 1349 the Jewish communities in Mainz and Cologne cities of Germany were killed. Because of this many Jews fled to Poland. Many Europeans also believed that the epidemic was a punishment from God for their sins and could be eradicated by asking for God’s forgiveness. The demographic change caused by the disease 

The Holocaust and Adolf Hitler

The First World war had led to the defeat of Germany by the Allied powers. After the war the victorious Allies led by Britain and USA forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace conference. The major decisions taken at the Paris Peace Conference imposed humiliating terms and conditions on Germany and the loss of German overseas territories. The humiliation and resentment eventually led to the rise of Nazism in Germany and was a contributing factor in the outbreak of Second World war in Europe.

The Weimar Republic was formed in Germany in the aftermath of First World war. It was a provisional government formed of members of the Social Democratic Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. But Germany suffered due to post war inflation and there was a decline in the standards of living. The Weimar republic failed to improve the economic and social conditions in Germany which led to strikes and protests. The Great Depression of 1929 further worsened the economic crisis in Germany and unemployment peaked in the 1930s.The German middle class became disillusioned with the Weimar republic and began to look for a new leadership.

By 1921 Adolf Hitler appeared on the scene. Through his propaganda and speeches, he condemned the Treaty of Versailles and assured the people of Germany that the former glory of Germany would be restored. Though initially he failed to take power but by the beginning of 1932 the Nazi party of Adolf Hitler became the largest political party. The Nazi party founded by Adolf Hitler was against democracy, communism and the Jews in Germany. Particularly Hitler had a hatred towards the Jews since he believed that they were responsible for Germany’s defeat in the First World war. At times he would also blame the Jews for his personal crisis.

By 1933 Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany and he began a systematic persecution and extermination of the Jews. Hitler believed in the Aryan race theory and he believed the Germans belonged to the Aryan race. The Aryan race theory held the Jews as inferior and the Germans as superior. It was on this basis that Hitler propagated the German nationalism and Lebensraum (living space) for the Germans.

With the beginning of the Second World war in Europe Hitler opted for the final solution known as the Holocaust with mass killings and Nazi concentration camps in the occupied areas of Europe. As many as six million Jews and others were exterminated for racial, political and ideological belief. In September 1939, gas chambers and ghettoes were built for the mass killing of Jews from the conquered countries of Europe.Hitler also dismissed non-Germans from official positions and embarked on a systematic persecution of the Jews, mentally disabled, intellectuals and communists.

The most famous of the Nazi concentration camp was Auschwitz because it was at Auschwitz alone more than 2 million people including Jews were put to death by poisonous gases. Even in other countries of Europe brutal killings of Jews amounted to large scale deportation of Jews to the Nazi concentration camps. The heaviest deportations took place during the summer and autumn of 1942 when more than 300,000 were deported. Those who survived died of starvation and diseases.

With the end of the Second World war in 1945 the Holocaust came to an end. However, survivors of the Holocaust recounted atrocities and crimes committed on them by the Nazis. Over the decades that followed the Nuremberg trials which took place between 1945 and 1949 were held to punish the war criminals. In 1953 the German government paid monetary reparations to the Jews whose properties and businesses were confiscated during the Nazi regime.