Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels

Question 1

Who are they

Answer 1

• Karl Marx is the father of socialism and Engels is his collaborator.

Question 2

Key texts

Answer 2

‘The Communist Manifesto’ (1848)

‘DAs Kapital’ (1867)

Question 3

Human Nature

Answer 3

Was being perverted by capitalism which encouraged greed and selfishness that are not nature human traits. People naturally were cooperative, selfless and fraternal. Capitalism created a ‘false consciousness’.

• social class and the conflict between social classes were central to their theories, focusing in the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Conflict would lead to revolution and capitalism was doomed.

Question 4

Capitalism was based on

Answer 4

Exploitation and it needed to be replaced by a system where by the people/ workers controlled industry and wealth was equally distributed.

Question 5

Argued that the state in capitalist countries was controlled by

Answer 5

The elites and any concessions to the workers were merely tactics to stop/ slow down the road to revolution.

Question 6

Revolution

Answer 6

Was inevitable. The new state would establish socialism through the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ and then wither away’. The world has seen the dictatorship but not the final realisation of communism they wrote about.