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It is not possible to summarize briefly everything that Karl Marx had to say about the world in which he lived. However, the following paragraphs describe some of his more important theories.
The economic interpretation of history. In Marx's view, the course of history has been determined almost solely by economic forces. Forget about things like great men and women, religion, patriotism, and the like. Look instead, he said, at the economic events of the time to find the real reasons why people and states behaved the way they did.
He also asserted that history has been a series of struggles between economic classes. For example, in Ancient Rome the landed aristocracy struggled for power with small farmers and city workers. In medieval times, guildmasters and journeymen, nobles and serfs struggled with one another for economic supremacy. Similarly, the French Revolution could be explained in terms of a struggle between merchant classes and the agrarian (agricultural) aristocracy.
The exploitation of labor. According to Marx, goods and services had value because of the efforts of laborers. But according to the economic theory of the day, workers were only paid enough to enable them to stay alive. Whatever was left over (profits) was pocketed by the factory owner - the capitalist. Profits, therefore, represented surplus value which should belong to those who created it: the workers.
The inevitability of capitalism's collapse. Under this system, the rich would get richer and the poor, poorer. Because workers were underpaid, Marx went on, they would be unable to buy the goods and services they produced. Even tually, the system's excesses would lead to the final class struggle. In this, workers would overthrow the capitalists who had been exploiting them. In the new order that would follow, Marx concluded, class struggle would no longer be necessary, and the state could simply «wither away». Each worker would perform "according to his ability" and be rewarded «according to his needs».
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