Marx's Theory

Background

After asking himself the question, "Why does conflict occur?", Karl Marx discovered the foundation of history is the conflict between two groups: the "have's" and the "have-not's." He observed that whenever a new way of production or an advance in living surfaced, conflict would occur between the group that controlled the old way of doing things, the "have's," and the leaders of the new means of living, the "have-not's." He realized that this is what causes history, and history would not exist if conflict was not present. Marx proclaimed that all conflict should be ended at the expense of history. A conflict free world could only be achieved by a class-free society, Communism. Communism seemed appealing to Marx and his followers at the time, and many nations, including China and Russia, have since attempted to form the "ideal society" via Communism. Marx's ideas were derived from the French and American Revolutions. He produced an 800-page manuscript on the basis of his theory in 1857. The work concerned topics on capital, property, and national and foreign trade markets. Like Communism, Marx's theory has the ideal form for a perfect society, but when implmented into real circumstances, fails to come through to create a perfect society. Source: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html

Examples

Caroline Kernell: World War II An example of this theory is clear if you glance at WWII. Marx's Theory can be looked at as having two sides, the have's and the have-not's. The have's can be considered as the more privileged people, and the have-not's as the under-privileged. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi's attempted to conquer Europe in the 1940's and enact the "Final Solution", that event could be thought of as the Nazi's were trying to make themselves the "have's" of the world, therefore being the ruler instead of the middle-class worker.(Manual for Cultural Foundations of Ancient Eastern Civilizations: Volume 1)

Jacob Roffwarg: The Civil War and Emergence of Slavery In the early- to mid-1800s, the Northern United States controlled most of the United States's production. It had much more industry and power than the South, but the South did have an agricultural economy that the North did not have. The South then turned to struggling African Americans, who were at the time at the bottom of the social pyramid, and decided that they could take advantage of the barely thriving group. They started to consider them as property, or slaves, and forced them to do harsh work for little pay and terrible living conditions. This showed that the southern people thought that they could use the outlet of slavery as an attempt to catch up to the riches that were previously obtained in the North. Although the United States eventually prohibited slavery, the South, under Jefferson Davis, formed the Confederacy with many Southern states. A war then became the final solution to the conflict, and the North prevailed on its home ground. However, the South showed evidence of Marx's theory by using the new "means of production," or the slave, because they were eager to catch up with the North. Source: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/what_is_marxism.php

Henry Still: South African Apartheid

In the late 1940's South Africa was invaded by the British and Dutch for the search of diamonds. The British eventually took over this land and surrounding Dutch territories. The British started passing apartheid laws. These laws affected anyone who was not white. Anyone who was African American, mixed, or any colored subgroups in the country were put under these unruly laws. These laws affected almost all aspect of social life. They had white only jobs, mixed races could not marry, and more. This eventually led to everyone who was not white was kicked out of South Africa. These people were put into homelands in the surrounding area. They were removed as citizens from the country and had to use a passport to get into their own country. (http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html)

Watkin Jones: The French Revolution of 1789 A good example is in the French Revolution when the people overthrew of their king in 1789. Before 1789, inequality was typical of the old government. The nobles (who owned the land) and clergy were the privileged classes. They were exempt from taxes. Most taxes were paid by the Third Estate, the class that included peasants, artisans, merchants, and professional men. In the Summer of 1789, the Third Estate revolted against years of exploitation with peasants looting and burning the homes of tax collectors, landlords, and the elite. Finally, on August 4, 1789, a decree was passed which aimed at abolishing the entire feudal system. (http://history-world.org/french_revolution.htm) (http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution)

Julia Waller: Marx's Theory in the Bible

The book of Exodus in the Bible is the story of how the Jews escaped from the Egyptians. The Pharoh of Egypt had captured the Jews and treated them as slaves(making them the "have-not's"). So, Moses, one of the Jews, went to the Pharoh and asked him for the freedom of his people. The Pharoh refused, Moses turned to God. God sent a series of ten plagues to Egypt, including locusts, boils, and, finally, the death of the firstborn son of every Egyptian family. After this last plague, the Pharoh finally let the Jews go. This conflict between the Egyptians and their Pharoh, the "haves," and the enslaved Jews, the "have-nots," was not a war, as many examples of Marx's theory are, but still resulted in much suffering. Source: New King James Study Bible

Ian Thakur: The Signing of the Magma Carta

In 1215 King John was forced, by his barons, to sign a document known as the Magma Carta. This document limited King John's power so that he would be unable to exploit the people of England who were poor, starving, and unhappy. This document was forced upon King John because: he continuously broke the Feudal System, by raising taxes without asking permission from his barons, and because of countless militaristic failures. Due to the feeling that they were being unfairly treated, the barons of England decided to rebel against King John after he returned from yet another failure in France. This supports Karl Marx's theory because the barons felt that they were "have not's" compared to King John.

(www.hitorylearningsite.co.uk/magma_carta.htm)

Cara Wolff: The Rosa Parks Incidence On December 1, 1955, an African Ameriacan lady named Rosa Parks did something that changed everything. She was sat in the front of the bus instead of the back because she hated the fact that since she was black, she wasn't equal to the whites. She refused to sit at the back of the bus because she was black so she went and sat at the front. A man came up to her and told her to get to the back of the bus or he will call the police. She didn't move so he called and they sent her to jail. This is a huge example of Karl Marx's theory because Rosa Parks felt like she was a "have-not" to the whites. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_parks

Claire Furse: The Russian Revolution'

By 1917, two revolutions had ultimately transformed Russia's politics and social order. On February 23, 1917 and over the next few days, more than 150,000 men and women protested in the streets against the Russian czar, Nicholas II, and his ineffective rule. The Russian citizens were tired of working, not getting enough food, and fighting in World War I while Czar Nicholas II was wasting all their resources on his extravagant lifestyle. These men and women felt they were the "have nots", while Czar Nicholas II was one of the only "haves". On March 2, Nicholas II gave up his rule to the Provisional Government which temporarily took over. This all changed when Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the the Bolsheviks and former political exile, returned to Russia. Lenin called for another revolution, this time for more bread and land. By appealing to the "have nots" of Russia (and killing some people), Lenin and the Bolsheviks soon began a new regime that would end in a bloody Civil War. Source: http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm

Gracie Jing: The Chinese Revolution

In 1927, the Chinese Civil War began. The Kuomindang, which ruled the government, was lead by Chiang Kai-Sheck and they fought against the Communist party, which represented the peasants and lower class of China, which was lead by Chairman Mao. The war started because the Kuomindang(the have's), which ruled the government, had all of the money and were oppressing the lower classes, leaving them starving and making them work while the Kuomindang ruled from their high seats of power. The peasants and lower classes(have-not's), were sick and tired of this oppression because they worked hard all day just to earn barely enough food to satisfy them and their families. As a result, they formed the Communist party and after quite a few years, the Communist party finally won in around 1949-1950. This proves Marx's theory because even though the Communist government veered from their original mission, bringing equality to the people of China, because of corruption years after the war, during the first few years following the war, without a higher class of people, there was no conflict.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Revolution#Aftermath