Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the founder of communism. He established the motto of communism in his book "The Communist Manifesto": "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." This denial of private property and imposition of a type of equality of result, whereby all have about the same wealth, was the goal of Marxism or pure communism.

Marx predicted that the proletariat (working class) would overthrow the wealthy in a capitalistic society, and then establish a new system that would be socialism in its early stage and pure communism in its later stage. Socialism differs from communism in that socialism does not require equality in result and does not deny private property. The motto of socialism, in contrast to the motto of communism above, is "from each according to his ability, to each according to his labor." But socialism was considered by Marx to be an early stage of communism.

Marx was born in Prussia, educated in German, and a professor in London. His most famous work in the field of economics was "Das Kapital" ("Capital"), in which he declared economics to be the guiding force of history and that owners pay workers just enough for them to support their families. The value of the goods produced by workers is much more than the wages paid, and this "surplus value" is literally stolen from workers by owners. Owners took this surplus value and perpetuated this unfair system by investing it into more machines and consumption by the wealthy. Inevitably class struggle by the poor against the rich, and the poor would violently overthrow the rich and end capitalism.