What is Karl Marx's socialist theory?

Marxist theory is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It utilizes historical materialism to view class struggle as the core driver of historical change, critiquing capitalism and capitalist exploitation of the working class. Marx theorized that these internal contradictions would lead to workers' revolutions, establishing a socialist mode of production as a step toward a classless, stateless, and moneyless society.

What we know

• Marxism uses a materialist interpretation of historical development known as historical materialism to understand class relations and social conflict. [2]
• The capitalist ruling class exploits the working class by owning the means of production while workers must sell their labour power to survive. [2]
• Marx's theory of alienation posits that under capitalism, workers are separated from the products they create, the production activity, their fellow human beings, and their own creative potential. [3]
• Marx theorized that capitalism's internal contradictions would trigger workers' revolutions to overthrow capitalism and establish a socialist mode of production. [2]

Still open

• There is a long-standing scholarly debate over whether Marx abandoned his humanistic concept of alienation in his later, more scientific writings.

Where to go next

• how it workedHow does historical materialism explain social change?
• a case in pointWhat is Karl Marx's theory of alienation?
• what followedHow did Vladimir Lenin adapt Marxist theory?
• whoWhat was Karl Kautsky's role in orthodox Marxism?
• compared withHow does Marxism compare to Western Marxism?
• an unexpected connectionHow did German idealist philosophy influence Marxism?Marx adapted Hegel's dialectical framework concerning alienation and Spirit, despite completely rejecting its idealism in favor of a materialist reality.

Sources

• [1]Marxism (Wikidata Q7264) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Marxism · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Marx's theory of alienation · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Marx's theory of human nature · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Karl Kautsky · CC BY-SA 4.0