Karl Marx was a German-born scientist, philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Born in Trier to a middle-class family, he later studied political economy and Hegelian philosophy. As an adult, Marx became stateless and spent much of his life in London, England, where he continued to develop his thought in collaboration with German thinker Friedrich Engels and published various works, the most well-known being the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. His work has since influenced subsequent intellectual, economic, and political history.

Marx's theories about society, economics and politics—collectively understood as Marxism—hold that human societies develop through class struggle; in capitalism, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (known as the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and working classes (known as the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labour for wages. Through his theories of alienation, value, commodity fetishism, and surplus value, Marx argued that capitalism facilitated social relations and ideology through commodification, inequality, and the exploitation of labour. Employing a critical approach known as historical materialism, Marx propounded the theory of base and superstructure, asserting that the cultural and political conditions of society, as well as its notions of human nature, are largely determined by obscured economic foundations. These economic critiques were set out in influential works such as the three volumes, published between 1867 and 1894, that comprise Das Kapital.

According to Marx, states are run in the interests of the ruling class but are nonetheless represented as being in favor of the common interest of all. He predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism. For Marx, class antagonisms under capitalism, owing in part to its instability and crisis-prone nature, would eventuate the working class' development of class consciousness, leading to their conquest of political power and eventually the establishment of a classless, communist society governed by a free association of producers. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic emancipation.

Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and his work has been both lauded and criticised. His work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought. Many intellectuals, labour unions, artists and political parties worldwide have been influenced by Marx's work, with many modifying or adapting his ideas. Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology and social science.

Marx's thought demonstrates influences from many thinkers, including but not limited to:

Lycurgus' philosophy, including the forceful and equal redistribution of resources (land), and the equality of all citizens

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy

The classical political economy (economics) of Adam Smith and David Ricardo

French socialist thought, in particular the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henri de Saint-Simon, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Charles Fourier

earlier German philosophical materialism among the Young Hegelians, particularly that of Ludwig Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, as well as the French materialism of the late 18th Century, including Diderot, Claude Adrien Helvétius, and d'Holbach

the working class analysis by Friedrich Engels, as well as the early descriptions of class provided by French liberals and Saint-Simonians such as François Guizot and Augustin Thierry

Marx's view of history, which came to be called historical materialism (controversially adapted as the philosophy of dialectical materialism by Engels and Lenin) certainly shows the influence of Hegel's claim that one should view reality (and history) dialectically. However, Hegel had thought in idealist terms, putting ideas in the forefront, whereas Marx sought to rewrite dialectics in materialist terms, arguing for the primacy of matter over idea. Where Hegel saw the "spirit" as driving history, Marx saw this as an unnecessary mystification, obscuring the reality of humanity and its physical actions shaping the world. He wrote that Hegelianism stood the movement of reality on its head, and that one needed to set it upon its feet. Despite his dislike of mystical terms Marx used Gothic language in several of his works. In Das Kapital he refers to capital as "necromancy that surrounds the products of labour".

Though inspired by French socialist and sociological thought, Marx criticised utopian socialists, arguing that their favoured small-scale socialistic communities would be bound to marginalisation and poverty, and that only a large-scale change in the economic system can bring about real change.

The other important contribution to Marx's revision of Hegelianism came from Engels's book, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, which led Marx to conceive of the historical dialectic in terms of class conflict and to see the modern working class as the most progressive force for revolution.

Marx believed that he could study history and society scientifically and discern tendencies of history and the resulting outcome of social conflicts. Some followers of Marx concluded, therefore, that a communist revolution would inevitably occur. However, Marx famously asserted in the eleventh of his "Theses on Feuerbach" that "philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point however is to change it", and he clearly dedicated himself to trying to alter the world.

Marx saw that each stage or epoch created a new class or invention that would lead to its downfall. However the downfall would not be an automatically negative event, since with each step humanity at large would benefit. Each passing stage would therefore raise the standard of living of the masses while at the same time be doomed to its own downfall because of internal contradictions and class conflicts.

The First Stage: is usually called primitive communism.

[Characteristics]

Shared property: there is no concept of ownership beyond individual possessions. All is shared by the tribe to ensure its survival.

Hunting and gathering: tribal societies have yet to develop large scale agriculture and so their survival is a daily struggle.

Proto-democracy: there is usually no concept of "leadership" yet. So tribes are led by the best warrior if there is war, the best diplomat if they have steady contact with other tribes and so forth.

The primitive communism stage most likely begins soon after the dawn of humanity itself, at the stage where fire is developed, and communal living therefore becomes more convenient. Primitive communist societies tend to be very small, consisting of a maximum of a few hundred members, with size being dependent upon the environment. In this stage humanity is no different from any other animal, in that it has not yet found ways to bend nature to its will.

This stage ends with the development of private property, especially with the development of large scale agriculture. This in turn produces productive property, such as cattle and slaves.

The Second Stage: may be called slave society, considered to be the beginning of "class society" where private property appears.

[Characteristics]

Class: here the idea of class appears. There is always a slave-owning ruling class and the slaves themselves.

Statism: the state develops during this stage as a tool for the slave-owners to use and control the slaves.

Agriculture: people learn to cultivate plants and animals on a large enough scale to support large populations.

Democracy and authoritarianism: these opposites develop at the same stage. Democracy arises first with the development of the republican city-state, followed by the totalitarian empire.

Private property: citizens now own more than personal property. Land ownership is especially important during a time of agricultural development.

The slave-owning class "own" the land and slaves, which are the main means of producing wealth, whilst the vast majority have very little or nothing. The propertyless included the slave class, slaves who work for no money, and in most cases women, who were also dispossessed during this period. From a Marxist perspective, slave society collapsed when it exhausted itself. The need to keep conquering more slaves created huge problems, such as maintaining the vast empire that resulted (i.e. The Roman Empire). It is ultimately the aristocracy born in this epoch that demolishes it and forces society to step onto the next stage.

The Third Stage: may be called feudalism; it appears after slave society collapses. This was most obvious during the European Middle Ages when society went from slavery to feudalism.

[Characteristics]

Aristocracy: the state is ruled by monarchs who inherit their positions, or at times marry or conquer their ways into leadership.

Theocracy: this is a time of largely religious rule. When there is only one religion in the land and its organizations affect all parts of daily life.

Hereditary classes: castes can sometimes form and one's class is determined at birth with no form of advancement. This was the case with India.

Nation-state: nations are formed from the remnants of the fallen empires. Sometimes to rebuild themselves into empires once more. Such as England's transition from a province to an empire.

During feudalism there are many classes such as kings, lords, and serfs, some little more than slaves. Most of these inherit their titles for good or ill. At the same time that societies must create all these new classes, trade with other nation-states increases rapidly. This catalyzes the creation of the merchant class.

Out of the merchants' riches, a capitalist class emerges within this feudal society. However, there are immediate conflicts with the aristocracy. The old feudal kings and lords cannot accept the new social changes the capitalists want for fear of destabilizing or reducing their power base, among various other reasons that are not all tied to power or money.

These proto-capitalist and capitalist classes are driven by the profit motive but are prevented from developing further profits by the nature of feudal society where, for instance, the serfs are tied to the land and cannot become industrial workers and wage earners. Marx says, Then begins an epoch of social revolution (the French Revolution of 1789, the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution of 1688, etc.) since the social and political organization of feudal society (or the property relations of feudalism) is preventing the development of the capitalists' productive forces.

Capitalism

Marx pays special attention to this stage in human development, as it was the one he lived on. The bulk of his work is devoted to exploring the mechanisms of capitalism, which in western society classically arose "red in tooth and claw" from feudal society in a revolutionary movement.

Capitalism may be considered the Fourth Stage in the sequence. It appears after the bourgeois revolution when the capitalists overthrow the feudal system. Capitalism is categorized by the following:

[Characteristics]

Market economy: In capitalism, the entire economy is guided by market forces. Supporters of laissez faire economics argue that there should be little or no intervention from the government on the economy under capitalism. Marxists, however, such as Lenin in his Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, argue that the capitalist government acts as a powerful instrument for the furtherance of capitalism and the capitalist nation-state, particularly in the conquest of markets abroad, and also in the direct repression of reactionary/neofeudal movements and proto-socialist or socialist movements.

Private property: The means of production are no longer in the hands of the monarchy and/or the nobility, but rather they are controlled by the bourgeois and the petit-bourgeois classes. The bourgeoisie and the petit-bourgeoisie control the means of production through commercial enterprises (such as corporations) which aim to maximize profit.

Bourgeois democracy: The bourgeoisie eventually (after years of struggle and opposition) accepted a form of democratic governance, descendent of the elective monarchy system (such as the Sejm) through elected representatives. Bourgeois democracy at its beginning had minimum wealth/status requirements and sometimes led to different weight in voting, depending of the wealth/status of the voter. Historically it has also excluded (by force, segregation, legislation or other means) sections of the population such as women, slaves, ex-slaves, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities. Eventually the bourgeoisie accepted to extend the right to vote gradually to a big part of the population, although this not necessarily led to a universal suffrage. A democratically elected government today usually only reaches power with heavy monetary support from the bourgeoisie, and even if it doesn't acts directly on behalf of them, are forced to by the structure itself.

Wages: In capitalism, the proletariat sells its workforce to survive, and is paid for their productivity. The bourgeoisie and its supportive classes propagate the illusion that market forces mean wages converge to an equilibrium at which workers are paid for precisely the value of their services. In reality workers are paid less than the value of their productivity—the difference forming profit for the employer (surplus value), with the medium being manipulable by the elites (See Industrial reserve army). In this sense paid employment is exploitation and while working in the production line the worker is alienated from the product of their work. Insofar as the profit-motive drives the economy, it is impossible for all workers to be paid for the full value of their labour, with the exception of a small "labour aristocracy", specialized workers which are paid from the surplus value other workers produce, in exchange for their knowledge and loyalty.

Imperialism: Capitalist States actively seek to conquer, dominate or indirectly control other regions or States, encouraged and aided by the bourgeoisie, in order to gain access to important raw materials, but most importantly to provide captive markets for finished products. This is done directly through war, the threat of war, the election of a politician aligned with that nation or the export of capital and eventual control of the victimized state economy. The Imperialist State's control over this regions or states can play an essential part in the development of this Imperialist State's economy and capitalism, to the extent the state has money spat directs warfare and other foreign intervention.

Monopolistic tendencies: The market forces creates monopolies from the most successful or deceitful commercial entities, as the market rewards those who smashes his opponents through capital war, and drives down the profit of those in competition, though it can happen that opponents which can't defeat each other or don't want to, seek agreements to reduce competition and increase profits.

In capitalism, the profit motive rules and people, freed from serfdom for that purpose, to work for the capitalists in exchange of wages. The capitalist class are free to spread their laissez faire practices around the world. In the capitalist-controlled parliament, laws are made to protect wealth.

But according to Marx, capitalism, like slave society and feudalism, also has critical failings—inner contradictions which will lead to its downfall. Capital accumulation over time leads to increased inequality. Additionally, since capital demands a return, it also leads to increased returns coming from those without capital --- the working class. Over time the number of work hours which the working class labors 'for itself' decreases in order to provide returns for an ever increasing pile of capital controlled by the capitalist class. Following Marx's labor theory of value, this can be seen in how increasing labor productivity in the past 30 years in the United States has been accompanied by stagnant wage growth. In 2016 average labor productivity in the U.S. was $70.00 an hour while the average minimum wage was around $10.00 an hour meaning that capital absorbed 6/7ths of the value produced by the average minimum wage laborer. This creates social instability.

The working class, to which the capitalist class gave birth in order to produce commodities and profits, is the "grave digger" of capitalism. The worker is not paid the full value of what he or she produces. The rest is surplus value—the capitalist's profit, which Marx calls the "unpaid labour of the working class." The capitalists are forced by technological advances and partially by competition to drive down the wages of the working class to increase their profits, and this creates a more direct conflict between these classes, and gives rise to the development of class consciousness in the working class. The working class, through trade union and other struggles, becomes conscious of itself as an exploited class.

In Marx's view, the struggles of the working class against the attacks of the capitalist class lead the working class to establish its own collective control over production—the basis of socialist society. Marx believed that capitalism always leads to monopolies and leads the people to poverty; yet the fewer the restrictions on the free market, (e.g. from the state and trade unions) the sooner it finds itself in crisis

After the working class gains class consciousness and mounts a revolution against the capitalists, socialism, which may be considered the Fifth Stage, will be attained, if the workers are successful.

Lenin divided communism, the period following the overthrow of capitalism, into two stages: first socialism, and then later, once the last vestiges of the old capitalist ways have withered away, stateless communism or pure communism. Lenin based his 1917 work, The State and Revolution, on a thorough study of the writings of Marx and Engels. Marx uses the terms the "first phase" of communism and the "higher phase" of communism, but Lenin points to later remarks of Engels which suggest that what people commonly think of as socialism equates to Marx's "first phase" of communism.

Socialism may be categorized by the following:

[Characteristics]

Common property: the means of production are taken from the hands of a few capitalists and put in the hands of the workers. This translates into the democratic communes controlling the means of production.

Council democracy: Marx, basing himself on a thorough study of Paris Commune, believed that the workers would govern themselves through system of communes. He called this the dictatorship of the proletariat, which, overthrowing the dictatorship (governance) of the bourgeoisie, would democratically plan production and the resources of the planet.

Labor vouchers: Marx explained that, since socialism emerges from capitalism, it would be "stamped with its birthmarks". Economically this translates into the individual worker being awarded according to the amount of labor he contributes to society. Each worker would be given an amount of standardised credit verifying his contribution which he could then exchange for goods produced by other workers.

Marx explains that socialist society, having risen from a class-conscious movement of the vast majority, makes such a society one of the vast majority governing over their own lives:

Some time after socialism is established society leaps forward, and everyone has plenty of personal possessions, but no one can exploit another person for private gain through the ownership of vast monopolies, and so forth. Classes are thus abolished, and class society ended. Communism will have spread across the world and be worldwide. Eventually the state will "wither away" and become obsolete, as people administer their own lives without the need for governments or laws. Thus, stateless communism or pure communism, which may be considered the Sixth Stage, is established, which has the following features:

[Characteristics]

Statelessness: there are no governments, laws, or nations anymore.

Classlessness: all social classes disappear; everyone works for everyone else.

Propertylessness: there is no money or private property; all goods are free to be consumed by anyone who needs them.