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Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. Marx drew on Hegel's philosophy, the political economy of Adam Smith, Ricardian economics, and 19th century French socialism to develop a critique of society which he claimed was both scientific and revolutionary. This critique achieved its most systematic (if unfinished) expression in his masterpiece, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy ( Das Kapital).Marxism is based on the works of nineteenth century philosopher, Karl Marx.
Since Marx's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Marxism as the intellectual basis for their politics and policies, which can be dramatically different and conflicting. One of the first major splits occurred between the advocates of social democracy, who argued that the transition to socialism could occur within a democratic framework, and communists, who argued that the transition to a socialist society required a revolution. Social democracy resulted in the formation of the British Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, while communism resulted in the formation of various communist parties.
Although there are still many Marxist revolutionary social movements and political parties around the world, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, relatively few countries have governments which describe themselves as Marxist. Although social democratic parties are in power in a number of Western nations, they long ago distanced themselves from their historical connections to Marx and his ideas. As of 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, LaosThe Lao People's Democratic Republic is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar (commonly known in the west as Burma) and the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the, VietnamThe Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. It borders China, Laos, Cambodia, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Cng Hoa Xa Hi Ch Nghia Vit Nam ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: Dc lp, t do, hnh phuc (Independence, Liberty, Happiness Off, CubaAlternate meanings: see Cuba (disambiguation The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago in the northern Caribbean, in between the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. To the north are found the United States and the Bahamas, to the west M, and the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population have governments in power which describe themselves as Marxist. North KoreaThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK Korean: Choson Minjujuui Inmin Konghwaguk Hangul: ; Hanja: ), commonly known as North Korea is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. To the south it borders South Ko is inaccurately described as Marxist, as both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have rejected conventional Marxist views in favour of the Korean "communist" variant, juche.
Some members of the laissez faire and " individualist" schools believe the principles of modern bourgeoisie states or big governments can be understood as "Marxist". Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto include a number of steps that they believed a society would experience as workers emancipated themselves from the capitalist system such as "Free education for all children in public schools": some of these appear to have been implemented in the form of Keynesianism, the welfare state, new liberalism, and other changes to the capitalist system in some capitalist states. Some individualists believe that reformers in the capitalist system are (or were) "secret Marxists" as they support policies that are similar to those steps Marx and Engels said a developed capitalist society would go through. Some other individualists in common with Marx's theory of historical materialism see the capitalist reforms as harbingers of the future coming of communism.
To Marxists, on the other hand, these reforms represent responses to political pressures from working-class political parties and unions, themselves responding to perceived abuses of the capitalist system. Further, in this view, many of these reforms reflect efforts to "save" or "improve" capitalism (without abolishing it) by dealing with market failures, i.e., inefficiencies of the system. Most importantly, Marx did not favor "big government" as much as the " withering away of the state", i.e., the democratic subordination of the government to the people.
