Karl Marx

Synopsis

Philosophers, Karl Marx famously observed, sought to explain the world, but the real point was to change it. Marx himself explained and changed the world. He explained the development of human societies primarily in economic terms, asserting that history is driven by class struggle and predicting that capitalism would inevitably be replaced by communism. Marx didn't live to witness the establishment of a single Communist state. But during the 1920s, four decades after his death in 1833, revolutionaries inspired by his ideas seized power in Russia and created the Soviet Union. By mid-century, Communist governments ruled half the globe's population. It appeared that Marx's: predictions might prove correct.