INTRODUCTION

In 1999, on the eve of the new millennium, participants in a BBC poll voted Karl Marx the “greatest thinker” of the second millennium. It was neither the first nor the last accolade to this prodigious thinker. Humanity was always Marx’s primary concern. In this apologetically brief introduction to Marx’s thought, two of his greatest contributions to our understanding of the human condition are explored along with the implications of his thought for education. Ironically and regrettably, far too much of Marx’s celebrity derives from myths, erroneous attributions, misunderstandings and misinterpretations, and far too little relates to his real genius. This book attempts to deal with that real genius, but first it is important to mention two of the most widespread errors of attribution. Many people assume that Marx was the founder of socialism/communism. Moreover, they assume that his ideas provided a theoretical blueprint for 20th Century, socialist/communist revolutions and societies. Socialism and communism pre-date Marx, and although he was critical of the various theories pertaining to these forms of socio-economic organisation, he, in fact, wrote very little about how socialism/communism would actually work. One can glean a vision from his writings but one that is based on ideals or goals for humanity’s progressive development not one that specifies particulars. To do so would have been contradictory for Marx because he believed those struggling to create these societies would democratically establish the particulars. As a consequence, due to their undemocratic character, most 20th Century forms of socialism/communism would have been an anathema to him. The majority of Marx’s writing involves a critique of capitalism, bourgeois society and liberal democracy—the political form of governance most conducive to the growth and maintenance of capitalism. The point, here, is that in undertaking this exploration of Marx’s critical thought, it is important to suspend, for the duration, any previously held assumptions and to critically assess what he actually thought. To get inside critical thinkers’ ideas, it helps to consider the factors that may have influenced and motivated them. I begin, therefore, with a succinct description of the social/historical context within which Marx’s thinking developed and came to maturity. Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in Trier, an ancient town located in the Rhineland region of Germany. Although he was born into an orthodox Jewish family, his early influences were of French origin, viz., French rationalist philosophy, romanticism, the French Enlightenment and Revolution. France, under Napoleon, had occupied Trier from 1803-1818, and Marx’s father had been so taken by French liberal ideas that he abandoned his Judaism. The French influence came not only from Marx’s father; between 1820 and 1830, the entire Rhineland was inundated with both liberal and socialist ideas, many of which originated in France. Moreover, Ludwig von Westphalen, a Saint-Simonian socialist, was the young Marx’s mentor (and also his future father-in-law). He was considerably more radical than the other adults in Marx’s life, and it was probably through the writings of Saint-Simon that Marx first became aware of the oppression of the

1 INTRODUCTION proletariat. Although Marx, himself, never became a Saint-Simonian and remained critical of all the new socialist/communist thinking, he nevertheless was sympathetic with their sentiments, especially their humanism. At University, in Berlin, it was his concern for the proletariat, the poorest and most numerous group in capitalist societies, that prompted his critique of Hegel’s philosophy and that also eventually led Marx to join and give a new direction to the socialist movement. Until the early 1840’s, Marx’s critiques were of a philosophical nature. He found fault with any philosopher or political figure that failed to grasp the relationship between the ideals being espoused and the real world. Marx developed his own distinctive social theory through a process that often involved first embracing and then critically engaging with the thinking of others, in particular Hegel and Feuerbach. In each case, he retained the aspects he deemed valid, for example, Hegel’s dialectical conceptualisation, while moving beyond it in the pursuit of truth and a politics that could lead to human emancipation. Marx fell in love with and married Jenny von Westphalen, the daughter of his early mentor. This union provided him with a lifelong loving companion, but also, and especially as their family grew, with the unrelenting necessity of making a living. His radical ideas prevented him from working as either a university academic or a lawyer—the professions for which he was qualified. The remaining alternative was journalism, but here too there were problems. His radical ideas often increased circulation, but without fail this would, in turn, gain the attention of the government censors. Repeatedly, Marx would find himself unemployed and soon after exiled first from Germany, and subsequently from both Paris and Brussels. Although Marx first met Frederick Engels, his lifelong friend, collaborator and frequent financial supporter, in Cologne in 1842, it was their journalistic endeavours in Paris in 1843-44 that brought the two together and that afforded Marx the benefit of a colleague who shared his thinking and his aspirations for humanity. Engels brought to the relationship not just loyalty and an appreciation of Marx’s intellect (Wheen, 2000) but also an in-depth practical knowledge of capitalist industry and the actual conditions of the industrial working class. Europe was in turmoil during the 1840’s, and so too was Marx’s life. The decade was marked by increasing radicalism and attempted revolutions that invariably led to counter-revolutions and suppression by conservative forces. Exile propelled the Marx family first to Paris, then Brussels, as mentioned before, and eventually, after brief returns to both Germany and Paris, the Marx family came to London in 1849, where, at last, they found a permanent home. In each of these locations, Marx read and wrote voraciously, and, with equal enthusiasm, he also engaged in endless political discussions, meetings and activities. It was in Paris, in the early 1840’s, that he first began his study of political economy. At this time, the theories of various bourgeois economists such as James Mill, David Ricardo and Adam Smith were the focus of his critical scrutiny. This study, enriched by Engel’s account of the real world of industrial capitalism, culminated in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1843-44, the work that marks Marx’s transition from

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