International Journal of History and Research (IJHR) ISSN (P): 2249–6963; ISSN (E): 2249–8079 Vol. 11, Issue 1, Jun 2021, 45-52 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. KARL MARX’S CONCEPT OF MARXISM, CLASS STRUGGLE, AND DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM INTO THE STUDY OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Dr. ABHIJIT SAHOO Lecturer in History, Shishu Ananta Mahavidyalaya, Balipatna ABSTRACT Scientific history is the most important trend in the historical writing of the modern era. With the progress of rationalism, the theological concept lost its ground. Sources came in for a critical study and the nature of interpretation received due consideration. Presentation and style too assumed importance. Contributions made by many writers and philosophers worked towards consolidating the scientific character of history as a branch of knowledge. The first among was Leopold Von Ranke, the father of modern history, who devised the historical method and tried to put the practice of history on a scientific basis. Hegel and Karl Marx introduced the concept of spirit and dialectical materialism into the study of historical development. Auguste Comte brought history closer to science. Benedet to Croce and R.G. Collingwood denied the existence of facts independent of the historian and gave overwhelming importance to Article Original interpretation in writing history. Arnold Joseph Toynbee, the illustrious thinker of Britain has examined the genesis, the growth, and decay of all civilizations of mankind. During the twentieth century, the French Annals School radically changed the focus of historical research in France. Fernand Braudel wanted history to become more scientific and less subjective and demanded more quantitative evidence. Thus, we see that since the appearance of the modern period history changed her a lot. Let us throw lights on Karl Marx’s concept of spirit and dialectical materialism into the study of historical development. KEYWORDS: Marx’s Concept & Historical Development Received: Mar 13, 2021; Accepted: Apr 03, 2021; Published: May 03, 2021; Paper Id.: IJHRJUN20215 INTRODUCTION Karl Heinrich Marx (1818–1883 A.D.) Karl Heinrich Marx, the great German intellectual of the philosophy of history. A great supporter of morals and followers of social tradition, Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 A.D. of Jewish parents in Trier in Prussian Rhineland. He was one of nine children born to Heinrich and Henrietta Marx. His father was a successful lawyer who revered Kant and Voltaire and was a passionate activist for Prussian reform. Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. Trained as a philosopher, Karl Marx turned away from philosophy in his mid-twenties, towards economics and politics. However, in addition to his overtly philosophical early work, his later writings have many points of contact with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in the philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy. He was educated at home until he was twelve and spent five years, from 1830 to 1835 A.D., at the Jesuit high school in Trier. He had his education at Bonn, Berlin, and Jena. He studied history, philosophy, and jurisprudence. His final ideas on history, economics, and philosophy materialized www.tjprc.org [email protected] 46 Dr. Abhijit Sahoo during his studies in London. In Berlin, he studied law and philosophy and was introduced to the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel, who had been a professor at Berlin until his death in 1831. Karl Marx was not initially attracted to Hegel, but he soon became involved with the Young Hegelians, a radical group of students including Bruno Bauer and Ludwig Feuerbach, who criticized the political and religious establishments of the day. He received his doctorate from the University of Jena in 1841 A.D., but his radical politics prevented him from procuring a teaching position. He began to work as a journalist, and in 1842 A.D., he became the editor of Rheinische Zeitung, a liberal newspaper in Cologne. But the Prussian government banned the paper as too radical the following year. Harassed by the Prussian Government for his severe criticism, he was hounded out. He moved to Paris where he studied socialism and developed a friendship with Friedrich Engels, a rich cotton manufacturer. His association with socialism and with Engels proved life-long. KARL MARX In 1843A.D. with Arnold Ruge, Karl Marx founded a political journal titled German-French Annals in Paris. Only a single issue was published before philosophical differences between Karl Marx and Ruge resulted in its demise, but in August of 1844 A.D., the journal brought Karl Marx together with a contributor, Friedrich Engels, who would become his collaborator and lifelong friend. Together, the two began writing a criticism of the philosophy of Bruno Bauer, a Young Hegelian and former friend of Karl Marx’s. The result of Karl Marx and Engels’s first collaboration was published in 1845 A.D. as The Holy Family. Later that year, Karl Marx moved to Belgium after being expelled from France while writing for another radical newspaper, Vorxwarts which had strong ties to an organization that would later become the Communist League. Karl Marx also wrote the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 A.D., a critique of political economy in which he discusses topics such as labour wages, labour rent, and capital profit, and his ideas of how to change the economy, including proletarian socialist revolution and an eventual communist society. In Brussels, Karl Marx was introduced to socialism by Moses Hess and finally broke off from the philosophy of the Young Hegelians completely. While there, he wrote The German Ideology, in which he first developed his theory on Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7084 NAAS Rating: 2.90 Karl Marx’s Concept of Marxism, Class Struggle, and Dialectical Materialism into the Study of Historical Development 47 historical materialism. At the beginning of 1846 A.D., Karl Marx founded a Communist Correspondence Committee in an attempt to link socialists from around Europe. Inspired by his ideas, socialists in England held a conference and formed the Communist League, and in 1847 A.D. at a Central Committee meeting in London, the organization asked Karl Marx and Engels to write the Manifesto of the Communist Party. The Communist Manifesto, as this work is commonly known, was published in 1848 A.D., and shortly after, in 1849 A.D., Karl Marx was expelled from Belgium. The book gives a clear idea of Karl Marx’s whole social philosophy. He went to France, anticipating a socialist revolution, but was deported from there as well. Karl Marx moved to London and remained in London until his death. In London, Karl Marx helped to found the German Workers’ Educational Society, as well as a new headquarters for the Communist League. He continued to work as a journalist, including a ten-year stint as a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune from 1852 to 1862 A.D., but he never earned a living wage and was largely supported by Engels. Karl Marx became increasingly focused on capitalism and economic theory, and in 1867 A.D., he published the first volume of Das Capital in which he laid out his vision of capitalism and its inevitable tendencies toward self-destruction, and took part in a growing international workers’ movement based on his revolutionary theories. The rest of his life was spent writing and revising manuscripts for additional volumes, which he did not complete. The remaining two volumes were assembled and published posthumously by Engels. Karl Marx died of pleurisy in London on March 14, 1883 A.D. Karl Marx’s intellectual endeavour was influenced by three things German philosophical ideas French socialism British political economy. Karl Marx was not only a thinker but also a revolutionary activist. He said, “The philosophers have interpreted the world, the point, however, is to change it.” This suggests the very essence of Marxian dialectics. He was not only interested in floating a thought or idea but also his ideas were to change the entire world. Karl Marx’s remarkable works are Rheinische Zeitung (Newspaper), Vorwarts (Newspaper), The Holy Family (1845A.D.), The German Ideology (1845A.D.), The Communist Manifesto (1848A.D.), Das Capital (1867A.D.), A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859A.D.), Value, Price, and Profit (1865A.D.), The Poverty of Philosophy (1847A.D.), Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844(1844A.D.) MARXISM www.tjprc.org [email protected] 48 Dr. Abhijit Sahoo Karl Marx was one of the greatest revolutionaries of the nineteenth century. He initiated the historical dimension to an understanding of society, culture, and economics. He created the concept of ideology in the sense of beliefs that shape and control social actions, analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction. His thought and action, during the span of four decades, changed the course of history in Europe. While his friend and collaborator Frederick Engels accompanied Karl Marx in his social adventures, Communism is identified with Karl Marx alone. Hence, its description as Marxism is widely accepted. Further, the basic thrust of Marxism is to reform and update socialism. In doing so, Marx borrowed certain concepts from his teacher and political philosopher, Hegel. Communism is also popularized as scientific socialism. Marxism had evoked prompt response in both the protagonists as well as antagonists of this ideology. In view of basing its arguments on the analysis of capitalism, Marxism appeared as its antidote and aimed at establishing scientific socialism in any advanced capitalist state. A thorough study of Marxism makes one believe that capitalism would be replaced by socialism. For, the basic premises of Marxism are put forward, in a rational and logical format.