Marxism refers to the body of works by Karl Marx including his philosophical anthropology, historical materialism and program of political economy. The most notable Marxist thinker apart from Marx himself would be Friedrich Engels. Marxism has developed into many different schools of thought, most notably Marxism-Leninism. Other schools include Left-Communism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Luxemburgism and Juche.
Concepts in Marxism[edit | edit source]
Historical Materialism[edit | edit source]
Dialectical Materialism[edit | edit source]
Base and Superstructure[edit | edit source]
Class Struggle[edit | edit source]
Marx posits that one's position within a class hierachy is based on their relation to production. According to Marx, the history of all existing society is the history of class struggle[1]. He describes our current age as "the epoch of the bourgeoisie"[1].
Bourgeoisie[edit | edit source]
The bourgeoisie or capitalists are those who own the means of production and purchase the labor power of others.
Petite-bourgeoisie[edit | edit source]
Proletariat[edit | edit source]
The proletariat or the working class are those who do not own the means of production and sell their own labor power for sustenance.