The Electronic Passport to Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx was a German, but his ideas changed Russian history. Marx was dismayed by the treatment of workers in Europe. Conditions in European factories were very harsh and unsafe. Marx argued that workers, rather than landlords, should control factories and farms. He urged the "workers of the world to unite" in a worldwide revolution.

Marx's ideas were known as Communism, a word formed for common. Workers would share wealth in a communist society. Marx wrote that wealth should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

He was born a Jew, but his father converted the family to Christianity in order to get a job. Marx did not believe in god and thought workers were controlled by religion. He said, "religion is the opiate of the people." Opium is a drug.

Marx died in 1883, but his ideas formed the basis of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Mongolia became the second communist nation in 1921 and by the end of World War II, many governments were overthrown by communists.

The ideas of Marx were not used in the communist countries. Marx believed that workers would control government, but communist governments were strict and dictatorial. Workers were often forced to work on huge collective farms and factory workers often had to fulfill quotas. In most Communist nations, the press was censored. They were not allowed to print news stories that criticized the government. People who spoke out against the Soviet government were treated harshly.

Russia and Communism

To cite this page:
Dowling, Mike., "The Electronic Passport to Karl Marx," available from http://www.mrdowling.com/707-marx.html; Internet; updated