Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed, Columnist & Researcher
Karl Marx was born in a jews family in the town of Terion, Germany in 1818. He was the third among the nine in his family. At the age of six, his family converted to Christianity in order to adjust with the German society. He had an intention to read literature and philosophy. But his father thought that Marx would not be able to be a scholar.
So being disgusted, his father sent him to Berlin University where rules are followed very strictly. There he joined an intellectual group advocating for the overthrow of the class system and the abolition of private property.
In 1841 during his study in university, Karl Marx prepared a thesis paper on the philosophy of Apecurys. He submitted his Ph.D. in 1841 in the University of Jena instead of Berlin. For he had earned bad name in Berlin for political issues, he left German and later on started living in London with his comrades’. By this time he was attracted to Hegelian concept and joined the circle of leftist Hegel. After the completion of his education he wanted to be a professor in Baan University. But German govt. did not allow him to join. He did not stop. He started writing in a journal named Kolon. In 1842 he became the chief editor of this journal. The paper got the Marxist reflection in his hand. At the same time this paper became popular to people. With the increase of popularity, govt. decided to stop the journal and Marx quitted from the journal.
In practical consideration, Marxism is defined to establish a theory of freedom of the workers class against exploitation, superstition, distortion, and above all from the slavery by the capitalists. In 19th century, this Marxism got the rights to succession in German Philosophy, English Economics and in French communism. Marx brought a balanced thought line in coordination with Hegelian Philosophy, Adam Smith, Recardian theory of Economics and that of 19th century French communism. We have passed 200 years of his birth. After such a long period, he still has the ability to shake the whole world. His followers are still active in many places of the world. “Either ballot or bullet” is the prime motto of his follower. Nepal and South America are the big example of this ideology. In Bangladesh he has been acclaimed. He was more progressive, liberal and unique than any other philosophers of his time. In his communist manifesto, he raised voice to change the world.
Marxist philosophy is a philosophy of humanity. Marx wanted to bring out the labor class by breaking down the capitalist society.
He was the real pioneer of humanity and this bears his credential for his contributions to world workers trade union in 1864. He was not a drawing room intellectual or opportunist. Nothing could confine him to luxury. He had his strong aspirations for the freedom of humanity. From the field of Philosophy, he traveled to other fields such as Economics, Biology, Anthropology and he protested fundametalism and superstitions of orthodox.
He also discovered the theory of surplus price value. The political theory of abusing the power by the stronger over the weakers was never well interpreted by anybody else as he interpreted. As a result the communist as well as the new liberalists of the world read Marx regularly. For all these reasons, Marx is still today so valid and important. The other side of his empowerment was that he could pull the future in the midst of present in a magical way. Today, we talk much about environment crisis, gender discrimination, modern revenue perceptions and many abuses of science. All these have been depicted in his writings with his far-sightedness.
Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and his work has been both lauded and criticized.
The importance of Marxist philosophy did not fade away with the passage of time; even two hundred years later it is rather more prominent than it was earlier. The class difference is vigorous nowadays. On one hand, it is increasing day by day. The wealthy class is still exploiting the wealth off class. Marx’s concept of equality is relevant to erode the class and removing exploitation. Marxism can be a name of relief. By his changing concept, we can change our society and work for the deprived class especially for the labor class.