<\/p>\n
May 5th<\/sup> is the 198th<\/sup> anniversary of Karl Marx birth, in Trier, Germany. He was, no doubt, one of the most influential men in the history of the centuries XIX, XX and XXI. Together with Frederic Engels, his friend and comrade of militancy and theoretical and political elaboration, they founded a doctrine of though and action (Marxism) along their lives, that today remains more current than ever.<\/em><\/p>\n By Alejandro Iturbe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This includes, of course, his critical studies on capitalist economy and its internal laws. Specifically The Capital<\/em>, a monumental work that was never finished and yet it has been never exceeded (although it was complemented by other works, like Lenin\u2019s book on imperialism). Whoever wants to understand in depth the current situation of capitalism (and the necessity to overcome it as a stage of the social-economic development of humanity) must start, undoubtedly, by these Marx\u2019s elaborations.<\/p>\n There are also his numerous philosophical writings. Based on a materialist conception, Marx confronts the idealistic perspectives and the religious views of history. At the same time, he takes materialism off the straitjacket of the formal-mechanical methodology it was imprisoned in, and takes it to a higher level by incorporating the tools of dialectics.<\/p>\n Finally, there is the main \u201cbody\u201d of his ideas, what orders his multiple and complex elaborations: the Marx who was a revolutionary militant. A path that started with a philosophical premise during his youth: \u201cPhilosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways. What is crucial, however, is to change it<\/em>\u201d (XI Thesis on Feuerbach, 1845). This conclusion on the necessity of transforming the capitalist world took him, based on a scientific study of reality, to another conclusion, expressed in the Communist Manifesto<\/em> (1848): the subject of such historical transformation is the modern working class developed by capitalism. And the way to transform it is the revolution: taking the power through the insurrection of the working class and destructing the bourgeois state, as the beginning of the radical transformation of the socio-economic bases to reach a socialist society first, and then communism.<\/p>\n It is from here he founded, together with Engels, the Communist League (1847). He acted and helped orienting (or even debated with other tendencies what he thought to be the necessary direction) the most important processes of organization and working class struggle of the epoch, such as founding the International Workers\u2019 Association (IWA, or First International, in 1864), and the first attempt of workers\u2019 revolution (Paris Commune, in 1871).<\/p>\n The Commune was defeated. Marx himself wrote conclusions and lessons to be taken about the mistakes made during this experience. Developing those conclusions and bringing new considerations into it, a new generation of his followers (Lenin and Trotsky) will lead, in 1917, the first victorious working class revolution, and the construction of the first Workers\u2019 State of History. The balance of this experience and its posterior direction are still object of intense debates. But it is still an inseparable part of the long path Marx initiated.<\/p>\n Capitalist ideologists and their paid journalists affirmed, during the 90\u2019s, such as Joan Manuel Serrat\u2019s song ironically says, that \u201cMarx was dead and buried\u201d because \u201ccapitalism had triumphed\u201d. The following course of the capitalist reality showed that, far from this literary bravado, Marx\u2019s analysis and conclusions are completely current, and his work must be studied more than ever (to understand reality).<\/p>\n Some alleged \u201cMarxists\u201d tried to sterilize the revolutionary Marx, and they deform his ideas, proposing to \u201chumanize capitalism\u201d instead. Others tell us the revolutionary aspect of his proposals is still valid but can only be implemented in a distant future; so, they propose to \u201cdemocratize\u201d capitalism as the current posed task\u2026 and end up joining the first ones.<\/p>\n By the deep content of his theoretical elaboration and his political action, we are sure Marx would repudiate both proposals, with the profoundness, severity and also irony that were so characteristic of Marx when debating.<\/p>\n From our side, we are still proudly \u201corthodox Marxists\u201d. Which means we try to be Marxists in the way we think and also in the action of \u201ctransforming the world\u201d through class struggle, through the workers\u2019, socialist revolution.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 5th is the 198th anniversary of Karl Marx birth, in Trier, Germany. He was, no doubt, one of the most influential men in the history of the centuries XIX, XX and XXI. Together with Frederic Engels, his friend and comrade of militancy and theoretical and political elaboration, they founded a doctrine of though […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4942,"menu_order":1686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"litci_post_political_author":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3645,3491],"tags":[5802,1551,3561,1029,5701],"class_list":["post-4937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-theory","tag-198th-marx-anniversary","tag-alejandro-iturbe","tag-history","tag-karl-marx","tag-theory"],"yoast_head":"\n