Did Karl Marx, the founder of Russian Communism, ever live in Russia?

It is true that Karl Marx never lived in Russia. Born in Prussia, Marx later became stateless (a man without a country) and spent much of his life in London.

As the Father of Communism, Karl Marx, a German philosopher and economist, proposed a new ideology in his Communist Manifesto, which he wrote with Friedrich Engels in 1848. The manifesto emphasized the importance of class struggle in every historical society, and the dangerous instability capitalism created. Though it did outline some basic requirements for a communist society, the manifesto was highly analytical of historical events that led to its necessity and suggested the system’s ultimate goals, but did not concretely provide instructions for setting up a communist government. Though Marx died well before a government tested his theories, his ideas and writings did influence revolutionary industrial workers throughout Europe.

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72 Comments

Tom McKenna

First of all, what Marx did is not Russian Communism, he wrote the Communist Manifesto which is not a bad philosophy nor a bad system; it just disagrees with Capitalism and outlines a system for the workers. What the leaders of the communism revolution in 1917 and subsequently how Stalin introduced that system to totalitarianism did with Marx's philosophy made it what it is today. In the late 19th century (some twenty years after Marx's writing) a very wide gap in the Russian upper class and Russian peasant class became so severe that the workers adapted Marx's work, and subsequently became the philosophy of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Karl Marx did not invent Russian Communism, he simply wrote a philosophy adopted by the revolutionaries in Russia.

ursulajeankolb

Karl Marx was not the founder of Russian communism; V.I. Lenin was.

rosemarymee

Quite a lot of the Communist Manifesto was written by Engels.

kotakat

Cottec, exactly. Elites Socialism philosophy: What is mine is mine and what is yours is mine to distribute as I see fit.

illonabird

Cedric Walters, To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability (paraphrase). A noble sentiment, but doesn’t take into account human nature. You are absolutely, unequivocally correct. Socialism is a different economy entirely. Let not the two be confused. The wealthiest country on the planet does not have universal healthcare. Let that sink in.

Marianne

I agree with Ursula Jean Kolb and Tom McKenna. Karl Marx did not invent Russian Communism.

Kat

Cottec, human nature being what it is, unfortunately.

Yaakov Israel

Marx died in 1883, 34 years before the October Revolution.

Wayne Linburg

badgerrick, I think most Republicans have lived in clown school.

Andy the educated troglodyte

Tom McKenna, very balanced and accurate assessment, Tom.

Gale0013

I thought this was going to be a trick question. Karl Marx lived in Prussia which today, a small part of what was Prussia is now in Russia. I do not know if it was the part he lived in though. By the way, I answered correctly.