Karl Marx set the wheels of modern Communism and Socialism in motion
with his writings in the late nineteenth century. In collaboration with his
friend, Heinrich Engels, he produced the The Communist Manifesto, written in
1848. Many failed countries' political and socio-economic structures have been
based on Marx's theories, for example the USSR, East Germany etc. Many people
believe that Marxism is not applicable to today's society, as Karl Marx put
forward his ideas not anticipating the type of society we have today. The
welfare state system has effectively nullified Marx's arguments, and made them
irrelevant.

Karl Marx, born on May 5, 1818, died on March 14, 1883, was a German
economist, philosopher and revolutionist whose writings form the basis of the
body of ideas known as Marxism. In his youth he was deeply affected by the
philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel, and joined a rebel group called the Young Hegelians,
which contributed ideas towards the movement against organized religion and the
Prussian Autocracy. Later on in life, he was influenced by the writings of
Ludwig Feuerbach, who wrote that God was invented by humans as a projection of
their own ideals, and that in creating such a 'perfect' being, in contrast to
themselves, mankind lowered themselves to lowly, evil creatures who needed
guidance from the church and government. He said that, in creating God in their
own image, humans had 'alienated themselves from themselves.'

Karl Marx applied this alienation theory to private property, which he
said caused humans to work only for themselves, not for the good of their
species. The idea is further explained in the following sentences. The people
who do the work in a capitalistic society own none of the means of production,
(ie. machines, raw produce etc.) that they use in their work. These are owned
by the capitalists, to whom the workers must ...