Karl Marx
"Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains."
Childhood and Early life
Marx, fullname, Karl Heinreich Marx, is regarded as a German philosopher, economist and sociologist. He was born on May the fifth, 1818, in the city of Trier Rhenish Prussia. Marx's father, Heinrich Marx, was a lawyer, and his mother Henriette Presburg Marx was a Dutchwoman. Marx's family was Christian and he himself was baptized in the year 1824 (age 6). Although baptized, he grew up to be a materialist as well as an atheist. He disliked the idea of Christianity and Jewish, and rejected both of them, Marx did not believe in God's existence. This further contributed to one of the overshadowing principle of communism: "Religion is the opium".
Marx studied at Bonn University in Germany at the age of 17 in 1835. He studied law, which is what his father wanted. On the contrary, Marx was far more passionate about philosophy and literature as compared to law. This then caused him to do poorly in his law studies in the unversity and hence wasted his years studying there. When his father realized Marx' true passion, he was withdrawed from Bonn University and went to the Unversity of Berlin. In there, he had the opportunity to share his views and ideas regarding religion, philosophy, ethics and politics with those that had a similar insight as he did. Marx stayed in Berlin for more than four years to finish his studies, and afterwards managed to graduate with a doctoral degree on March of 1841. (W.Francis, 2000)
Publication of major works
The Communist Manifesto was written preceding the Revolution that took place on 1848 in Germany. This manifesto surrounds the idea of promoting social change. Marx and Engels, the author and assistant of this work, wrote this as an attempt to influence history, this menifesto would spread knowledge regarding the communist movement. It was written in regards to the sufferage of the workers in England, Germany, and france in the 19th century, as the industrial revolution has resulted in the stratification of society. Creating an underclass of workers, living in poverty. It is written in four sections, discussing the relationships between communism and other social structure, and ultimately explains the objectives of Communism.
Das Capital is composed of three volumes, which Marx took approximately thiry years to complete. The first one was released in 1867 and was the only one of the three that he himself managed to finish before his death in 1883. The other two volumes were then editted and released by his friend Friedrich Engels. Das Capital is orientated around economics, and focuses on the uses of commodities, and wages by capitalists. In Das Capital, Marx states that the system of capitalism is unstable, because it is unable to sustain profits for an infinite amount of time. (Sparknotes. Inc, 2013)
Life achievements and influence
The political and economical theories developed by Marx has had a significant influence over such ideologies. The ideas developed by Marx, namely marxism grew into modern sociology, and had a massive influence over today's philosophy, arts, literature and other academic bases. Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Marx himself was acknowledged as the founders of today's social sciences. Unlike most philosophers, Marx came up with theories that is able to be scientifically tested and perhaps proven.
Marx's disciples would often argue over the application of his theories on the modern society. His theories, ideology and beliefs were analysed by many individuals, all claiming to be the best interpretation and the most accurate of his ideas. These resulted in ideas such as: Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maosim, Luxmburgism, and Libertarian Marxism. (Wikipedia. Inc, 2013)
Significance to Animal Farm
Childhood and Early life
Marx, fullname, Karl Heinreich Marx, is regarded as a German philosopher, economist and sociologist. He was born on May the fifth, 1818, in the city of Trier Rhenish Prussia. Marx's father, Heinrich Marx, was a lawyer, and his mother Henriette Presburg Marx was a Dutchwoman. Marx's family was Christian and he himself was baptized in the year 1824 (age 6). Although baptized, he grew up to be a materialist as well as an atheist. He disliked the idea of Christianity and Jewish, and rejected both of them, Marx did not believe in God's existence. This further contributed to one of the overshadowing principle of communism: "Religion is the opium".
Marx studied at Bonn University in Germany at the age of 17 in 1835. He studied law, which is what his father wanted. On the contrary, Marx was far more passionate about philosophy and literature as compared to law. This then caused him to do poorly in his law studies in the unversity and hence wasted his years studying there. When his father realized Marx' true passion, he was withdrawed from Bonn University and went to the Unversity of Berlin. In there, he had the opportunity to share his views and ideas regarding religion, philosophy, ethics and politics with those that had a similar insight as he did. Marx stayed in Berlin for more than four years to finish his studies, and afterwards managed to graduate with a doctoral degree on March of 1841. (W.Francis, 2000)
Publication of major works
The Communist Manifesto was written preceding the Revolution that took place on 1848 in Germany. This manifesto surrounds the idea of promoting social change. Marx and Engels, the author and assistant of this work, wrote this as an attempt to influence history, this menifesto would spread knowledge regarding the communist movement. It was written in regards to the sufferage of the workers in England, Germany, and france in the 19th century, as the industrial revolution has resulted in the stratification of society. Creating an underclass of workers, living in poverty. It is written in four sections, discussing the relationships between communism and other social structure, and ultimately explains the objectives of Communism.
Das Capital is composed of three volumes, which Marx took approximately thiry years to complete. The first one was released in 1867 and was the only one of the three that he himself managed to finish before his death in 1883. The other two volumes were then editted and released by his friend Friedrich Engels. Das Capital is orientated around economics, and focuses on the uses of commodities, and wages by capitalists. In Das Capital, Marx states that the system of capitalism is unstable, because it is unable to sustain profits for an infinite amount of time. (Sparknotes. Inc, 2013)
Life achievements and influence
The political and economical theories developed by Marx has had a significant influence over such ideologies. The ideas developed by Marx, namely marxism grew into modern sociology, and had a massive influence over today's philosophy, arts, literature and other academic bases. Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Marx himself was acknowledged as the founders of today's social sciences. Unlike most philosophers, Marx came up with theories that is able to be scientifically tested and perhaps proven.
Marx's disciples would often argue over the application of his theories on the modern society. His theories, ideology and beliefs were analysed by many individuals, all claiming to be the best interpretation and the most accurate of his ideas. These resulted in ideas such as: Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maosim, Luxmburgism, and Libertarian Marxism. (Wikipedia. Inc, 2013)
Significance to Animal Farm
Russian Revolution1. The book, Communist Manifesto that Marx wrote previous the Russian Revolution expressed his idea of equality within the society.
2. His book put doubt into the minds of those who believed in capitalism. 3. The idea of communism motivated Stalin and Lenin to start the revolution and further develop the idea into Leninism and Stalinism. |
Animal Farm1. The speech that Old Major gave to the animals before they start the revolution which expressed his idea of rebelling over the humans and running the farm by themselves.
"Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later justice will be done." Chapter 1, Page 6 2. His speech has made the animals question themselves if the situation they are living in is fair or not. "Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings?" Chapter 1, Page 5 3. The pigs develop Old Major’s idea into Animalism and it gives them the motivation to rebel against Mr.Jones. "These three had elaborated old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism" Chapter 2, Page 11 |
Analysis
In Orwell’s perspective, Karl Marx is a very wise old man, or even a religious prophet. Hence in Animal Farm, Old Major seems to be a symbol of wisdom and I believe he is the only character that Orwell didn’t really criticize in general. In Old Major’s speech to the animals, it shows that he loves all the other animals and still show care towards the less prioritized one. In parallel to the reality, Karl Marx’s idea raised the working classes priority so they can share equal opportunities as the upper classes, in order to create a more peaceful society. Since Orwell is a socialist himself, he felt that Marx uplifting the working class is a laudable thing to do. Apart from that, there is also a reason why the character is called Old Major. Major is a military rank, to Orwell, he is not only a philosopher, he’s also a warrior. He is not just a person who can come up with some great ideas, he also has the courage to act it out. Overall, Old Major appears to be a positive character in Animal Farm.
Despite the positive views on this character, some readers interpret him to be very negative. Recalling to historical events, before the WWII, Churchill and Roosevelt’s biggest threat was not Hitler and the Nazis, yet it came from the communist Russia and China. They were afraid that the poor idea of communism will spread all over the world. Hence, resulting an indescribable failure. People like them would see Old Major more of a trouble maker because he is encouraging the younger ones to rebel against the social order and perhaps, some of them do not even know what they are fighting for, such as the cat from the novel. Therefore, in another perspective, Old Major can also be seen as a negative character. To summarize, this contrasting character can be seen in different perspectives which reflects on how differently the society’s views on Karl Marx can be.
In my opinion, I find the fact that Orwell sees Old Major as a positive character very ironic because this novel is basically a criticism towards the hypocrisy of Stalin and the failure of the Russian Revolution. Orwell criticized every single animal on the farm, including the pigs for being so cunning to the other animals, but also the other animals for being so naive ad gullible. He also criticized on the failure on this revolution and that communism would not work in a society. However, if we flash back to the beginning, it was Old Major who encouraged the animals to start the rebellion, Snowball nor Napoleon had that idea in the first place. If Old Major never existed, this rebellion would have never started. Even though some may argue that the animal changes the original idea, however looking at the original communist idea by Karl Marx in reality, there are also flaws which Orwell didn’t notice. Therefore, it is very ironic how the author presented Old Major to the readers as such a positive character.
1. Wheen Francis. (2000). Karl Marx Biography. Retrieved March 24th,2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833?page=3
2. Wikipedia. Inc. (2013). Karl Marx. Retrieved March 23rd, from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
3. Sparknotes. Inc. (2013). The Communist Manifesto. Retrieved March 27th, 2013, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/
4. Sparknotes. Inc. (2013). Das Kapital. Retrieved March 27th, 2013, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/daskapital/