This plaque is part of my Polish medals collection
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This medal
has been minted to commemorate Karl Marx, 1818 - 1883.
The medalist is Theme.
Karl Marx (/mɑːrks/; German pronunciation: [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈmaɐ̯ks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist. Born in Prussia (now Rhineland-Palatinate), he later became stateless and spent much of his life in London. Marx's work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought. He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867–1894).
size
– 129 mm x 110 mm x 50 mm (ca 5” x 4.5”)
weight
– 318.80 mm, (11.25 oz)
metal – bronze, nice patina
Born into a wealthy middle-class family in Trier in the Prussian
Rhineland, Marx studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin where he became interested in the philosophical ideas of
the Young Hegelians. After his studies he wrote for the Rheinische Zeitung, a radical
newspaper in Cologne, and began to work out the theory of the materialist conception of history. He moved
to Paris in 1843, where he began writing for other radical newspapers and met Friedrich
Engels, who would become his lifelong friend and collaborator.
In 1849 he was exiled and moved to London together with his wife and children,
where he continued writing and formulating his theories about social and
economic activity. He also campaigned for socialism and became a significant
figure in the International Workingmen's Association.
Marx's theories about society, economics and politics—the
collective understanding of which is known as Marxism—hold that
human societies progress through class
struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls
production and a dispossessed labouring class that provides the labour for
production. States, Marx believed, were run on behalf of the ruling class and
in their interest while representing it as the common
interest of all; and he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic
systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its
self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism. He argued that class antagonisms
under capitalism between the bourgeoisie and proletariat would eventuate in the
working class' conquest of political power and eventually establish a classless
society, communism, a society governed by a free association of
producers. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing
that the working class should carry out organised revolutionary
action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic
change.
Both lauded and criticised, Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history. Many intellectuals, labour unions and political parties worldwide have been influenced by Marx's ideas, with many variations on his groundwork. Marx is typically cited, with Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science.
Marx's ideas have had a profound impact on world politics
and intellectual thought. Followers of Marx have frequently debated amongst
themselves over how to interpret Marx's writings and apply his concepts to the
modern world. The legacy of Marx's thought has become contested between
numerous tendencies, each of which sees itself as Marx's most accurate
interpreter. In the political realm, these tendencies include Leninism, Marxism–Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Luxemburgism, and libertarian Marxism. Various currents
have also developed in academic
Marxism, often under influence of other views, resulting in structuralist Marxism, historical
Marxism, phenomenological Marxism, Analytical Marxism and Hegelian
Marxism.
From an academic perspective, Marx's work contributed to
the birth of modern sociology. He has been cited as one of the nineteenth
century's three masters of the "school of suspicion", alongside Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund
Freud, and as one of the three principal architects of modern social
science along with Émile
Durkheim and Max Weber. In
contrast to other philosophers, Marx offered theories that could often be
tested with the scientific method. Both Marx and Auguste
Comte set out to develop scientifically justified ideologies in the wake of
European secularisation and new developments in the philosophies of history and science.
Working in the Hegelian tradition, Marx rejected Comtean sociological positivism in attempt to
develop a science of society. Karl Löwith considered
Marx and Søren Kierkegaard to be the two
greatest Hegelian philosophical successors. In modern sociological theory, Marxist
sociology is recognised as one of the main classical perspectives.
Isaiah Berlin considers Marx the true founder of
modern sociology, "in so far as anyone can claim the title." Beyond
social science, he has also had a lasting legacy in philosophy, literature, the
arts, and the humanities.
In social theory, twentieth- and twenty-first-century
thinkers have pursued two main strategies in response to Marx. One move has
been to reduce it to its analytical core, known as Analytical Marxism, which
came at the cost of sacrificing its most interesting and perplexing ideas.
Another, more common move has been to dilute the explanatory claims of Marx's
social theory and to emphasise the "relative autonomy" of aspects of
social and economic life not directly related to Marx's central narrative of
interaction between the development of the "forces of production" and
the succession of "modes of production." Such has been, for example,
the neo-marxist theorising adopted by historians inspired by Marx's social
theory, such as E. P. Thompson and Eric
Hobsbawm. It has also been a line of thinking pursued by thinkers
and activists like Antonio
Gramsci who have sought to understand the opportunities and the
difficulties of transformative political practice, seen in the light of Marxist
social theory.
Politically, Marx's legacy is more complex. Throughout
the twentieth century, revolutions in dozens of countries labelled themselves
'Marxist', most notably the Russian Revolution, which led to the
founding of the USSR. Major
world leaders including Vladimir
Lenin, Mao Zedong, Fidel
Castro, Salvador
Allende, Josip Tito, and Kwame
Nkrumah all cited Marx as an influence, and his ideas informed
political parties worldwide beyond those where 'Marxist revolutions' took
place. The brutal dictatorships associated with some Marxist nations have led
political opponents to blame Marx for millions of deaths, but the fidelity of
these varied revolutionaries, leaders and parties to Marx's work is highly
contested, and rejected by many Marxists. It is now common to distinguish
between the legacy and influence of Marx specifically, and the legacy and
influence of those who shaped his ideas for political purposes.