Marxism, Socialism & Communism (Paperback) | Released: 06 Apr 2021

Karl Marx, the founder of modern international communism, was born at Trier, Germany, on May 5, 1818 (died in 1883), the son of a Jewish lawyer, studied at Bonn and Berlin but took up history and Hegelian philosophy and Feuerbach's materialism. In 1842 he became editor of the democratic Rheinische Zeitung, but his virulent attacks upon the government brought about its closure.He moved to Paris, but having been expelled from France he settled in Brussels and finally moved to England in 1847.Karl Marx and Friederich Engels provided the inspiration for modern communism and co-operated in 1884 in writing the Communist Manifesto. But it was Marx's great work, Das Capital, which became the 'Bible' of most communist parties. Karl Marx worked out a new theory of society, postulating that all social systems are economically motivated. He interpreted history in terms of economics and explained the evolution of society through the class struggle. He visualised his theories as revolutionising the more advanced countries but it was the backward ones like Russia and China which adopted them.In 1848 the Communist Manifesto was written by both Marx and Enbgels, and 1864 Marx founds First International in London. In 1867 Marx wrote Das Kapital, which as doctrine of dialectical materialism revolutionised much of political thinking of 20th and 21st centuries. In 1849 he was exiled in London.Engels, as a German Socialist, collaborated with Marx to write it. Engels, in 1842, because of his revolutionary activities led him to flee to England, where he edited Marx's works.On the other hand, Marx laid the foundations of communism, as a philosopher, theorist of socialism and radical leadership.Never-the-less, the reader must be given the chance to think of what the shortcomings of Marxism, Socialism and Communism are, especially the latter.The defects of Marx's dialectical approach are endemic to all forms of historicism. He failed to provide a political programme because on his thesis politics come to end with the classless society, he did not foresee the future decisive role of the managerial class, which has no place in his system.But as the propounder of a political creed he exerted a powerful influence which a century and a half after the publication of the Manifesto showed no signs of abating.I, Andreas Sofroniou (the author of this book), was born in Cyprus and brought up under the various extremes of politics, where I observed the evolution of communism into socialism on the island. Looking back and objectively judging from afar, I cannot but admit that the socialist members of the AKEL political party have achieved a model of socialism worth copying in other parts of the world. At the moment of going to print, the Leader and Secretary General of the Socialist Party of AKEL is also the President of the divided European Union island. In short, the political party of the socialist AKEL is steadfastingly holding the positive leadership in a democratic system. As a consequence, it appears that the island is in good hands, economically and politically.