Karl Marx (1818-1883) believed that capitalism would eventually fail as an economic system. Workers would revolt against the factory owners that exploited their labor. Part of Marx’s theory of exploitation rests on his Labor Theory of Value. Marx asserted that the value of a commodity comes from the socially necessary labor time to produce that commodity. In short, labor produces value, and anyone else receiving the fruits of that labor (that is, the capitalists) was exploiting labor. Marx was born in Prussia to a Jewish family that converted to Protestantism as Marx was growing up. He studied law, history, and philosophy at the Universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Jena, earning his Ph.D. at the age of 23. He married Jenny von Westphalen, daughter of a baron and high government official, two years later. She would remain by his side through his difficult life and tumultuous career. Intellectually, economist David Ricardo, biologist Charles Darwin, the early socialists, and the philosophers Hegel and Feuerbach all influenced Marx. Because of his radical beliefs, Marx was unable to secure a university position. He became a journalist, was exiled from Germany, and relocated to Paris. There he studied French socialism, English political economy, and met Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Engels provided friendship, collaboration, and financial support to Marx. Together they published the Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1848. In 1849 Marx was exiled to London, where he spent the rest of his life. He continued to study political economy, trying to unlock its secrets. Though he suffered from illness, poverty, and the death of three of his infant children, Marx continued to study, write, and organize workers. He earned a simple living by writing articles for the New York Tribune. He organized and led the International Working Men’s Association, the "First International," a labor union that lasted from 1864 to 1876. In 1867 he published Volume 1 of his most significant work Das Kapital (Capital). Volumes 2 and 3 were edited and published by Engels after Marx’s death. Following Engels’ death, Marxist Karl Kautsky published three more volumes of Marx’s writing. Though many of Marx’s predictions for and conclusions about capitalism have been disproved, the impact of his work on the world is unquestionable. Even though many in the post-Soviet world now profess to reject Marx and his writings, the legacy of Marxism in these countries will be felt for some time.

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