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Karl Marx

Karl Marx Quotes

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“Labor, being itself a commodity, is measured as such by the labor time needed to produce the labor-commodity. And what is needed to produce this labor-commodity? Just enough labor time to produce the objects indispensable to the constant maintenance of labor, that is, to keep the worker alive and in a condition to propagate his race. The natural price of labor is no other than the wage minimum.”

EnoughNaturalRaceAliveConditionsObjectsProduceNeededLaborConstantWorkersMinimumCommodityIndispensableMaintenance
Book:Delphi Collected Works of Karl Marx (Illustrated)
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“Work is external to the worker. . . . It is not part of his nature; consequently he does not fulfill himself in his work but denies himself. . . . The worker therefore feels himself at home only during his leisure time, whereas at work he feels homeless.”

FeelsDoeHomeWorkersDenyLeisureHomelessLeisure Time
Book:Marx and Engels on economics, politics, and society: essential readings with editorial commentary
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“As for slavery, there is no need for me to speak of its bad aspects. The only thing requiring explanation is the good side of slavery. I do not mean indirect slavery, the slavery of proletariat; I mean direct slavery, the slavery of the Blacks in Surinam, in Brazil, in the southern regions of North America. Direct slavery is as much the pivot upon which our present-day industrialism turns as are machinery, credit, etc. … Slavery is therefore an economic category of paramount importance.”

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Book:German socialist philosophy
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“The French need a thrashing. If the Prussians win, the centralization of state power will be useful for the centralization of the German working class. German predominance would also transfer the center of gravity of the workers' movement in Western Europe from France to Germany, and one has only to compare the movement in the two countries from 1866 until now to see that the German working class is superior to the French both theoretically and organizationally.”

IfsWorldNeedsMeanTwoCountryStatesWinningClassStageMovementTheoryEuropeWesternWorkersSuperiorsFranceCompareGermanyEtcGravityWorking ClassCentreTransfersTwo CountriesWestern Europe
Author:Karl Marx
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“The fact that labour is external to the worker, i.e., it does not belong to his intrinsic nature; that in his work, therefore he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and his mind. The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself.”

FeelsMindDoeFactsBodyEnergyWorkersDenyUnhappyLabour
Book:German socialist philosophy
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“In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”

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Book:The Communist Manifesto: A Road Map to History's Most Important Political Document
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“If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.”

PeopleIfsJoyMillionsSacrificeMankindPositionTearsBenefitsHotDeedsBurdenNobleSelfishChosenBowsShedAshesPettyHot Tears
Book:German socialist philosophy
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“Let us consider the actual, worldly Jew - not the Sabbath Jew, as Bauer does, but the everyday Jew. ... What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money. Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist. Money degrades all the gods of man - and turns them into commodities. The bill of exchange is the real god of the Jew. His god is only an illusory bill of exchange. The chimerical nationality of the Jew is the nationality of the merchant, of the man of money in general.”

MenMayDoeRealFacesTurnsHe ManBillsEverydayJewIsraelJealousCommodityWorldlyNationalityMerchantsSabbathDegradeIllusory
Author:Karl Marx
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“Society is undergoing a silent revolution, which must be submitted to, and which takes no more notice of the human existences it breaks down than an earthquake regards the houses it subverts. The classes and the races, too weak to master the new conditions of life, must give way.”

WayGivingHumansHouseRaceExistenceClassBreakConditionsMastersRevolutionWeakRegardSilentBreaking DownEarthquakesHuman Existence
Book:Karl Marx and Frederick Engels on Britain
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“The most interesting acquaintanceship I have struck up here is that of Colonel Lapinski. He is without doubt the cleverest Pole - besides being an homme d'action [man of action] - that I have ever met. His sympathies are all on the German side, though in manners and speech he is also a Frenchman. He cares nothing for the struggle of nationalities and only knows the racial struggle. He hates all Orientals, among whom he numbers Russians Turks, Greeks, Armenians, etc., with equal impartiality.... His aim now is to raise a German legion in London.”

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Author:Karl Marx
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