Proletariat - taken from a Latin term for the "Lowest" working class of Rome, by way of the French version of it.
Karl Marx referred to the owners of capital as the bourgeoisie, who controlled the means of production and exploited the labor of the proletariat, the working class. Marx critiqued the capitalist system for perpetuating inequality and alienation between these two social classes.
Karl Marx's message centered on the critique of capitalism and the call for a revolution by the working class (proletariat) to overthrow the capitalist system. He believed that capitalism exploited the labor of workers, leading to inequalities and class struggles. Marx advocated for a socialist system where the means of production are owned collectively by the people to achieve a classless society.
The 'bourgeoisie' are the owners and controllers of the means of production according to Karl Marx.
"The opium of the people".
Word salad. Ack. It's Karl Marx, by the way. And he didn't do anything for capitalists. He was opposed to capitalism. Some people even go so far as to call him the "father of modern communism".
Marxism originated from the ideas of Karl Marx, a German philosopher, economist, and sociologist in the 19th century. Marx developed his theory of Marxism through studying capitalist societies and the struggles of the working class. His collaboration with Friedrich Engels resulted in the publication of the Communist Manifesto in 1848, which laid out the principles of Marxism as a critique of capitalism and a call for a classless society.
Originally it was "Working men of all countries, unite!" It was the last line in The Communist Manifesto which both Marx and Engels wrote. The slogan was eventually modified into "Workers of the world, unite!" primarily because it just sounds better and there's no potential for people to interpret it in any sexist way. Marx and Engels wrote the line because The Communnist Manifesto is basically a call for a socialist revolution, the working class is inexpendable to this revolution.
Although Karl Marx called members of the upper class the "bourgeoisie," the two terms are not synonymous. The bourgeoisie are the people who own and control the means of production, not just the upper class. People may be in the upper class if they are wealthy like professional people and shopowners, but they are not part of Marx's bourgeoisie, because they do not own the means of production of good and they don't employ workers in factories. Likewise, the term "proletariat" does not equate exactly to the "lower class."
Easy = The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Marx would refer to the shared identity members of the working class have for doing real work in relation to their position in the means of production as "class consciousness." This is the awareness and understanding among workers of their common interests and shared experiences as a result of their relationship to the means of production. It is a key concept in Marxist theory, emphasizing solidarity and unity among the working class in challenging the capitalist system.
Karl Marx referred to the American Civil War as the "slaveholders' rebellion" in recognition of the conflict's central role in determining the future of slavery in the United States. Marx believed the war was fundamentally about the South's desire to preserve and expand its slave labor system.
I don't know what you mean by "believe in it". Marx believed there was such a struggle and the rich always won. The central concept of Marxism is that the rich control the means of production (they own the mines, the factories, the land, the distribution networks) which should really be owned by the people as a whole. The idea is "Give what you can and take what you need". The flaw is that there is no reward for working hard or being smart. Joe sleeps until noon every day and lets his crops rot. Charlie rises early and grows bumper crops. But in the communist system they both get the same reward. There is not and has never been a true communist state anywhere. There have been dictatorships that call themselves communist. Vladimir Putin is believed to be one of the richest men in the world,