the political and economic principles and policies advocated by the German political philosopher and economist Karl Marx (d.1883), which stress the importance of human labour in determining economic value, the struggle between classes as an instrument of social change, and dictatorship of the proletariat
Marx claimed to replace utopian ideas of socialism with a scientific theory that would demonstrate the inevitable breakdown of capitalism. His insights about class inequalities have proved more durable than his suggestion for building a Communist society. The irony is that Communism actually came to exhibit structural flaws and injustices of a kind that Marx supposed unique to a market economy — Professor Peter Clarke
Marxist noun and adj
[named after Karl Marx d.1883, German political philosopher and economist]