Einstein, Hitler, Freud, Stalin & Marx

Brief historical backgrounds of each of the four figures above will be offered as a backdrop by which to view Einstein's significance. We will then examine the life of the twentieth century's most famous scientist and human being, Albert Einstein.

Karl Marx, 1818-1883, established the official political philosophy of what we today call Marxism, a system governing more than a billion people. Marxism is a materialist philosophy based on the dialectical (conflicting) process of history. Marx believed that economic forces (the conflict between the classes) influenced the course of history, rather than abstract philosophical ideas.

Perhaps the most important event of the year 1848 was the publication of a small group of German socialists, of a short pamphlet called The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). The manifesto offered a blueprint for a new classless society. Marx believed that once the bourgeoisie (the ruling, wealthier class) was overthrown, the working class (proletariat) would set up a dictatorship of indefinite length, "which would set about putting an end to the dialectical process of history by creating a classless society. When no classes existed, presumably there could be no further c

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ssless society, and Freud would argue that man is essentially irrational, subject to primordial urges beyond his conscious comprehension, at least without psychoanalysis. Rationality has been given secondary importance as a determinant of history. Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) was indeed Einstein's contemporary. They were both born in the same year, and Stalin died only two years before the famous scientist. Stalin was a tough, maneuvering Georgian named Joseph Vissarionovich Dzugashvily, who took the name Stalin ("man of steel") on joining the revolutionary movement. Stalin used his role as general secretary of the Communist party to make himself rather than Trotsky the heir to Lenin's power (Willis, 1986, p. 552). Willis (1986) goes on to tell us that Lenin tried to give warning against Stalin. Lenin cautioned that "Comrade Stalin, having become general secretary, has concentrated tremendous power in his hands, and I am not sure he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution" (p. 552). In other words, having created a dictatorship, Lenin had at the last moment become aware of the abuses to which it could be put. By 1928, Stalin felt prepared to change the whole direction of party policy; in the first Five-Yea
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Approximate Word count = 2708
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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