History will show that Albert Einstein had the most significant influence on the twentieth century. We will compare Einstein to Hitler, Freud, Stalin, and Marx to demonstrate his significance across political and scientific boundaries.
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 conflict of classes" (Willis, 1986, p. 315).
The most offensive thing to Marx, and the basis for overthrowing the ruling class, was the fact that the capitalist sold a product for several times more than he paid the worker in wages. The difference, "surplus value," the capitalist took for himself, a blatant form of exploitation. How can the proletariat hope to overpower the capitalist ruling class? As a result of competition among capitalists, their ...