Historical Context of Karl Marx and 19th Century Europe

Historical Background of Karl Marx

The 19th Century: A Period of Revolution

The nineteenth century, Marx's century, was a period of European revolutions driven by impulses coming from liberal, democratic, socialist, or anarchist movements. These movements were often stopped by the Church, the bourgeoisie, and conservative traditionalism. The turmoil of this period stems from the economic and social transformations caused by the collapse of the Ancien Régime, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic campaigns. During this time, Europe was divided into estates and classes.

The Rise of the Bourgeoisie and Capitalism

This century began with the immediate triumph of the French Revolution in 1789, also known as the bourgeois revolution. Although the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity—inspired by the Enlightenment—had driven the French Revolution, they were not fully met. This resulted in frustrations and social dislocations that explain, in part, the political instability of this turbulent and revolutionary century.

The political triumph of the bourgeoisie was based on their economic power, which reached a level hitherto unknown through the implementation of a new economic system: capitalism. The development of industrial production was replacing the agricultural system and changed artisanal processes. These economic conditions radically changed the lives of people and social groups.

Scientific Progress and Social Change

The structure of capital buildup in the hands of the bourgeoisie drove scientific progress, which resulted in the emergence of new technologies that changed the mode of production and, consequently, social life. During this era, science was aimed towards production.

Cultural and Philosophical Shifts

In the arts, Romanticism meant breaking with the exaltation of reason and the search for universality characteristic of the Enlightenment in favor of the irrationality of emotion and the scope of individualism. In philosophy, meanwhile, two streams derived from the Enlightenment dominated this century: German idealism and positivism.

• Idealism: This stream is characterized by trying to avoid the dualism between the subject and the thing itself (the external reality)—the object that Kant could not overcome. This problem is conceived in terms of reconciliation between nature and spirit. Hegel, the main representative of German idealism, conceives reality as spirit—a spirit that reaches its deployment at the end of a dialectical process in which the spirit takes place in nature.
• Positivism: This movement leads to an extreme confidence in the reason of the Enlightenment and hopes that, through science, man can dominate nature and perfect the social system.