Miss Harris "Karl Marx vs. Adam Smith"

Molly Lorenz
Miss Harris
American History II
9/20/2007
Karl Marx and Adam Smith
Writing a century apart, yet forever are their two pieces held side by side, Marx and Smith are two political writers and philosophers. Marx wrote book on communism in the 19th century; a time where capitalism had made for poor living situations and there was a great amount of hostility between the classes of people. Smith wrote his in 1776, near the time of the Industrial Revolution. In his ideal world, each person would be acting in their own interest, regulating the capitalist economy, and prices of things would stabilize at the lowest reasonable rates. He was a capitalist, and was a firm believer of mantra 'if you work hard, you will be rewarded'. This is not always the case, however. Marx, believed that the eventual revolutionary overthrow or capitalism was eminent and would be done by the proletariat, or "working class". So while Smith believed that everyone would gain something if they all worked, Marx believed that the working class would start a revolution against the more privileged bourgeoisie.
They were similar in the fact that they were both adamant about what they believed, and had proof to prove their points. Smith would use the 'invisible hand theory', while Marx would say that the working class is unhappy and would eventually lead to a revolution in the advanced industrial countries. Smith was more of a thinker on a smaller scale, as he thought that other people were as well. He wanted for them to trade amongst themselves; whereas Marx knew that that wasn't going to last very long because people would want more in the end.