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Marxism
Marxism is "a radical type of socialism." (Mc Dougall Littell) "It is the system of economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, especially the doctrine that the state throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of the masses by a dominant class, that class struggle ( the state was controlling everything) has been the main agency of historical change, and that the capitalist system, set to fail, will predictably, after the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat(in Marxist theory, the class of workers, especially industrial wage earners, who do not posses capital or property and must sell their labor to survive), be succeeded by a socialist order and a classless society."(dictionary.reference.com)

A person that believes in Marxism believes in social and economical equality, and egalitarian, or equal, society. Ideas of Marxism are found in The Communist Manifesto. "A quote from The Communist Manifesto is 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'"(goodreads.com) Basically, a Marxist believes in the ideas of Karl Marx.

Karl Marx, a German philosopher and sociologist who lived from 1818 to 1883, founded Marxism. He outlined his "ideas in a 23-page pamphlet called The Communist Manifesto" (Mc Dougall Littell) with Friedrich Engels in 1848. Besides co-writing The Communist Manifesto, Marx co-wrote [A Critique of] German Ideology. Some of Marx's works beisdes The Communist Manifesto were The Civil War in France, Critique of the Gotha Program, Capital, Volume 1; Wage-Labor and Capital, and Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.

Marxism is considered to be a form of socialism. "Karl Marx played two important roles in world history: as a critic of capitalism and as an advocate of socialism." (public.wsu.edu) According to Modern World History-Patterns of Interaction, Karl "Marx believed that capitalism would eventually destroy itself by the following: factories would drive small artisans out of business, the large proletariat would revolt, and workers would control the government in a 'dictatorship of the proletariat.'"(Mc Dougall Littell) One of the arguments Marx made about capitalism was that the worker is separated from the activity of his work, and objected that workers could not accomplish their creative potential as human beings under capitalism. Marx said the solution to this was worldwide revolution to bring about communism. He believed after that, "the state or government would wither away as a classless society developed". (Mc Dougall Littell)

"Marx called this final phase pure communism."(Mc Dougall Littell) "In Marxist theory, communism is a specific stage of historical development that certainly emerges from the development of the industrious forces that leads to an excess of material wealth".(en.goldenmap.com) He "described communism as a form of complete socialism in which the means of production"-all mines, lands, factories, businesses and railroads-"would be owned by people". He believed that "private property would in effect cease to exist", and that "all goods and services would be shared equally."(Mc Dougall Littell) "Marx never concluded whether communist society was unjust; others have speculated that he thought communism would transcend justice and create society without conflicts, therefore, without the needs for rules of justice." (plato.stanford.edu) "It would be a democratic society, enfranchising the entire population." (en.nkfu.com)

Marxism is not a religion. Rather, it is a specific type of way a person views things. Marxism has "many different aspects." These aspects include an analysis of economics, an interpretation of history, and certain political positions. "It is a system of thought."(struggle.net)

Karl Marx was an atheist. Marx said, "It (religion) is the opium of the people."(atheism.about.com) In Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844), Marx wrote, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances."(allaboutphilosophy.org)