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| | Karl Marx, industrial revolution, histroy lesson plans, communist manifesto, workers, economic systems |
 | | In one of them, Marx coined one of his most memorable phrases, calling "religion the opium of the people." By this he meant that religion acts like a narcotic, easing the pain of the poor and oppressed in a "heartless world." But like a narcotic, it failed to cure the oppression. |
 | | The history of society, Marx wrote, "is the history of class struggles." Marx attempted to show that throughout history one economic class always oppressed another: "Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman." But eventually the downtrodden class rose up, overthrew its masters, and created an entirely new society. |
 | | Marx said that capitalists had alienated the worker from the results of his labor, forcing him to become "enslaved by the machine." This exploitation, argued Marx, would soon bring about a new class struggle that would end with the "violent overthrow" of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat. |
| crf-usa.org /bria/bria19_2a.htm (2543 words) |
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