The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederik Engels Translated by Samuel Moore A spectre is haunting Europe- the spectre of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police spies. Where is the party in […]

Saint Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 Saint Thomas Aquinas was a great thinker and a remarkable medieval theologian. Thomas, a native of Naples, gained his doctorate at Paris under Alberthus Magnus and later taught at various European universities. His most famous work was his 20 volume Summa Theologica. In this, he expresses his concern with the concept […]

 Socialism Socialism, economic and social doctrine, political movement inspired by this doctrine, and system or order established when this doctrine is organized in a society. The socialist doctrine demands state ownership and control of the fundamental means of production and distribution of wealth, to be achieved by reconstruction of the existing capitalist or other political […]

Karl Marx (1818-1883) Karl Marx was a German political philosopher and revolutionist, co-founder with Friedrich Engels of scientific socialism (modern communism), and, as such, one of the most influential thinkers of all times who has seriously disrupted the course of economics itself. Marx was born in Trier on May 5, 1818, and educated at the […]

Modern Capitalism Two developments paved the way for the emergence of modern capitalism; both took place in the latter half of the 18th century. The first was the appearance of the physiocrats in France after 1750; and the second was the devastating impact that the id eas of Adam Smith had on the principles and […]

Capitalism Capitalism, economic system in which private individuals and business firms carry on the production and exchange of goods and services through a complex network of prices and markets. Although rooted in antiquity, capitalism is primarily European in its origins; it evolved through a number of stages, reaching its zenith in the 19th century. From […]

Bourgeoisie Bourgeoisie, originally, the free residents of European towns during the Middle Ages. The bourgeoisie later became synonymous with the middle class. History The term was first applied to those inhabitants of medieval towns in France who occupied a position somewhere between the peasants and the landowning nobility; soon it was extended to the middle […]

Goths The GOTHS were a powerful group of Germanic people who played a major role in bringing down the Roman Empire in the West during the 3rd century AD. The Goths came essentially from the most northern edges of the Vistula River system, around the Baltic Sea. The Gothic culture developed as did their population […]

Offa King of Mercia 757-796 AD Offa was King of Mercia who reigned between 757 and 796 AD until his death. Offa was a descendant of PENDA’S younger brother. Following the death of king ETHELBALD, Mercia was plunged into a period of civil war as rival claimants to the throne fought for the prize. Offa […]

William III 1694-1702 King of England, was the son of William II. Prince of Orange, by his wife Mary, daughter of Charles I., and was born at the Hague, November 4th, 1650. His father, stadtholder of the United Provinces, died a few days before his birth; and through the influence of the Republican party he was […]