American Thought Leaders: Karl Marx and the Mythology Surrounding His Rise. Host Jan Jekielek, Guest Phillip Magness (08/07/24, podcast 55 min)

This discussion is excellent for anyone who wants to understand the real origins of Marxism and how Karl Marx’s ideas have been used by social justice warriors to take over countries, including America.

Show Notes

Karl Marx died in obscurity in 1883, with only about a dozen people attending his funeral. Even socialist magazines took little notice of him at the time, says Phillip Magness, an economic historian and senior fellow at the Independent Institute. So how is it that he became such a major figure decades later?

Magness decided to find out. In this episode, he breaks down his research into the origins of the popularity of Karl Marx.

“What really put Marx on the intellectual map was not the weight of his contributions in Das Kapital. It’s not him engaging in major debates. It’s actually a political event,” Magness says.