The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was basically ignorant of all the technological advances that had occurred. The Japanese thought themselves to be the most superior of all races. That was why they banned Christianity in 1597, butchering all who practiced that religion. The Japanese never let anyone into their country, believing they had nothing good to learn from the outsiders, and they stayed like that for 250 years. Over the years that they had their doors closed to everyone else, they had great peace and prosperity in their land, however the industrial revolution in the west would propel Europe and the United States to a level of advancement that the Japanese would never anticipate.

During the opium wars between Great Britain and China, there was a lot of naval traffic in the coastal waters of China, and countries became interested in Japan. The United States, especially, saw the potential in Japan. They saw it as a coal reloading station and they also looked at Japan as a necessary trading acquisition. When the Japanese realized what position they were in, they pushed it off seeing nothing that interested them and having no reason to meet the terms with foreign requests to open Japanese ports for trade. The Commodore Matthew Perry arrived on the Japanese shores of Edo (Tokyo) with four warships. They had come to open up Japan, in need of water and coal. The Japanese were in awe, calling them black ships with the billowing smoke from their engines. The message Perry sent was clear: to either open up your ports or well open them up for you. The Japanese knew full well they couldn’t defend themselves against the huge ships with its huge cannons, so they opened their ports.

When the Japanese saw the economic changes in the West, they felt they also needed to upgrade. They adapted concepts of western civilization into their country. They built railways and shipping lines, had telegraphing and telephone systems. They made factories to make consumer goods faster. They also created a national educational system and elected parliament called Diet. They sent many Japanese people to study abroad. The Japanese Archipelago forms Detailsthe country of Japan. It is a chain of islands. This archipelago consist of more than 3000 islands, including the four main island: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx was an economic and political philosopher. As we went over, Marx didn’t like the Industrial Revolution because of its treatment to workers. He detested capitalism, which is an economic system where a company was run privately and only operated for profit. He formed the counter for it, Communism. Communism was a form of socialism that eliminated private ownership, and favored a classless society.

Communism seems to be a great thing. In communism there would be no class system, which meant no bourgeoisie and proletariat. Bourgeoisie is the class filled with business owners and landlords and proletariat class was all the hard-working people. It meant that everyone would be treated the same, and paid the same. Everything was owned by the government, so no arguing or fighting would occur among the people. Marx thought this would be a distinguished government because everything would be shared, with peace eventually being brought.

Karl Marx created a club called the Communist League. In 1844, Marx met another German philosopher is Paris, Friedrich Engels. They became very good friends, and together they wrote the Communist Manifesto, which laid the foundation for socialism and communism. It was written the send messages to the proletariat class, telling them unite in a worldwide effort to overthrow capitalism and to get rid of the class system. He also wrote Das Kapital (The capital), which he is well-known for. It took him thirty years to complete and was published in three volumes.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great modernization and technological advances. It improved everyday life, making labor easier with new machines. Products were made faster and easier, for cheaper prices and in surplus. While most people thought the Industrial Revolution was an extraordinary thing, some people disagreed. One such person was Karl Marx. Karl Marx disliked the Industrial Revolution a lot.

Karl Marx is one of the most influential socialist thinkers that had emerged during the late 19th century. Karl Marx disliked the Industrial Revolution greatly. He was distressed by the treatment of factory workers in Europe. The conditions in factories were cruel and unsafe. Marx broke down the social classes into two categories: the bourgeoisie, being factory & business owners and landlords and the proletariat, everyone else. He thought that the proletariat class was forever to be doomed with work and will always be in the mercy of bourgeoisie, if they didn’t unite and overthrow the bourgeoisie class. Marx believed that workers as to landlords should control factories and farms. He thought that the workers in factories should be given all the power and wealth should be distributed equally amongst them. Marx’s ideas were known as Communism, a word formed from common. Communism is a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed. It is the abolition of oppression or the power of people over people.

Marx's ideas were known as Communism, a word formed for common. Workers would share wealth in a communist society. Marx wrote that wealth should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Thought he was basically unobserved by most scholars, his political, economic and social ideas gained acceptance after his death.