Marxist theory is based on the thinking of Karl Marx, a nineteenth century German philosopher and economist who wrote "the Communist Manifesto"

Marx introduced the concept of dialectical materialism and by this Marx suggested that the means of production control the foundation of a society’s institutions and beliefs.

For example: If you work in a factory there is the manager and owner of the factory and then all the workers. Because the owner of the company controls the means of production - in other words, the buying and selling of goods and commodities - then he also controls the ideas and structure of the factory. So if you have a factory owner who is really strict and wants everyone to wear uniforms - this changes how the factory workers look, behave and even feel. This concept is dialectical materialism- the material items of our world actually determine our beliefs and ideas

Therefore, Those who control the means of production, control society if we look at it from a larger scale

According to Marxist theory: The moving force behind human history is its economic  systems, as people’s lives are directly determined by their  economic circumstances. If you have millions of dollars this changes the way you live your life compared to if you were living on welfare

The economic conditions underlying a society are called material circumstances. For example: if you were born into a rich family then you are often surrounded by rich people and have things that cost a lot of money.  If you grew up in a poor neighbourhood  and have little money then your material circumstance is a lot different

The atmosphere that material circumstances create are called the historical situation. If you grew up during World War Two, your historical situation (both politically and economically) is much different than living today

To fully analyze literature from a Marxist perspective, one must understand the material and historical circumstances that exist within a text.

There are two large types of economic systems that exist - Capitalism and Communism. Communism was in fact, INVENTED by Karl Marx as a reaction to Capitalism.

Capitalism is an economic system that is largely based on private property - individuals or corporations that use competition as a way to not only drive prices but the whole economy. Because it's based on competition you have "winners" and "losers". A small business owner may become successful or may go bankrupt depending in the market and the competition that faces him or her

Marx - did not like this! He thought that capitalism was based on greed - everyone racing to the top - the 1% who own all the money.

Marx believed that Capitalism created two classes of people with a wide divide in the middle.

Bourgeoisie - the owners  who control means of production - make up the smallest percentage of the population but have the highest percentage of wealth

Proletariat - the working class- largest percentage of the population and have far less wealth than the bourgeoisie.

Marx argued that those who have control, maintain their positions by manipulating politics, education, media, and arts & entertainment.

The thought was that eventually the proletariat would notice the unbalanced role of the bourgeoisie and unleash a revolution.  The best example of this in history is the French revolution that began in 1789.   King Louis 16th and Marie Antoinette were lived in immense wealth. The French peasants, who were starving, had had enough. They stormed the Bastille and eventually Versailles and took out the French aristocrats. For Marx, this a perfect example of what can happen if the wealth of a nation isn't equally distributed.

The basic principles of Communism are to even out the distribution of wealth and to resolve the problems that capitalism creates.