Marx and Marxism?

[Zukunftsmusik]

I've heard several times that Marx wasn't a Marxist. So my question is rather simple: What's the difference between Marx' views and philosophy, and Marxism?

[Tommy4ever]

Marx once said ''if they are Marxist, then I am not'' in reference to two people (one being his son in law) who were calling themselves Marxist and supporting an 'impossibilist position (this means you do not seek any reforms that would improve the lot of the workers and focus soley on revolution).

Marx was, obviously, a Marxist as Marxism only means the ideology developed from Marx's ideas. However, later people calling themselves Marxist would drift very, very far from what Marx believed.

[Dogs On Acid]

Marx must be turning in his grave with all the different self-declared Marxist ideologies today.

[Zukunftsmusik]

Marx must be turning in his grave with all the different self-declared Marxist ideologies today.

...which means that Marxism has "drifted away" from Marx's views, which again would say that Marx wasn't a Marxist compared to Marxism today? Or what did you mean, exactly?

[Dogs On Acid]

Well put it this way, not all Marxist ideologies can be what Marx envisioned, at the same time, can they?

[Zukunftsmusik]

Well put it this way, not all Marxist ideologies can be what Marx envisioned, at the same time, can they?

Um. Guess not. Good point.

But I guess it's merely natural that ideologies change and part into different "sub-ideologies" in some 200 years' time.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Rosa Luxemburg once wrote that it's not that we've gone beyond Marx, it's that we haven't yet caught up with him. A sentiment shared by J.-P. Sartre, BTW. So to all you late-Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, Orthodox Marxists and Western Marxists: keep trying!

[Sixiang]

Marxism refers to the ideology that Marx formulated in his writings throughout his life. Of course Marx supported his own ideology.