**TL;DR – It's no secret that Karl Marx has a bad reputation, but aside from his controversial solutions, his analysis on the problems with capitalism is still relevant today. A large portion of our political discourse and policy can be credited to Marx.** Everyone is aware that Karl Marx's name can be treated like a curse word in the west outside academia. Referring to Marx in any discussion can invalidate your entire argument and associate you with edgy liberal beliefs. There is a stigma with mentioning his important contribution without saying how wrong he was about communism, workers revolt, and the USSR. It's common to read an article or watch a video on Marx's relevant concepts and criticism on capitalism, and at the end, the author always mentions how all his contributions will never make up for all his wrongs [1] [2]. After what the world went through during the Cold War, it is understandable why there is such hatred towards Karl Marx, but talking about Marx or even taking his relevant contributions seriously doesn't make someone a Marxist. In many cases, we use Marxist analysis and Socialist solutions without even being aware. Whenever you hear Factory workers complain about companies outsourcing jobs, Marx already wrote on this topic: workers are expendable to companies, they will hire workers at the lowest price possible to accumulate the most profit [3]. When conservatives advocate for creating high-paying jobs and liberals for increasing the minimum wage, they are both experiencing alienation; spending long hours in a tedious, bleak, low-paying job that alienates them from their true self, only living for a few hours to eat and sleep. It is hard to find someone who wouldn't advocate for fulfilling jobs and a decent wage. The entire notion of government intervention is related to Marxism and Socialist movements at the time [4]. Today, most economic systems are not purely free-market; almost all of them have some government intervention mechanism on behalf of the public interest and those in need. Workers' compensation, safety regulations, and social security benefits for the elderly became popular policies after Marx (and later Labor movements) criticized factory owners for terminating injured and unproductive older workers with no security net [5]. Marx also analyzed slavery, child labor, historical materialism, colonial exploitation influencing future academic fields and policy. Marx was an important figure, and it's easy to see why he still has a bad reputation in history. However, he is far from being the only historical figure with a consequential and equally controversial legacy. Like Marx, Martin Luther perpetrated a movement that killed millions of Europeans in religious conflicts that lasted over two centuries. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, both amazing physicists, also contributed to nuclear weapons and the Cold War. I'm not saying Marx's bad ideas on revolt and communist governments are justified or correct. However, if we can talk about Albert Einstein's contributions to the theory of relativity while ignoring his involvement in nuclear weapons, then we can ignore Marx's proposed solutions to capitalism and talk about his critical analysis of problems with capitalism which are still relevant today. [1] What Marx got wrong is more important than what he got right. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/06/what-marx-got-wrong-is-more-important-than-what-he-got-right/ [2] Was Karl Marx right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMmDebW_OBI [3] Karl Marx: The Economics of Power https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/09/karl-marx-part-6-economics [4] Economic Intervention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_interventionism [5] The Communist Manifesto

Marx wasn’t relevant when he was alive. Every one of his predictions was wrong, because he didn’t understand capitalism and his criticisms were wrong.

**In addition to his political relevancy, Marx still holds relevance in other areas such as history, anthropology and philosophy.** Whilst I am partial to Marx's views, I do agree with many of the points already made in the comments regarding Marx's political influcence regardless of ones affinity to him. Yet my case serves to demonstrate that he also holds relevance outside of being the activist and revolutionary he is known for by the mainstream audience. Marx was initially trained as a philosopher and his theory of history, or 'historical materialism' is still studied in institutions worldwide and regarded as a highly influencial analysis of human society and the development of economic structures throughout time. This also lead to contributions attributed to Marx in areas such as the [philosophy of time](https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/marx-and-the-philosophy-of-time) . Marx's theory also involves aspects of the philosophical theory [monism](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40404571) which holds that matter is the fundamental substance of nature and therefore the driving force in all of world history as opposed to the materialist conception that material reality creates human consciousness. Whilst the theory is a fundamental aspect of Marx and Engels' scientific socialism, its long-standing interdisciplinary relevance can be acknowledged regardless of one's political leaning.

**Marx’s theories have stood the test of time, but need to be modernized in order to have applicability in present day** - As the first great critic of capitalism, he identified the relationships between the bourgeoisie (who generate profit by paying their workers less than the value of goods/services they produce) and the proletariat (the workers who exchange their labour for income). This description of the relationship between employers and employees still exists and explains the need for unions. - Marxists contend that employers must maximize profits by keeping wages as low as possible, but they must also continue to sell products, which becomes increasingly difficult as workers’ buying power is limited by low wages. This is evidenced by modern slavery, sweatshops and the minimum wage not being sufficient enough. - Despite the failure of Marxist revolutions, his ideas continue to have relevance across the world. After the financial crisis in 2007/8, mistrust of banks and capitalism increased as they sought out government bailouts (which the working taxpayer would have to subsidize). However this may not mean support for Marxism but rather dislike of capitalism. - Furthermore, Marx’s ideas are limited to his time period. More modern interpretations, like intersectionality, are more accurate to describe the world that we currently live in. [intersectionality and marxism] (https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/articles/intersectionality-and-marxism)