[From the name of the German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883).]
(politics) A theory of politics and economics asserting that social and political change is determined by control over the means of economic production. Marxism inherited its dialectical understanding of history from Hegelianism, but opposed Hegel's idealism with a supposedly-scientific dialectical materialism. Although many Marxists claim that in theory their philosophy is a form of humanism (this understanding seems to have influenced the warm reception that Marxism initially received in many parts of the world), in practice Marxist political systems such as Leninism and Maoism have proved to be forms of totalitarianism and therefore quite the opposite of humanism. (However, to be fair, in reaction to his early followers, Marx said that he was not a Marxist.)