“Is it this simple to influence the world. If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize at one effort the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own — the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple — a few plain words — "My Heart Laid Bare." But — this little book must be true to its title.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe in 1844.
I disagree with Edgar Allan Poe. It is not simple to influence the world. A book can influence the world only if it appears at the right place, at the right time, and is discovered by the right kind of politicians. Marx could become known as the great revolutionary philosopher of the twentieth century because politicians like Lenin and Trotsky decided to use the tenets of Marxism to build a ruthless revolutionary army which went on to overthrow the tsarist regime in Russia. The success of Lenin and Trotsky in overthrowing the Russian monarchy turned Marxism into the twentieth century’s most lethal political weapon.
Without the revolutionary actions of politicians like Lenin and Trotsky, a philosopher like Marx has no power to influence the world.
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