Das Kapital sciences published before 1950. In "Das Kapital" (1867), Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labor, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value. The owner of the means of production is able to claim the right to this surplus value because he or she is legally protected by the ruling regime through property rights and the legally established distribution of shares which are by law only to be distributed to company owners and their board members. The historical section shows how these rights were acquired in the first place chiefly through
Karl Marx Year Karl Marx Year Karl Marx Year () was a series of anniversaries of Karl Marx commemorated by East Germany in 1953, 1968, and 1983. The most promininent was in 1953, for the 70th anniversary of Marx's death, and included the renaming of Chemnitz as Karl-Marx Stadt and of Leipzig University as Karl Marx University, the founding of the Order of Karl Marx, and the initiation of the project of Marx and Engels' works. The 1968 commemoration marked the 150th anniversary of his birth, and 1983 the 100th anniversary of his death. West Germany also commemorated Marx in anniversary years, with