Marx was a follower of Feuerbach, who was a prominent representative of the left. The left, interpreted the Hegelian system in a materialistic sense and felt that world history was the unfolding of matter and not of spirit. Even though Marx supported Feurerbach, he also came under the influence of scientific materialism. This was a popular theory of the time and it also explains his love of science, his belief in progress, and prejudice due to Darwinian evolutionism. By founding dialectical materialism, Marx bridged the gap of the Hegelian dialectic to the current theory on materialism .
Marx also shared the same views as Feuerbach with regards to religion. He felt that "Religion is the Opium of the people." Feuerbach said that by man creating God in his own image, he had "alienated himself from himself." By creating another being in contrast to himself, man hurt himself by feeling that they are evil and they need both church and government for guidance. So, if religion was taken away, man would not be alienated. Marx took Feuerbach's idea and used it for his idea on alienation due to private property. Marx stated that humans will only work for themselves and not the good of the species. The solution to this problem was for a communist society to eliminate the effects of private property.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels worked to put into effect the concepts of Feuerbach. This led them to a new movement called Socialism. Marx feels that happiness is the goal of man and that material happinness can be found though organized collectivism. He feels that reality is controlled by economics. Therefore reality must deny what it is to become a higher degree of being. This all equates to Marx's feeling that the structure of society must and will be destroyed. The proletariat, which is the working man, must organize and rise up against the capitalists. This would cause the division of society into classes to end.