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The Philosopher's Shirt

Karl Marx - Merry Christmarx - Ugly Christmas Sweater

Knitted-look reindeer, snowflakes, and a nineteenth-century economist. Everything a festive sweater needs, plus a theory of surplus value.

Genuinely ugly-sweater styling, which is the entire point of the format. Every format we print it on, made to order as you buy it, from apparel to accessories. From each according to their ability, to each according to their party invite.

Questions about this design

What does the Merry Christmarx design show?
A portrait of Karl Marx rendered in white and grey pixel stitches like a knitted jumper, surrounded by small snowflake dots, with Merry above and Christmarx below in red cross-stitch script. The pun folds the philosopher of class struggle into the season of shopping, which is exactly where he would have had something to say.
Did Karl Marx celebrate Christmas?
Yes, modestly. Letters from Jenny Marx thank Friedrich Engels for Christmas hampers of wine and champagne; in 1859 the family could not afford a tree. Engels himself kept an English-style Christmas with plum pudding, turkey and mistletoe, as the socialist Eduard Bernstein later recalled in his memoirs.
What did Karl Marx say about religion?
In the introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844), Marx calls religion the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the opium of the people. He meant it less as an insult than as a diagnosis – religion soothes real suffering whose causes, he argued, are social and must be changed.
What is commodity fetishism?
Marx's term, from the first chapter of Capital, Volume 1 (1867), for the way relations between people appear as relations between things. When we shop, we see goods and prices, not the labour and working conditions behind them. December's gift rush is a seasonal masterclass in the idea.
What was the friendship between Marx and Engels like?
One of the most productive partnerships in intellectual history. Engels, son of a textile manufacturer, worked for decades in his family's firm in Manchester and supported the Marx family financially. Together they wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848); after Marx's death Engels edited Volumes 2 and 3 of Capital (1885 and 1894).
Where does the ugly Christmas sweater tradition come from?
Festive knitwear has been sold since at least the 1890s, and designs grew ever busier through the 1980s. Ironic ugly sweater parties took off in North America in the early 2000s, with well-known early parties in Montana and near Vancouver, and quickly became a seasonal staple at offices and among friends.
Is Merry Christmarx a good Christmas gift?
Yes, for socialists, trade unionists, students of politics, sociology or economics, history teachers and anyone who reads Capital between courses. It works for ugly sweater parties and Secret Santa alike, and comes as a sweatshirt, premium hoodie, unisex T-shirt and mug.