Joseph Stalin was influential. Karl Marx was not. His ideas were. But the whole reason his ideas are not accepted is because Stalin modified them to include funneling all the power into the military.
The main idea is that, Karl Marx was trying to perfect Anarchy or government without all the power in the ruling class. So he tried to create what is now called Share-ism. It's not an official word, but if you take the military out of communism, that's what it is. Sharing with people evenly.
So, since no one can really create an effective system because they trust in liars paths. Like what people who lie say things should be like according to the way a system works. They basically make stuff up to justify capitalism. So since they take the fake background and, covered up versions of how corporations work. Excluding their tax dodging and stuff like that. They blame it all on the other system of Marxism.
The idea is basically it's the foundation of a community that can support it self without the government.
Originally before Stalin hijacked the idea. So there fore, it has nothing to do with sharing or a community and it's forever the base of all communism which is, stealing all the power for the military and giving it to them.
Due to the level or amount of stupid people who think they understand economics. Yet for some reason they think Capitalism is honest. They actually think Marxist theorys are ones that are totally altruistic and the perfect way to run a society.
That's why a large number of idiots in congress (this is their fake reason) are voting for things that rob low economic people and classes of funding that could potentially abolish poverty. That syphon off all the money and power to the military.
That is why george w bush is the biggest marxist/ commie the world has ever seen. He raised the militarys budget by hundreds of millions of dollars. If not hundreds of billions of dollars. That is the most communist thing ever done in the history of man kind next to Mao being in charge of China.
So you could say Marxist theorys are so influential that they tricked an idiot in Texas named george, to act them out and destroy the middle class in America.