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Karl
Marx
was a radical political philosopher who
believed in the power of the working class.
Although he lived in poverty for most
of his life and was exiled from Europe
for his teachings and ideas, he managed
to finally influence society through his
Communist Manifesto which stated that
capitalism would bring about its own demise.
It wasn't until after Marx's death that
his work became widely circulated, eventually
influencing governments and groups around
the world.
Karl
Marx was born on May 5, 1818 to a Jewish
family in Prussia. Marx's father, Heinrich,
came from a long line of rabbis but eventually
converted to Christianity, specifically
Lutheranism, after Prussia banned the
practice of Judaism.
As
a result, young Marx grew up in a Christian
household where he was home schooled until
the age of thirteen when he attended the
Trier Gymnasium. After graduating from
formal school, Marx attended the University
of Bonn beginning in 1835 with the intent
to study law. Marx quickly joined a drinking
society (of which he became president)
and his grades suffered. He also decided
that he would rather study literature
and philosophy than pursue law. After
an altercation with his father about his
choice of academics, Marx's father forced
him to transfer to Freidrich-Wilhelms
University in Berlin.
During
his time at the University, Marx began
writing poems and thoughts regarding his
views on life and modern philosophies.
He finished his doctoral dissertation
in 1841 but, due to his associations with
the Hegelian groups at the time, his professors
warned him of the reception he was bound
to receive when he took his work to Germany.
As
a member of the Young Hegelians, Marx
joined their beliefs in criticizing politics
and established religious organizations.
When he moved to Paris in 1843, Marx befriended
a man named Friedrich Engels who had travelled
to Paris with the intent on meeting Marx.
At the time of their meeting, Paris was
the center of the armed forces for Germany,
Britain, Poland, and the Italian revolutionaries.
Although Marx had originally come with
a group of German revolutionaries, the
group eventually broke apart, leaving
Marx to continue his own work by writing
for a radical German newspaper in Paris.
Marx
began studying the French Revolution in
his spare time and wrote more critiques
about human rights in politics, organized
religion, and political emancipation.
Engels began talking to Marx about communism
and the basic rights and power of the
working class. He also talked to Marx
about the ties between the working people
and basic economics. As a result of his
studies, Marx wrote a series of articles
later compiled into The Economic and Philosophical
Manuscripts which, although written in
1844, were not published until the 1930s.
In
1845, after one of Marx's associated organizations
expressed approval about the attempted
assassination of the King of Prussia,
Marx was exiled from Paris and moved with
Engels to Brussels. The two men continued
to study and work together, eventually
writing and publishing The Communist Manifesto
in 1848. The Manifesto became the foundation
for a group of European communists, called
the Communist League, who followed the
teachings and philosophies of both Marx
and Engels.
Over
the course of the next year Europe experienced
massive political upheaval during which
time Marx was expelled from Belgium, invited
back to Paris to witness the overthrow
of King Louis-Philippe, and put on trial
twice in Cologne due to his writings.
At one point Marx returned to Paris but
was forced to leave, this time moving
to London.
During his time in London, Marx occasionally
wrote as a correspondent for the New York
Tribune, but also continued to write on
subjects of economy and communism. He
openly supported the Union during the
American Civil War and devoted much of
his time to an organization called the
First International. Although it eventually
dissolved, the International was part
of the Paris Commune in 1871 when the
citizens took control of Paris for two
months.
Marx
married Jenny von Westphalen on June 19,
1843 and the couple had three children
that survived until adulthood. After his
wife's death in 1881, Marx's health began
to fail and he eventually died in London
on March 14, 1883.
After
Marx's death his teachings and writings
still resonated throughout the working
class in Europe, empowering them and organizing
them into even greater entities. The Second
International eventually gained power
and one division, the Bolsheviks, led
by Vladimir Lenin, became so powerful
it overthrew the Russian government in
the Russian Revolution.
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