Full name: Karl Heinrich Marx
Date of birth:
May 5, 1818
Zodiac sign:
Taurus
Age:
64 years
Place of birth:
Trier, Prussia
Nationality:
Jewish
Date of death:
March 14, 1883
Occupation:
Economist, philosopher, writer, poet, politician
Education:
Berlin, Jena University
Marital status:
Widower
Spouse:
Jenny Marx (von Westphalen)
Children:
Jenny Longuet, Eleanor Aveling, Laura Lafargue
Parents:
Heinrich Marx, Henrietta Marx
Childhood and youth, family
Karl came from a German Jewish family. Father Heinrich Marx was a lawyer and advocated for the Lutheran faith. So that her husband’s career would go uphill, Henrietta Pressburg accepted her husband’s faith with her children. In addition to Karl, there were two more children in the family, on whose worldview their father had a huge influence. The boy learned about ancient philosophy and Renaissance literature from one of his father’s friends, Ludwig von Westphalen. It was from the moment of communication with his father and his enlightened friends that the biography of the philosopher and thinker began to form.
At the Trier Gymnasium, Karl Marx studied the basics of mathematics and several languages. The second stage of study was the university in Bonn, then in Berlin. For the first time, a student gets acquainted with philosophy as a science, studies history and jurisprudence. After reading the works of Hegel, he developed his own opinion and view of the world around him. He was attracted more than others by revolution and atheism. Karl carefully studied the works of ancient and modern thinkers.
Class struggle concept
It was Karl Marx who identified two main social groups in capitalist society: labor (proletariat) and capital (bourgeoisie). According to his theory, the income of capitalists depends on their exploitation of workers. Class struggle, Marx wrote, plays a key role in the history of systems such as capitalism - it is the tension and rivalry between different classes of people. The theory has had a huge impact on sociology and the study of human culture.
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle.”
Political activity
Karl had a dream - a position as a professor at the University of Bonn, but after seeing how his favorite teachers were fired for their leftist views, he abandoned his dream.
But politics still attracts the young man’s attention, and Marx is hired to work for the Rhein Newspaper. With his arrival, criticism of the ruling elite began to appear on the pages. Karl Marx became interested in political economy. All attempts by the ruling authorities to win the journalist over to their side were unsuccessful. A decision is made to deport the rebellious thinker, and the whole family leaves for Paris.
In France, Karl acquired associates and friends in the person of Friedrich Engels and Heinrich Heine. Having moved to Belgium, Marx did not lose his former friendship and became a member of the secret society “Union of the Just”. The society advocated for communism, two friends developed a program for this new type of human society. This Manifesto was issued by a London printer. The biography of a man who was an adherent of communism has reached its apogee. He was again forced to leave the country, now his path lay back to the capital of France, and then to Germany.
Life and work of Karl Marx (briefly)
The most common associations that arise in connection with the name of Karl Marx are “Capital”
, political economy, Friedrich Engels and V.I. Lenin. The biography offered below briefly outlines biographical information about this person, the main ideological and philosophical ideas, essays and printed works.
Origin and early life
The full name of the future author of Capital is Karl Heinrich Marx.
He was born in the German city of
Trier on May 5, 1818,
into a large Jewish family. Parents, Heinrich and Henrietta Marx, both came from rabbinical families. Shortly before the birth of Karl, Heinrich converted to Lutheranism in order to retain his position as a judicial adviser. A few years later, Henrietta also became a Christian.
In 1835
In the same year, young Karl graduated from the Trier gymnasium and entered the university in Bonn.
However, he soon transferred to the University of Berlin, where the subject of study was a complex of legal disciplines, philosophy and history, as well as art history. At the same time, the young man met the German noblewoman Jenny von Westphalen
, who was four years older than him.
Mutual feelings flared up between the young people and, despite the negative attitude of the girl’s relatives, they secretly became engaged in 1837
.
Youth
In 1841
, Karl graduated from the university, and after that he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. The subject of the study was a comparative analysis of the natural philosophy of Epicurus and Democritus.
The young scientist moves to Bonn, where he intends to teach a course in philosophy at the university and engage in scientific work. However, his plans were not destined to come true. Frederick William IV, distinguished by his reactionary views, ascended the Prussian throne. Due to this circumstance, Bruno Bauer, on whose support and help Karl was counting, was dismissed from the university
for their ideological views.
Karl moves to Cologne, where he 1842
In the year he became a journalist and then editor
of the Rhine Newspaper
. On the pages of the publication, Marx harshly criticized government policies. Later, he dared to almost openly call for a revolutionary coup and the overthrow of the monarchy.
The editor's oppositional views attracted the attention of the censors to the newspaper. In March 1843
Marx left his post, and two months later the newspaper was closed.
In the summer of the same year, Karl married Jenny
. The young man begins to seriously study political economy and writes a critical work on Hegel’s idealistic views. He rejects the offer of the Prussian authorities to enter the civil service and moves with his wife to Paris to avoid arrest.
In the French capital, an acquaintance took place with the German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels, who became Marx’s friend and like-minded person for life. The young man also meets the poet Heinrich Heine and the Russian emigrant anarchist M.A. Bakunin.
Under the influence of Engels, Marx becomes a supporter of the view of the working class as the main social force of the future revolution.
At first 1845-
In 2010, Marx, exiled from France, moved to Brussels.
Here, together with Engels, “German Ideology”, where the ideas of the Young Hegelians were criticized. Two years later, both young men became members of the international society “Union of the Just.” It was later transformed into a communist organization, for which the historical "Manifesto of the Communist Party" was written.
Mature years
After a series of expulsions and relocations associated with the bourgeois revolutionary movement of the 1840s
, the Marx family moved to London.
Here, starting in 1849
, Marx would spend his entire subsequent life until his death in
1883
.
It was in London that Marxist economic theory was developed and the main printed works were created.
In 1864
Karl Marx created the world's first international socio-political workers' organization.
It went down in history under the name of the First International.
In 1867
The year Marx's main fundamental work, Capital, was created.
During the author's lifetime, only the first volume saw the light of day. The next two were published in 1885 and 1894
by a friend, Engels, after the death of the author.
The main achievements of Karl Marx in the field of scientific theory,
The following are recognized as having significantly influenced the development of society: • dialectics of materialism; • theory of surplus value; • communist ideology as a progressive stage in the development of society.
Karl Heinrich Marx died on March 14,
1830
. He was buried in the same grave with his wife and faithful companion Jenny, who had died two years earlier, in Highgate Cemetery in London.
London
The publication of a new revolutionary magazine begins, but it is forced to close along with the suppression of many of the uprisings that had begun.
Fearing reprisals, the entire family of Karl Marx leaves for the capital of Great Britain. This is where the revolutionary’s main work appears – “Capital”. In London, the family experienced financial difficulties, but Engels began to help them. There was no money to pay for the treatment of her sick daughter. For more than a week, it happened that the family ate only bread and potatoes, and the debts grew. Desperate to find money, the head of the family went to sell part of the count's family silver, but ended up with the police on suspicion of theft.
Famous Quotes by Karl Marx
- 1. Every step of actual movement is more important than a dozen programs.
- 2. A writer, of course, must earn money in order to be able to exist and write, but in no case should he exist and write in order to earn money.
- 3. Circumstances create people to the same extent that people create circumstances.
- 4. Culture is a measure of humanity in a person.
- 5. A nation that enslaves another nation forges its own chains.
- 6. Religion is the opium of the people.
- 7. Excessive seriousness is the most comical thing, and excessive modesty is the most bitter irony.
Karl Marx died
March 14, 1883 in London. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine that Karl Marx was a living person. For us, he has long turned into a marble statue of a man with powerful hair, a thick beard and large facial features. However, in life, the founder of Marxism was not at all like a marble monument. Everyone knows Karl Heinrich Marx: the founder of scientific communism, the author of the global work “Capital”. We say “Marx” and remember Lenin and Engels.
It is no coincidence that Karl Marx, already in his mature years, answered the question of an amateur questionnaire that happiness is in struggle. He had to fight since childhood. He won his first victory in the battle for love[en].
In Paris, Marx made wide acquaintances with French radical circles and with representatives of revolutionary circles in various countries who lived here. In connection with this, in 1845 he was expelled from Paris, and he moved to Brussels, where Engels soon moved to join him. Here they continued their political activities.
Marx was expelled from Brussels three years later, and after the revolution of 1848, Karl moved again, this time to Germany.
In his main work of life, the three-volume book Capital, he explained the economic laws of the development of capitalism and made forecasts for the further development of society. Karl Marx believed that humanity will live to see the creation of a just, classless communist society.
The book found a special response in the minds of Russian revolutionaries.
For many years, Marx’s theory dominated the minds of thousands of idealists around the world, including in Russia. And today the main work of the ideologist of communism is one of the most read books in the world.
Philosopher Bully
Few people know that while studying at the University of Bonn, Karl Marx had a rather violent temper.
He actively participated in student parties, which often ended in fights. At one time, the future genius of political economy served as president of the Trier Beer Club. And once he was arrested for 24 hours for a drunken brawl, during which studio students broke several shop windows on the central streets.
Karl also had to fight in duels, which were very common among German youth of that time. Moreover, one of the fights could have cost him his life - the enemy struck Marx in the face, almost hitting him in the right eye[en]. There is even a version that Karl Marx grew his famous thick beard in order to hide the scars - traces of youthful amusements.
An anecdote on the topic of K. Marx's beard
Abram is offered to shave off his beard, otherwise it makes him look too much like Karl Marx.
Abram replies: “Well, I’ll shave my beard. And where am I going to put my mind?!”
"Capital"
The great thinker and political scientist Karl Marx created a work for centuries - “Capital. Critique of Political Economy". Over time, its name was reduced to mentioning only the first part, but this did not lose its significance. The conclusions made by the philosopher are confirmed by any economic crisis in the state.
Karl convincingly proved that the mode of production under capitalism must fail, since this social system is so imperfect that it requires a mandatory replacement by a more perfect type of relations in society. For two centuries in a row, Capital has managed to excite the minds of political figures. His living language is simple and understandable. Marx analyzes many historical processes in his work.
The work of Karl Marx contains many economic concepts, which he explains.
It considers the work of any individual or production team in terms of creating the final product and its cost. This value, expressed in the price of the product, is equal to labor costs. The philosopher considers the amount of time spent to produce the item of sale. Proves that it is in the process of labor that goods can be produced that will help become a source of wealth for humans. Marx gave the concepts of constant and variable capital and explained how surplus value for a product is formed. Thus, he made it possible to solve many economic problems.
Personal life
While still a student, Karl fell in love with the first beauty of his hometown. The girl was from the family of Counts von Westphalen and four years older than Marx. Jenny had many admirers, but she chose a young student. The lovers kept it a secret from everyone for six years that they were engaged.
The bride's parents belonged to high society and had a negative attitude towards Karl. But still the wedding took place. The couple were always together, the faithful wife turned out to be an assistant in all of Marx’s endeavors. They wrote books together. Jenny gave birth to seven children, but did not save four; they died in childhood.
Death
The surviving children were able to become famous: one daughter gained political fame after becoming a journalist. Two other daughters became famous for marrying socialists. Jenny Marx suffered from cancer for a long time, but could not overcome the disease and died. For five years Karl held on, grieving for his beloved wife, but died of pleurisy. They rest side by side in the cemetery at Highgate.
The thinker's friends and associates came to the farewell ceremony. After the death of Marx, Friedrich Engels began to actively publish those works that had been written but not yet published during the life of the great philosopher.
