Life of Karl Marx Essays

Marx believed during his time in England both the conservatives and liberals of Europe were cognizant of the idea of communism. However at that point it was but a thought waiting to be expounded. Marx felt that the working class which was also known as the Proletariat were at odds with the growing power of the Bourgeois during the Industrial Revolution.

Throughout Karl Marx’s life he was not thought to be anything special, just a regular working man, but in reality Marx was a “philosopher, a journalist, an economist, a historian, and a moralist.”[1] Even with all of this hard work most people did not think that he would amount to much. Little did most of the people who lived during Marx’s lifetime know how big of an impact he would have on the world within the next century.

Karl Marx was born in Prussia on May of 1818 to a middle class Jewish family. As an adult, Marx attended school in Berlin where he discovered the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. Hegel’s main concept was the idea of dialect, which can be explained as the process of logical argumentation and refutation. Marx was greatly influenced by Hegel, which is shown in Marx’s belief that history evolves through a series of predictable conflicts (A+E Television Networks, LLC. 2013). Marx also believed social divisions and civil unrest were due to the increase in industrialization and the widening gap between rich and poor.

Karl Marx was a German philosopher who created an ideology called Marxism. Marxism later on was used to help develop the ideology we know today as communism. Karl Marx was famously known as a socialist revolutionist which later on caused him to be expelled from Germany and France. He moved to London where he wrote “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital” which explained his ideology.

"He died before finishing some of his writings, but during his life he participated in many international workers’ movement's that went along with his personal revolutionary ideas." ( History.com staff) These ideas shaped communism into how it was later and even still used

On May 5, 1818, Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier, Prussia (modern day Trier, Germany) to Heinrich and Henrietta Marx. Throughout Karl’s schooling years, he was considered to be an ordinary student and did not take school seriously. In 1835, Marx began his college career at the University of Bonn, a college known for their rebellious students and wild parties. All too quickly, Marx was swept into this lifestyle and was imprisoned within a year for being drunk. Once released from jail, Karl’s father took action. He withdrew Karl from the University of Bonn and enrolled him at the University of Berlin, a college known for their serious studies. Marx studied law and philosophy as well as received a new glimpse of philosophy.

One of the greatest philosophies from the 19th century was Karl Marx. The German native born May 5 1818 was known for his works as not only a philosopher but an economist, journalist revolutionary socialist and sociologist. Marx’s different varieties of work influenced his understanding of society and and the economy during his time period. Once Marx got older, he moved to London England where he progressed his ideas and even collaborate with Friedrich Engels with whom he published numerous works. Marx’s most well known piece of work is The Communist Manifesto, which discusses his theories about society, economics and politics , together known as Marxism. Through this pamphlet, it highlights the problem of oppression the working class faces. Has a large effect on the revolution following its publication. Became a foundation for organizations, influenced other radicals and subsequently influx and Communist literature. This specific piece of work not only shocked the society during this time but educated people on the system they were living in.

After being expelled from France for exhibiting communist traits, Marx was drafted in 1847 by the newly founded Communist League in London, England, alongside Engels to write “The Communist Manifesto,” published the following year (History.com Staff 2009). In the manifesto, all of history was seen as a series of struggles between classes. They predicted that the upcoming proletarian revolution would sweep aside the capitalist system for good, making the workingmen the new ruling class of the world (History.com Staff 2009)..

Marx’s contact with Hegelian philosophy in college changed his perception on social and economic classes in society and inspired him to pursue the idea of socialism further in college despite his father’s wishes. While in college, Marx had begun studying law and had planned to become a lawyer. At the University, there were many who had preached the ideas of Hegel, but Marx turned away at first, not wanting to lose his father’s support and funding

Marx’s beliefs helped establish other groups wanting a more unified

Karl Marx was a flexible thinker whose ideas shifted and developed as a result of the furthering of his studies. Within the beginning of his career, Marx had a vision of fulfilling labor through a model of ‘true’ freedom

Marx devoted himself to an intensive study of history and elaborated on his idea of historical materialism. He traced the history of the various modes of production and predicted the collapse of the present one—industrial capitalism—and its replacement by communism. Next, Marx wrote The Poverty of Philosophy in1847, a response to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's The Philosophy of Poverty and a critique of French socialist thought. These works laid the foundation for Marx and Engels' most famous work, The Communist Manifesto. Later that year, Europe experienced tremendous revolutionary upheaval. Marx was arrested and expelled from Belgium; in the meantime a radical movement had seized power from King Louis Philippe in France, and invited Marx to return to Paris, where he witnessed the revolutions in France firsthand. He moved back to London after being put on trial twice for armed

As Marx's writings were so diverse and had such great variety, the circumstances under which these writings were written are extremely important to understand. The next few points are to

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels collaborated to produce The German Ideology, which was one of the classic texts generated by the two. Even though The German Ideology stands our as one of the major texts produced by the two, it was never published during Marx’s lifetime. This was a clear expression of the theory of history by Marx and its associated materialist metaphysics. One of the main reasons this text is a classic text by these philosophers is the fact that it introduces students to the basic tenets of the philosopher’s approach. Notably, Karl Marx produced The German Ideology in 1846 as a critique of George Friedrich Hegel and his followers in Germany. The philosophers sought to differentiate their concept of socialism from existing ones and exhibit how socialism emerges ordinarily from the social conflicts embedded in capitalism.

In 1883, the patriarch of the Marx family, Heinrich Marx, died. With his fathers' death, Karl now had to learn how to make his own living. Not being someone who ever "got his hands dirty," Marx decided to become a lecturer at the university level. Once finished with his doctorial thesis on the philosophy of Epicurus, Karl turned to his mentor, Bruno Bauer, whom he hoped would be able to help him get a job as a professor at Bonn. Marx was soon notified that Bauer had been removed from his position due to his outspoken atheism ². Marx was unable to find a position due to his connections with Bauer. Marx's connections with Bauer were not the only problem keeping him from receiving a lecture's job; Marx had joined a group called the "Left Hegelians." This circle of intellectuals sought to draw atheistic and revolutionary conclusions from Hegel's philosophy ³. Marx soon decided on a profession; journalism. He soon found that his extreme political views kept him from being hired. Marx decided to move to Cologne, where the city's liberal opposition movement was fairly strong. Once in Cologne Marx began writing for a newspaper called Rhenish Zeitung, soon Marx became the editor. Once in Cologne, Marx surrounded with a group of intellectuals whom he found shared many of his