Karl Marx; The Father of Communism

Karl Marx; The Father of Communism

Death

Early Life

The Idea of Communism

Marriage and Children

Karl Marx publishes the first volume of his famous work, Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Capital: Critique of Political Economy) on October 1, 1867. This book is provides one of the first ideas of communism and socialism.

Karl Marx marries Jenny von Westphalen on June 19, 1843. Because of Karl Marx's political activities and the national revolutions in 1848, the couple will have to move around a lot as they are expelled from one country after another. They will have seven children, three of which (all girls) survive childhood.

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in Trier, Prussia; he was the oldest surviving boy in a family of nine children. Both of his parents were Jewish, and descended from a long line of rabbis, but his father, a lawyer, converted to Lutheranism in 1816 due to contemporary laws barring Jews from higher society. Young Karl was baptized in the same church at the age of 6, (August 26, 1824) but later became an atheist.

Karl Marx dies in London on March 13, 1883. Karl Marx was responsible for the revolution of communism and the modern ideas of industrial capitalism. With fellow German and socialist Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx wrote some of the most-read political and economic works of the modern era.

The ideas developed by Karl Marx will acquire the label "Marxism," but Marx did not come up with them on his own. Friedrich Engels was important to Marx personally and professionally; had it not been for Engels' constant and selfless financial assistance, Marx would not only have been unable to complete most of his major works, but might have succumbed to hunger and malnutrition.

1850

1870

1890

1810

Newspapers and Books

Death of a Friend

Bonn University; (15 October, 1835)

German philosopher Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach dies at the age of 68. As a philosopher, Feuerbach has been heavily influenced by Hegel and will himself influence the work of Marx and Engels. In fact, he will be generally regarded as the bridge that links Hegel with Marx. His argument against religion has been that all belief in gods is a product of anthropomorphism because humans project their own ideals and images upon nature.

These critiques of religion will be especially influential on Marx and Engels, though the two of them will also critique Feuerbach because his materialism can be inconsistent.

At age 17, Karl Marx enrolled as a student at the University of Bonn. His intent is to study philosophy and literature, but his father, a wealthy attorney who converted from Judaism to Protestant Christianity, wants him to study law because he believed it was a more practical field. Marx finds drinking more interesting than law and becomes an avid member of the Trier Tavern Club drinking society. He even serves as co-president for a while, but his extracurricular activities cause his grades to suffer. His father forced him to transfer to the University of Berlin, a more academic environment, where Marx proceeds to pay more attention to philosophy and literature than law.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto on February 21, 1848. The Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") begins publishing in Cologne, Germany, under the direction of Karl Marx. It only publishes until May 1849, but it becomes one of the most important publications of the Germany 1848 Revolutions.

This is the second newspaper published by Karl Marx. Five years earlier he published the Rheinische Zeitung ("Rhenish Newspaper"), but it was removed by government authorities after a year of publication.