His writings inspired the great revolutionary
movements of the 20th Century, leading to the dictatorial rise of men like Josef Stalin
and Mao Zedong. He lived a life of poverty and obscurity,
content to let others take the limelight and aware that his ideas would not be realized
during his lifetime. We remember him as the Father of Communism,
yet the version that took hold in Soviet Union and China bore little resemblance to what
he had envisioned. In this weekâs Biographics, we discover
the man who was Karl Marx. Early Years
Karl Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 in the historic German town of Trier. His was an upper middle-class family, with
his father, Heinrich, doing well as a lawyer. Karlâs mother, Henrietta, was from a wealthy
Dutch family. The family was Jewish, but Heinrich had converted
to Christianity the year before Karl was born in order to avoid the harsh laws that were
being imposed upon Jews. Karl was the third of nine children. He became the oldest son when his brother,
Moritz, died in 1919. The young Karl was a lively child who was
prone to getting into trouble. He was homeschooled by his father to the age
of twelve, at which time he entered Trier High School. The headmaster of the school, Hugo Wyttenbach,
took an instant liking to the inquisitive young Marx and helped to mold his early philosophical
ideas. Wyttenbach taught liberal ideas to his students
and employed young liberal humanists as teachers. As a result, the school developed a reputation
as a fomenter of dangerous ideologies. In 1832, Wyttenbach was placed under surveillance
by the authorities, with the school being searched for subversive materials. Off to University
Karl graduated from the school at the age of 17. He furthered his studies at Bonn University,
enrolling as a law student in October, 1835. He found the workload during his first semester
to be extremely challenging. By the beginning of 1836, he had reduced his
attendance to a part time level. He spent most nights at local pubs and often
woke up the next day with a hangover, limiting the amount of focus he could give to his studies. On one occasion he was arrested for public
intoxication. After a year of wasting his efforts at the
University of Bonn, Marxâs father put his foot down. He transferred his wayward son to the University
of Berlin and ordered him to start getting serious about his education. The summer before his transfer to Berlin University,
Karl returned home to Trier. He began a romance with a young woman named
Jenny von Westphalen, who he had known since childhood. Before leaving for University in October,
Karl proposed and the two were engaged. The move to Berlin University served its purpose
of encouraging Marx to get serious about his studies. He replaced late night carousing with membership
in a number of philosophical societies. He became interested in the ideas of German
philosopher G.W.F Hegel, and the ideas that he mulled over saw expression in a number
of essays and treatises that he began working on. Karlâs bright academic star was diminished
in May, 1838 with the death of his father. He had a great deal of respect and love for
Heinrich and was shattered by the loss. His father had been supporting him financially
and the sudden loss of this support imposed a financial hardship on him. This was a great concern to the Westphalens,
who were now convinced that Karl would not be able to support their daughter as his bride. But the young couple continued their courtship,
albeit by long distance, anyway. Focusing on Philosophy
Following his fatherâs death, Marx shifted the focus of his studies from law to philosophy. His goal was to graduate with honors and then
secure a position at the university as a philosophy lecturer. On order to help fund his studies, he sought
work as a journalist. He secured a position with the most controversial
newspaper in the region, the Rheinische Zeitung, or Rhineland News. The paper expressed vocal opposition to the
Prussian occupation of the Rhineland. On October, 1842, Karl Marx became the editor-in-chief
of the paper. It was through this paper that Marx first
began writing about Communism and what form a possible Communist government could take. But, when he openly criticized Russian monarch,
Tsar Nicholas I, it was a step too far. The Prussian authorities moved in and shut
down the paper. Marx was now an unemployed journalist. But that didnât stop he and Jenny from marrying
on June 19th, 1843. The ceremony took place in a Protestant church,
and was attended by members of both families, though many of the Westphalen clan muttered
that Jenny was marrying below her station. However, the marriage was to last until the
couple were parted by death. France Beckons
Karl and Jenny moved in with Jennyâs mother. They lived off the motherâs stipend as Karl
tried to restart his writing career. He managed to get a gig working for a French
based newspaper called Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher that had as its audience far leftists
in the Rhineland. The paper had been started by German socialist
Arnold Ruge who was based in Paris. In October, 1843, Marx and his wife moved
to Paris and boarded with Ruge and his wife. In 1844, Jenny gave birth to their first child. This made the living conditions extremely
cramped and so the Marxâs moved into their own apartment. As well as publishing the newspaper, Marx
and Ruge worked together on two treatises, that would become very controversial. The second of them was called âOn the Jewish
Questionâ. Even though Marx was of Jewish ancestry himself,
the pamphlet comes across as quite anti-Semitic. In it, he wrote for the first time of the
proletariat, a working-class band of revolutionaries, who would throw off the yoke of religion and
other cultural bonds to finally unite the masses. Soon after, Marx moved on from working with
Ruge, finding employment with the Pairs based newspaper Vorwarts, of Forward, which targeted
Germans living in France. The paper was sponsored by the League of the
Just, made up of German immigrants who believed in a Communist system where everyone enjoyed
economic equality. It was while working for Vorwarts that Marx
met and formed an alliance with Friedrich Engels. The two men immediately gelled, with their
ideas converging into what would be called Classical Marxism. Marx was inspired by a report that Engels
had written called âThe Conditions of the Working Class in Englandâ, being convinced
more than ever that the working class would eventually rise up to overthrow their oppressors. Engels came from a wealthy family and, over
the years, he would prop up Marx financially time and again. The revolutionary ideas that Marx was espousing
through his writings soon came to the attention of the Prussian authorities, who put pressure
on him to leave France. The Interior Ministry shut down Vorwarts and
Marx was given 24 hours to leave the country. He decided to relocate to Brussels, Belgium
with his wife and baby joining him a few days later. Brussels
Belgium was a liberal, free thinking country and so was a natural fit for the leftist philosophies
of Karl Marx. Soon after, settling in Brussels, Jenny became
pregnant with the coupleâs second child. Back in Germany, Marxâs mother-in-law became
concerned that her daughter wouldnât be able to cope with the stress of starting anew
with one small child and another one on the way. She sent her maid-servant, Helen Demuth, to
Brussels to help her cope. Helen would, from then on be a permanent member
of the Marx household. Unknown to Marx, the Prussian government was
putting pressure on the Belgians to kick him out. As a result, he experienced frustrating delays
in his efforts to obtain permanent residency. In order to get residency granted, he had
to promise not to get involved in local political issues or espouse his political views. He then proceeded to find loopholes that would
allow him to spread his ideas. In 1847, he published a treatise entitled
The Poverty of Philosophy, which challenged an earlier tract by French leftist Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon called The Philosophy of Poverty. The Poverty of Philosophy was a stepping stone
toward Marxâs most impressive and famous work, The Communist Manifesto. In order to get direct experience of the conditions
of the working class, he traveled to England in 1845 along with Friedrich Engels. They toured factories and slums, witnessing
the terrible working and the even worse living conditions. After six weeks in England, Marx returned
to Brussels fully equipped to produce his magnum opus. Two weeks later, the 30-page pamphlet was
ready for the presses. The Communist Manifesto was published on February
21, 1848. In it, Marx stated that the bourgeoisie were
âtheir own grave diggersâ, with their exploited workers rising up to overthrow them. Hard Times
Soon after the Manifestoâs publication, the second French revolt broke out. The monarch was cast aside and a democratic
government put in place. Back in Belgium, Marx was arrested for subversive
activity. Upon his release, he made the decision to
head to a reinvigorated and freer France. The Marx familyâs relocation was helped
by the belated inheritance he received from his fatherâs estate. Most of that money, though, was poured into
starting another newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Engels worked on the paper, providing the
latest news and happenings from Europe. Soon after moving to France, Marx joined the
Communist League, which had been formed by members of the Jacobin Club after the revolution
to prevent the aristocracy from reasserting itself. Their methods of doing so were so drastic
that the time period became known as the âreign of terrorâ. The French authorities viewed the Communist
League as the reinstituted Jacobin Club under a different name. This brought official scrutiny upon the League,
with Marx being arrested several times. Initially the police were unable to directly
link him to any subversive activity and no prosecution was brought against him. But things changed when Prussian king, Fredrick
William IV, took a personal interest in stomping out every leftist movement in his realm. It didnât take long for his attention to
go to the Paris based leftist newspaper run by Karl Marx. For the second time in his life, he was expelled
from France. Marx had poured all of his financial resources
into the paper. With it shut down, he was left with nothing. Just to get enough money for passage out of
France, he had to visit a pawn shop and hock the family silver. He received support from a couple of German
socialists who raised money to help the Marx family get reestablished. However, the help turned out to be a double-edged
sword. The benefactors had painted Marx to be in
such a poor, demoralized condition in order to secure support that Karl was treated as
a laughing stock when he returned. Marx was not pleased with this reception. He stated that . . .
The greatest financial difficulties are preferable to public begging! London In June, 1849, the Marx family of four relocated
yet again. The destination this time was London, England. It was their final move, with the famous German
spending the rest of his life amongst the English. Not long after the Marxâs resettled in London,
the disbanded French Communist League reformed in the city. The leaders of the movement wanted to bring
about an immediate revolt of the working classes in London, which would, ideally, spread across
the entire continent. Marx viewed these goals as unrealistic and
labeled the leaders of the Communist League as unrealistic dreamers. He was firmly convinced that overthrow would
come but believed that it had to evolve gradually. He wasnât concerned if the revolution didnât
occur in his own lifetime. He was happy to plant the seeds that would
come to fruition at a later time. As it turned out, the first Communist revolution
didnât happen for another 68 years. In London, Marx focused on bringing reforms
on a small scale. He championed the rights of the poor and advocated
for voting rights and freedom of speech. For their first few months in London, the
Marx family were among the poor of London, only surviving thanks to the financial support
provided by Friedrich Engels. The financial strain was lifted in 1851 when
Marx secured a position as a European correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune. At the start, Engels had to translate the
articles that Marx wrote. Before long, Karl taught himself English and
was able to translate for himself. At the time, the New York Daily Tribune was
the most widely read newspaper in the United States. The paper paid him two hundred pounds per
year in order to provide two articles per week. Still, it was never quite enough, and the
family struggled to make ends meet. In 1852, Marx was concerned with what was
taking place across the English Channel. A second French Revolution had erupted and
a new Napoleon, the nephew of the first, seized power, establishing himself as the new emperor. Marx was frustrated at how the French working
people could allow another dictator to rule over them. He wrote a book called The Eighteenth Brumaire
of Louis Napoleon, which mocked the new emperor. In it, he placed the blame on both the French
working class for being sucked in by the dictator and on the proletariat for being gullible
to Napoleonâs promise to keep the masses in check. In his book, he summed it up this way . . .
The struggle seems to be settled in such a way that all classes, equally impotent and
equally remote, fall on their knees before the rifle butt. New York Correspondent
As a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune, Marx was in a unique position to
give an outside perspective on the American Civil War. He predicted that the election of Abraham
Lincoln would lead to civil war and that the war would greatly impact the British economy,
with its textile industry relying on exports of cotton from the American south. He was right on both counts, with the slowdown
in trade being termed the Cotton Famine. Many British factory workers lost their jobs,
providing the British government with the incentive to provide financial aid to prop
up the Confederate cause. Marx was quick to point out the hypocrisy
in Britainâs position. Having outlawed slavery itself, Britain was
now supporting the slave owning Southern states in order to boost her own economy. His articles were published in the Tribune
without dissent until the paper changed its pro-Abolitionist stance and began calling
for an immediate cessation to hostilities. From now on, articles had to be neutral in
their tone. This was a disaster for Marx, who, unwilling
to compromise his principles, tendered his resignation. Once more, Karl Marx was unemployed. It was terrible timing, with financial pressures
having mounted even before his leaving the paper. On top of that, Jenny was sick with a bout
of smallpox. With nowhere else to turn, Marx sought relief
from Friedrich Engels. However, Engels was grieving the recent death
of his wife and the letter from Karl requesting relief was not taking kindly. After three days of stewing on the matter
he sent the following reply . . . You will find it natural that my own trouble
and your frosty reception of it made it positively impossible for me to answer you earlier. All my friends . . . have shown me on this
occasion, which was bound to touch me very nearly, more sympathy and friendship than
I could expect. You found the moment suitable to enforce the
superiority of your cold thought processes. Marx was surprised and upset that he had unwittingly
insulted Engels. He quickly wrote back, in the process giving
us insight as to just how desperate his situation was . . .
My wife and children will bear me witness that when your letter came, I was much shattered
by the death as one of those nearest to me. But when I wrote to you in the evening, it
was under the impression of very desperate conditions. I had the landlordâs broker in the house,
the butcher protesting my cheque, shortage of coals and food, and little Jenny in bed. In such circumstances, I can generally save
myself only by cynicism. Das Kapital
The two men quickly made up and Engels once more provided financial support to keep the
Marx family afloat. Before long, however, Marx faced a new crisis. While his wifeâs health improved, his own
began to deteriorate. Boils erupted all over his body, causing great
pain and discomfort. He suffered on as he completed his latest
work, Das Kapital. The work was published in Berlin in 1867. In it, he emphasized the surplus value of
labor and the impact that machines would have on the workforce. Das Kapital was a success but that didnât
translate to financial stability for the ever-struggling family. Marxâs mother once made the salient comment
. . . If only Karl had made capital, instead of
just writing about it. When Marxâs daughter Laura got engaged to
a struggling medical student named Paul Lafargue, her protective father sought to save her from
the same mistake her mother had made â marrying a man who was ill-prepared to care for her. He strongly objected to the marriage, only
relenting when he gained the assurance that the young man was able to care for his daughter
financially. By 1869, Marx was actively working as an ambassador
for an organization called International Working Menâs Association, which endeavored to bring
the world of communism together under a single umbrella. In 1870, France declared war on Germany. Among the International Working Menâs Association
there was division between those who were in favor of the war and those who were against
it. Marx was keen for Germany to âgive the French
a good drubbingâ, believing that it would lead to resurgence of socialism in France. Following the defeat of Napoleon III, a coalition
of International Workerâs members and French citizens combined to take control of Paris. After two months they were overthrown by the
French authorities. For that short period of time, Marx saw the
embodiment of his proletarian revolt. Itâs overthrow by the establishment convinced
him that . . . The working class cannot simply lay hold of
ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes. For a take-over of power to be successful,
Marx reasoned, there had to be an existing infrastructure ready to replace the old one. The Final Years
For the last decade of his life, Karl Marx struggled with health problems and financial
survival. During this period, he produced just one work
of note, in which he commented on what he termed the âdictatorship of the proletariatâ. He expressed his firm belief that the masses
needed to work together in the coming revolution without allowing for a dominant leader to
rise. Unfortunately, that is precisely what happened
in many of the Communist revolutions of the 20th Century. On December 2, 1881, Karlâs life-long companion,
Jenny, died. She had been in terrible pain with cancer
of the liver for months. Her last words to Karl were âgoodâ, indicating
that she was happy that her pain was at an end. Following Jennyâs death, Marx fell into
a deep depression. At the prompting of his life-long friend,
Friedrich Engels, he took a holiday to Algiers. After two months he returned to England. Just as he was beginning to get back on his
feet, he received another blow when his daughter Jenny Caroline died of bladder cancer at the
age of 38. With the loss of his two Jennyâs, Marx gave
up the will to live. He hung on for another two months, racked
by pain and living in poverty. The end came on March 14, 1883, when his body
succumbed to a combination of bronchitis and pleurisy. The man was gone but his ideas survived to
have a massive impact on the coming century.
Karl Marx correctly diagnosed what was wrong with capitalism, but had horrible ideas on how to resolve these pitfalls.