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Karx Marx biography

  • Comments
    • I decided to write down my thoughts about the life of Karx Marx.
    • I will begin by doing this entirely from memory, since I have read about half about dozen full-length biographies of Marx, and countless periodical articles. I will return later numerous times to add bibliographical references a few at a time, as the occasion arises to look up dates or other details.
    • In a later version, I will add comments which relate the development of the idea of socialism to other historical processes, such as the American and French revolutions, the rise of natural science and social science, the philosophical debates regarding materialism vs. idealism and empiricism vs. rationalism, and more.
    • I begin to write my first version on May 6, 2005
  • Marx's childhood
    • Karl Heinrich Marx, the second of eight children of Heinrich and Henrietta Marx, was born May 5, 1818 in Trier, Germany.
    • In his childhood, Marx was influenced by the humanist philosophies of his father and of the family friend Ludwig von Westphalen, the father of Karl Marx's future wife.
  • College years
    • Marx enrolled in the University of Bonn in 1835 to study law, and transferred to the University of Berlin in 1836.
    • He hoped that he could eventually drop law and become a famous poet, but everyone except for himself and his sweetheart Jenny von Westphalen thought that his poetry sucked.
    • Instead of studying and attending class regularly, Marx preferred to associate with a group of friends in taverns. The group included Max Stirner, Arnold Ruge, [I forgot his first name] Koppen [spelled with two dots over the "o"], and three brothers Bruno, Edgar and Egbert Bauer. While drinking beer they discussed Hegelian philosophy, their opposition to religion, and their opposition to monarchy.
    • Marx didn't finish up at the University of Berlin. Instead, he sent his doctoral dissertation to the University of Jena and received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1841.
    • (year=????) Faculty member Bruno Bauer had promised to help Marx get a job teaching job at University of Berlin, but Marx lost his chance when the two of them got caught participating in a hoax, which got Bauer fired. Bauer and Marx had tried to show that religion isn't central to the philosophy of Hegel, by means of writing a pamphlet in which they pretended to be a Lutheran who was accusing Hegel of being an atheist. After they got caught, Marx concluded that he had no further chance to have an academic career, and would have to think of an alternative.
  • Influence of Moses Hess on Karl Marx
    • Soon after giving up on the idea of becoming a university teacher, Marx met Moses Hess.
    • Prior to meeting Hess, Marx thought socialism was a stupid idea.
    • Hess suggested a form of socialism that was combined with his own interpretation of Jewish theology.
    • Marx didn't agree with Hess's concept of socialism, or any form of socialism, and he merely agreed when Hess said in general terms that justice isn't possible without economic equality.
    • Hess persuaded some liberal investors in Cologne to finance the founding of a newspaper to be written by the Marx and the other Young Hegelians. The Rheinische Zeitung (Rhine Gazette) was founded in 1842.
    • After several articles criticized the government for brutal treatment of poor people, government censors shut down the Rheinische Zeitung. The repression of the newspaper made Marx famous among radicals in Germany.
    • In 1843, Marx, not yet a socialist, began to seriously study the idea of socialism.
    • During 1842-1843, although Marx and Engels didn't know each other yet, Hess was also introducing Engels to the idea of socialism.
  • Events in Germany after suppression of the Rheinische Zeitung
    • April 1843 - In the same month that the Rheinische Zeitung was discontinued, Karl Marx and Jenny von Westphalen were married.
    • Marx read Proudhon's arguments for socialism for the first time.
    • Marx read Feuerbach's Thesis on the Hegelian Philosophy and appreciated the materialist critique.
    • Marx began discussions with Arnold Ruge, whose own publication has been suppressed around the same as the suppression of the Rheinische Zeitung, about the possibility of collaborating on he publication of a new journal.
    • "By the summer of 1843, Marx was considered by those who knew him best to be already a socialist." [Carmichael 72]
    • November 1843 - Because of the lack of freedom of speech in Germany, Karl and Jenny moved to Paris, France.
  • Events in Paris (1843-1845)
    • February 1844 - Arnold Ruge published only one issue of Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher (German-French Yearbooks). It contained two articles by Marx and one article by Engels. Marx's article "... Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" marked his clear break with Hegelian idealism. After the first issue came out, the government suppressed further distibution of the Jahrbucher.
    • Marx began studying the economics of Adam Smith and David Ricardo for the first time.
    • Marx met Proudhon for the first time.
    • Marx met Bakunin for the first time.
    • 1844 - Marx and Engels had their first conversation. Engels began to give financial support to Marx, who was in poverty.
    • Marx wrote the notes which are today called his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. In these manuscripts, Marx introduced the idea of capitalist production as a form of alienation.
  • Events in Belgium (1845-1848)
    • January 1845 - The government of France expelled Marx because of his published views, and his family moved to Brussels, Belgium. Engels also moved to Brussels. [Carmichael 110; Berlin 152.]
    • February 1845 - Marx published his first book, The Holy Family : Bruno Bauer and His Accomplices, in which he criticized his former friends among the Young Hegelians.
    • 1846 - Marx and Engels wrote The German Ideology, developing the idea of historical materialism. It was not published during their lifetimes.
    • Marx, Engels, and a small group of others in Brussels began to refer to themselves as the Communist League or Communist Party.
    • 1847 - Marx wrote the book The Misery of Philosophy (also translated The Poverty of Philosophy) in criticism of Proudhon's book The Philosophy of Misery (also translated The Philosophy of Poverty).
    • June 1847 - A congress in London established the Communist League. Engels attended. Marx was unable to attend.
    • October 1847 - to get started on writing a party platform, Engels wrote a document of 25 questions and answers, entitled Principles of Communism.
    • November-December 1847 - Marx rewrote Engels' draft, composing the Manifesto of the Communist Party. It was published in January 1848.
    • After publication of the Manifesto, Marx was expelled from Belgium and went to France.
  • Events in France (1848 or 1848-1849 ?)
    • "The newly proclaimed french republic was ten days old when Marx arrived." [Carmichael 143] Elections were to be held soon. Blanqui, an opponent of holding elections, first used the phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat". [Carmichael 144]
  • Events in Germany (1849 or 1848-1849 ?)
    • Marx and Engels published the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (New Rhine Gazette).
    • Marx wrote in defense of of the armed rebellion of workers in Paris which took place on June 23, 1848.
    • The Prussian government suppressed publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
    • Marx was tried for sedition in Cologne but acquitted by the jury.
    • May 1849 - The government expelled Marx from Prussia.
  • Events in London (from 1849 until Marx's death in 1883)
    • August 1849 - Marx and family moved to London.
    • Marx developed increasing support for workers' use of parliamentary politics.
    • circa 1849-1850 - Marx began his fulltime study of economics in the library of the British Museum.
    • Marx wrote articles for the New York Tribune.
    • 1849 - Wage-Labour and Capital (lecture?)
    • 1852 - Marx published The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon.
    • 1863 - Lassalle established a socialist party in Germany. Marx was critical of its positions.
    • May 1864 - Establishment of the International Working Men's Association.
    • 1865 - Marx delivered the lectures on economics that were later published as the pamphlet Value, Price and Profit
    • 1867 - Volume 1 of Capital was published.
    • 1870 - the Franco-Prussian War; 1871 - the Paris Commune.
    • 1872 - Marx and Engels attended the Hague congress of the International. Marx emphasized that socialism can be established by peaceful means.
    • 1875 - The two socialist parties in Germany united at the Gotha conference and formed the Social Democratic Party. Marx wrote correspondence to Liebknecht which was later published as Critique of the Gotha Programme.
    • 1878 - German government passed Anti-Socialist Law. Works of Marx and Engels were banned.

To be continued ...

Notes by M. Lepore

Please email your comments to me, or better yet, post your comments to the discussion forum at the following location: deleonism.org socialist web site
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Bibliography -- In Progress

  • Joel Carmichael, Karl Marx : The Passionate Logician; New York: Scribner's, 1967.
  • George Lichtheim, Marxism : An Historical and Critical Study, 2nd Edition; New York: Praeger, 1965.
  • Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx : His Life and Environment, First Edition ??? (to be verified)
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Some amazon.com links for biographies of Karx Marx

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