| Karl Marx and Marxism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Karl's house in Soho, London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Background The city of Trier (Marx�s hometown) was the Roman capital of Germany, with profits that rivaled that of the Rhine Valley. It stayed as the capital of South Germany until Napoleon and the French army captured Trier. It was made part of South Germany with Napoleon�s final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Hirschel Levi�s father was a Rabbi in Trier. Hirschel�s brother followed in those footsteps to become a Rabbi in Trier as well. Everyone was expecting Hirshel to become a Rabbi, but he hated his Jewish roots and got baptized as a Christian. He studied law and became a lawyer and became one of the upper class in Trier. After his Baptism he changed his name to, Heinrick Marx. He would have seven, children all of them were baptized, one of the seven was Karl Marx. Early Childhood and Youth Karl Marx was born May 5, 1818, in the city of Trier. His school years were basically uneventful, but a few characteristics did develop in his younger years. Marx always looked up to his father, but he was ashamed of his mother and her failure to learn proper German. He thought that there was no use in having relations with people that were his same age and therefore had relations with adults. Marx�s loves for Homer and Shakespeare were very well know. Karl could recite hour after hour of Shakespeare, and his father could recite hour after hour of Homer, in Greek. It was also said that a �Demon� would come out when Marx was talking. The strangest thing was that Marx disliked science, and he took dancing and riding lessons. Karl also wanted to become a poet. He would constantly write poems to Jenny Von Westphalon. He sent poems to almost all the publishers in South Germany, but they all rejected his work. Karl became very depressed after that and never again wrote a word of poetry. Education Karl Marx was very gifted in his younger years at school in Trier. The school was very hard on disobedience, which was what Marx�s father wanted for his gifted son. His teacher often commented that he was hard working, attentive and well behaved. He also got the nickname �the moor� because of his swarthy complexion and his black eyes. At the age of seventeen Karl enrolled at the University of Bonn (although his father wanted him to enter the University of Berlin). He was �flung� into the carefree atmosphere of a Prussian university. He spent his father�s money at will (often on beer). He was arrested by the Prussian police for �noisiness and drunkenness at night�. Karl even fought in a duel, with pistols. There was a state investigation when Marx left the University, but no reason was ever found. Karl and his father both believed that the years had been basically wasted. Karl Marx entered the University of Berlin in 1836. This time instead of being at the top of the class for misbehavior, he was at the top of the class in studies. While there he became very interested in philosophy and studied Hegel and his works. Karl also spent lots of time at the �Philosopher�s Club� in Berlin. Marx finally received his Ph.D. from the University of Jena, a month before his twenty-third birthday (he received it through the mail). Famous For� Karl Marx was one of the most influential men in Europe and in the World in the 1800�s. His reputation rivaled almost that of Bismarck�s. He was always against the exploitation of labor during the Industrial Revolution. He and his life long companion Fredrich Engels wrote many books and held many rallies voicing the peoples concern about early capitalism. The most influential and famous book that he ever wrote was the �Communist Manifesto�. Karl was exiled from three countries (in order) France, Prussia and Belgium, over the course of his life. He started the first communist party in Paris, France. He criticized the capitalist ways of the Industrial Revolution, in his books �Das Kapital� and in �Critique of the Political Economy�. Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels were the founding members of the �International Workingmen�s Association�. He is also famous for his attacks on the Russian Czarist regime and the Prussian government. In the �Communist Manifesto�, Marx left no room for religion in his new government. Marx also had the theory of wages in which all works should be paid the same. Why Marx Wanted Change The Industrial Revolution was good for the rich, but terrible for the poor. The aristocrats controlled basically all of the European factories. The workers had to go through fourteen-hour shifts for a pound a day. Even children worked in extremely dangerous conditions. The Prussian government arrested and killed anyone who spoke out against it. There was constant unrest in the workers of the lower class. Thousands were killed in the unrest during the 1848 rebellions. Later Years and After Death Karl Marx�s later years were filled with more unhappiness. First the International Workingmen�s Association was dissolved. Only eleven people attend the last meeting of the �International�. The reunified Social-Democratic Party ignored Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels. Throughout Marx�s adult life he tried to be the best father that he could be, but still they were deeply unhappy. His oldest daughter Jenny married a French journalist. She ended up committing suicide. Another of his daughters, Eleonore, was living with an Englishman (Engels had called him a �perverted character� and a �criminal�). Eleonore also committed suicide. This made Marx even more depressed. Jenny Marx, Karl�s wife and long time companion, died in 1881. Karl Marx was very depressed over the deaths of his daughters and now his wife. Fredrich Engels said that when Jenny died �the Moor died to�. To pass his time after her death he began to learn languages, he even learned Turkish. Karl Marx died March 14, 1883. Only eight people attended his funeral. Marx�s works came to rule have the world. Vladimar Ilich Lenin admired him and used Marx�s work�s as the basis for the political structure of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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