Biography
Karl Heinrich Marx (born 5 May 1818) was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary.
Born in Trier, Germany, Marx studied law and philosophy at the universities of Bonn and Berlin.
He died on 14 March 1883 and was buried on 17 March 1883 in the Karl Marx Mausoleum, Highgate Cemetery, London, England.
German philosopher
Karl Marx |
|
|---|---|
 Karl Marx: History, Biography, Photos |
|
| Wiki Events & About Data | |
| Full name: | Debbie Shokoya |
| Stage name: | Karl Marx |
| Born: | May 5, 1818 (age 64) |
| Deceased: | March 14, 1883, London, United Kingdom |
| Place of birth: | Trier, Germany |
| Notable ideas: | Marxism, Class Conflict, Surplus Value, Historical Materialism, Marx’s Theory of Alienation, Labor Theory of Value |
| Nationality: | Germany, Prussia |
| Parents: | Heinrich Marx and Henriette Pressburg |
| The children: | Eleanor Marx, Henry Edward Guy Marx, Laura Marx, Edgar Marx, Jenny Marx Longuet, Jenny Eveline Frances Marx |
| Height: | 1.75 minutes |
| Siblings: | Sophie von Hatzfeldt, Louise Juta, Emilie Conradi, Sophia Marx, Mauritz David Marx, Hermann Marx, Caroline Marx, Eduard Marx, Henriette Marx |
| Wife • Husband/wife: | Jenny von Westphalen (m. 1843–1881) |
| Girlfriend • Partner: | Do not have |
| Job: | Philosopher • Historian |
| Net worth: | Not Est. |
Early life
Karl Heinrich Marx was born on 5 May 1818, to Heinrich Marx (1777–1838) and Henriette Pressburg (1788–1863).
He was born at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, an ancient city then part of the Lower Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Karl Marx’s family was not originally Jewish but formally converted to Christianity before he was born.
His father was the first in his family to receive a secular education. As a result, he became a lawyer with a comfortable middle-class income, and the family owned several Moselle vineyards, in addition to their legal income.
Little is known about Karl Marx’s childhood. The third of nine children, he became the eldest son when his older brother Moritz Marx died in 1819.
Karl Marx and his surviving siblings, Sophie, Hermann, Henriette, Louise, Emilie and Caroline Marx, were baptized into the Lutheran Church in August 1824 and their mother in November 1825.
Education
Karl Marx was privately educated by his father until 1830 when he entered the Trier Gymnasium (Gymnasium zu Trier). [de]), the school’s principal, Hugo Wyttenbach, was a friend of his father.
Unfortunately, by employing many liberal humanists as teachers, Hugo Wyttenbach incurred the wrath of the local conservative authorities. The police then raided the school in 1832 and discovered that literature advocating political liberalism was being distributed to the students.
Viewing the distribution of such material as an act of rebellion, the authorities instituted reforms and replaced several staff members during Karl Marx’s time there.
In October 1835, at the age of 17, Karl Marx entered the University of Bonn with the intention of studying philosophy and literature, but his father insisted that law was a more practical subject.
Furthermore, due to his “weak chest” condition, Karl Marx was exempted from military service when he turned 18. While studying at the University of Bonn, he joined the Poets Club, a group of political radicals who were monitored by the police.
Karl Marx also attended the Trier Tavern Club (German: Landsmannschaft der Treveraner), where many ideas were discussed, and at one point he served as co-president of the club. He was also involved in a number of disputes, some of which became serious: in August 1836 he entered into a duel with a member of the university’s Borussia Korps.
Although his grades were quite good in the first semester, they quickly declined, prompting his father to transfer him to the more serious and academic University of Berlin.
Career
He first moved from Brussels to Paris and then to Cologne, where he started and ran the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Karl Marx then fled to London, where he lived the rest of his life in relative poverty. However, he was hired as a reporter for the New York Daily Tribune.
Karl Marx wrote frequently about the crisis of slavery in America, likening slaves to the industrial proletariat. In London, he wrote the first volume of Das Kapital and made notes for three additional volumes later published by Engels.
In 1864 he joined the International Workingmen’s Association (now called the First International), was elected to its General Council, and eventually won over those in the group such as Mikhail Bakunin, who disagreed with his understanding of socialism.
However, the First International disintegrated in 1876, and when Karl Marx died in 1883, there was no clearly recognized intellectual head of the socialist movement worldwide. Instead, most socialist thinkers positioned themselves in relation to Karl Marx’s thought, and since Marxism seemed to require a leading dogmatist and interpreter of events, competition for this position arose.
Social media
Karl Marx did not use social media.
Personal life
Karl Marx was short and stocky, with bushy hair and bright eyes. His skin was dark, so his family and friends called him Mohr in German or Moor in English. He adopted this nickname and used it with those close to him.
His physical appearance was impressive, despite his latent tuberculosis (four of his brothers died of it). A man of profound learning and keen intellectual power, Karl Marx, often impatient and short-tempered, annoyed people with his ironic wit, directness, and dogmatism, almost to the point of arrogance.
His enemies were numerous. However, despite his well-deserved reputation as a complicated and difficult man, he had a special affection for children; he loved his daughters dearly, and in return, they loved him very much.
Karl Marx married his childhood sweetheart, Jenny von Westphalen, known as “the most beautiful girl in Trier”, on June 19, 1843. She was completely devoted to him. Unfortunately, she died of cancer on December 2, 1881, at the age of 67. For Karl Marx, it was a shock from which he never recovered.
The Marx family had seven children, four of whom died in infancy. Of the three surviving daughters—Jenny (1844–1883), Laura (1845–1911), and Eleanor (1855–1898)—two married Frenchmen: Jenny, Charles Longuet; Laura, Paul Lafargue.
Both of Karl Marx’s sons-in-law became prominent French socialists and members of the National Assembly. Eleanor lived with Edward Aveling and worked as a British labor organizer. Unfortunately, both Laura and Eleanor committed suicide.
Karl Marx spent much of his working life at the British Museum, researching his papers and books. He was a devoted scholar, never satisfied with second-hand information but always tracing facts and figures back to their original sources.
To prepare for Das Kapital, he read virtually every available work on the theory and practice of economics and finance in the major European languages.
Karl Marx’s habits of smoking, drinking, and eating a lot of spicy foods may have been the cause of his illnesses, most of which, according to modern understanding, were allergic and psychological.
He suffered from a hereditary liver disorder (he claimed his father had died of the disease); frequent boils and boils on his neck, chest, back, and buttocks (often making it impossible for him to sit); toothaches; conjunctivitis; lung abscesses; hemorrhoids; pleurisy; headaches and a persistent cough that prevented him from sleeping without medication.
During the last decade of his life, he was no longer able to do any intellectual work. Karl Marx died in his armchair in London on 14 March 1883, about two months before his sixty-fifth birthday. He was buried in London’s Highgate Cemetery, where his grave is marked by a bust of him.
Net worth
Karl Marx died a relatively poor man, and although most of his works are of great value today than they were in his lifetime, there is little recognition or respect for his controversial views.
Karl Marx’s net worth has no verified figures mentioned in any reliable source.
