Karl Marx (2205 words) Essay Example For Students

Karl Marx (2205 words) Essay Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the city of Trier in Prussia,now, Germany. He was one of seven children of Jewish Parents. His father wasfairly iberal, taking part in demonstrations for a constitution for Prussia andreading such authors as Voltaire and Kant, known for their social commentary. His mother, Henrietta, was originally from Holland and never became a German atheart, not even learning to speak the language properly. Shortly before KarlMarx was born, his father converted the family to the Evangelical EstablishedChurch, Karl being baptized at the age of six. Marx attended high school in hishome town (1830-1835) where several teachers and pupils were under suspicion ofharboring liberal ideals. Marx himself seemed to be a devoted Christian with alonging for self-sacrifice on behalf of humanity. In October of1835, he started attendance at the University of Bonn, enrolling innon-socialistic-related classes like Greek and Roman mythology and the historyof art. During this time, he spent a day in jail for being drunk anddisorderly-the only imprisonment he suffered in the course of his life. The student culture at Bonn included, as a major part, being politicallyrebellious and Marx was involved, presiding over the Tavern Club and joining aclub for poets that included some politically active students. However, he leftBonn after a year and enrolled at the University of Berlin to study law andphilosophy. Marxs experience in Berlin was crucial to his ntroduction toHegels philosophy and to his adherence to the Young Hegelians.Hegels philosophy was crucial to the development of his own ideas and theories. Upon his first introduction to Hegels beliefs, Marx felt a repugnance and wrotehis father that when he felt sick, it was partially from intense vexationat having to make an idol of a view detested. The Hegelian doctrinesexerted considerable pressure in the revolutionary student culturethat Marx was immersed in, however, and Marx eventually joined a society calledthe Doctor Club, involved mainly in the new literary and philosophicalmovement whos chief figure was Bruno Bauer, a lecturer in theology whothought that the Gospels were not a record of History but that they came fromhuman fantasies arising from mans emotional needs and he alsohypothesized that Jesus had not existed as a person. Bauer was later dismissedfrom his position by the Prussian government. By 1841, Marxs studies werelacking and, at the suggestion of a friend, he submitted a doctoral dissertationto the university at Jena, known for having lax acceptance requirements. Unsurprisingly, he got in, and finally received his degree in 1841. His thesisanalyzed in a Hegelian fashion the difference between the naturalphilosophies of Democritus and Epicurus using his knowledge of mythologyand the myth of Prometheus in his chains. In October of 1842, Marx became theeditor of the paper Rheinische Zeitung, and, as the editor, wrote editorials onsocio-economic issues such as poverty, etc. During this time, he found that hisHegelian philosophy was of little use and he separated himself fromhis young Hegelian friends who only shocked the bourgeois to make up theirsocial activity. Marx helped the paper to succeed and it almostbecame the leading journal in Prussia. However, the Prussian governmentsuspended it because of pressures from the goverment of Russia. So,Marx went to Paris to study French Communism. In June of 1843, hewas married to Jenny Von Westphalen, an attractive girl, four years older thanMarx, who came from a prestigious family of both military and a dministrativedistinction. Although many of the members of the Von Westphalen family wereopposed to the marriage, Jennys father favored Marx. In Paris, Marx becameacquainted with the Communistic views of French workmen. Although he thoughtthat the ideas of the workmen were utterly crude and unintelligent,he admired their camaraderie. He later wrote an article entitled Towardthe Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right from which comes thefamous quote that religion is the opium of the people. Once again,the Prussian government interfered with Marx and he was expelled from France. Heleft for Brussels, Belgium, and , in 1845, renounced his Prussian nationality. During the next two years in Brussels, the lifelong collaboration with Engelsdeepened further. He and Marx, sharing the same views, pooled theirintellectual resources and published The Holy Family, a criticism ofthe Hegelian idealism of Bruno Bauer. In their next work, they demonstratedtheir materialistic conception of history but the book found no publisher andremained unknown during its authors lifetimes. It is during hisyears in Brussels that Marx really developed his views and established hisintellectual standing. From December of 1847 to January of 1848,Engels and Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto, a document outlining 10 immediatemeasures towards Communism, ranging from a progressive income tax and theabolition of inheritances to free education for all children. When theRevolution erupted in Europe in 1848, Marx was invited to Paris just in time toescape expulsion by the Belgian government. He became unpopular to German exileswhen, while in Paris, he opposed Georg Heweghs proj ect to organize a Germanlegion to invade and liberate the Fatherland. After traveling backto Cologne, Marx called for democracy and agreed with Engels that the CommunistLeague should be disbanded. During this time, Marx got into trouble with thegovernment; he was indicted on charges that he advocated that people not paytaxes. However, after defending himself in his trial, he was acquittedunanimously. On May 16, 1849, Marx was banished as an alien by thePrussian government. Marx then went to London. There, he rejoined the CommunistLeague and became more bold in his revolutionary policy. He advocated that thepeople try to make the revolution permanent and that they shouldavoid subservience to the bourgeois peoples. The faction that he belonged toridiculed his ideas and he stopped attending meetings of the London Communists,working on the defense of 11 communists arrested in Cologne, instead. He wrotequite a few works during this time, including an essay entitled DerAchtzenhnte Brumair e des Louis Bonaparte (The Eighteenth Brumaire of LouisBonaparte) and also a pamphlet written on the behalf of the 11 communists he wasdefending in Cologne. From 1850 to 1864, Marx lived in poverty andspiritual pain, only taking a job once. He and his family wereevicted from their apartment and several of his children died, his son, Guido,who Marx called a sacrifice to bourgeois misery and a daughter namedFranziska. They were so poor that his wife had to borrow money for her coffin. W.R.1 - Inquiry Activity EssayBecause of inflation and the increase in prices of goods resulting from it, thepeople of the society hoard their money which, because that money is out ofcirculation, causes more money to be printed. The one increases the effect ofthe other and thus, the downward spiral. Marx views revolution with twoperspectives. One takes the attitude that revolution should be a great uprisinglike that of the French revolution. The other conception is that ofthe permanent revolution involving a provisionalcoalition between the low and higher classes. However, an analysis of theCommunist Manifesto shows inconsistencies between the relationship of permanentand violent revolution; that Marx did not exactly determine the exactrelationship between these two yet. Aside from the small inconsistencies inMarxs philosophy, he exhibits sound ideas that do seem to work on paper butfail in the real world where millions of uncertainties contribute to the errorin every social exper iment on Earth. Communism never gets farther than socialismin its practice in the real world and that is where the fault lies, in thegovernments that try to cheat the system while still maintaining their idealcommunist society.