A Biography of Karl Marx
Karl Marx was born in Germany in 1818 just after the close of the
Napoleonic wars. His parents were Jewish, but converted to Lutheranism
when he was only six. It is difficult to know what effect this would
have on his later philosophy, but we do know that Marx would be
antithetical to religious belief, at one time pronouncing it, "the
opiate of the masses".
Educated in the best universities in Germany at Bonn, Berlin and Jena,
he was greatly influenced by the most prominent scholar of the previous
generation, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. As youth turned to middle
age, Karl Marx's views became more radical and finally hardened into
the body of thought we know today. His journey to this point took him
out of Germany where the newspaper he edited, the Rheinische Zeitung,
was suppressed by the Government. He moved to Paris in 1843 and later
to Brussels in 1845.
As an activist writer he was prominent in radical circles, but obscure
to the point of unknown to the rest of the world. In 1847 he was asked
by a Communist League to write a statement of principles. In 1848 this
would be finalized in the Communist Manifesto.
His activities in Brussels finally got him expelled from the country
and he made his way to London. In England he would devote his life to
researching his book on economics and history now known as "Das
Kapital". This was published in four volumes, only one of which came
out during his life-time. He was supported mainly by Engels who had a
successful textile business.
During his stay in London he became a leading figure in the First
International - a communist working man's brotherhood. This group was
plagued by internal dissent and fell apart at the young age of six
years in 1872. It is interesting to note that many communist
organizations (including the early communist party in the United
States) would suffer from the same problems throughout the entire
history of the movement.
Karl Marx lived an intense life filled with study, activity and sorrow.
He lost three children during his lifetime and lived in poverty most of
his days. He had thought that the writing of Das Kapital might make him
rich, but the first volume sold only about 1000 copies. He wittily
stated that the royalties from the book did not amount to enough to pay
for all the cigars he smoked during its composition.
Karl Marx died in 1883. True to form, he would leave nothing in the way
of material wealth to his family, but he would bequeath an ideology,
for good or ill, that would have great effect upon the world.
A Biography of Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was born in 1820 in Barmen, Germany. His father was a
wealthy man with interests in a textile business in England. This fact
as well as his association with Karl Marx would dominate his existence.
The father wished the son to follow in his footsteps and so sent him to
clerk for three years at the manufacturing town of Bremen. Because of
this, Engels never really had a University Education.
Yet even at this stage (about 20 years old) he was already becoming
active in radical causes and writing pamphlets on philosophy and
economics. Engels would meet Marx in 1842 in Cologne and their
friendship would flower in Paris in 1844. Engels, who was a thinker in
his own right, thought Marx the more original, and soon hitched his
intellectual wagon to Marx's star.
In the early 1840s he spent a few years in England working as a manager
at one of his father's mills. It was this experience that produced his
first prominent work, "The Condition of the Working Class in England"
published in 1844. In 1847 Marx was asked to write a document
proclaiming the principles of communism for "The Communist League".
Engels collaborated and helped write the now famous Communist
Manifesto.
In 1850 Engels returned to England to run the factory of which he was
now part owner. He made the decision to do this for manifold reasons
not the least of which was to help the poverty stricken Marx who had
lately been driven from Brussels for his revolutionary activity. Marx
would move to London to do research for his book, "Das Kapital" at the
British Museum, while Engels supported him both financially and
intellectually.
Marx would produce the first volume of "Das Kapital" during his
lifetime, but the remaining three volumes would be put together
posthumously by Engels from Marx's notes. In the years remaining to
Engels, he spent the bulk of his time on these works and explaining to
the world what Marxism was all about. He ultimately believed that Marx
had found a scientific basis for history and that the principles laid
down by Marx would govern the affairs of men for the foreseeable
future.
Engels died in 1895.
|