Karl Marx

Lore & Background

Marx was born in Trier to Heinrich Marx, a lawyer, and Henriette Pressburg. His family was originally non-religious Jewish but converted to Christianity before his birth. He earned a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Jena in 1841. Influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the Young Hegelians, Marx critiqued their ideas in works such as The German Ideology. In Paris he wrote the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and began a close collaboration with Engels. After moving to Brussels, they were active in the Communist League and wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848.

Expelled from Germany after the Revolutions of 1848, Marx moved to London, where he wrote his Grundrisse notebooks and the three volumes of Das Kapital. He became a leading figure in the International Workingmen's Association (First International), battling the influence of anarchists led by Mikhail Bakunin and celebrating the Paris Commune of 1871. In his late studies and Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875), he theorized on the transition to a communist society. He died in 1883 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Reader's Guide

Marx's critiques of history, society and political economy hold that human societies develop through class conflict. In the capitalist mode of production, this manifests in the conflict between the bourgeoisie, who control the means of production, and the proletariat, who sell their labour power for wages. Employing historical materialism, Marx predicted that capitalism's internal contradictions would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system. He argued that class antagonisms under capitalism would eventuate the working class's development of class consciousness, leading to their conquest of political power and the establishment of a classless, stateless, moneyless society. Marx actively pressed for organised proletarian revolutionary action to topple capitalism.

Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures of the modern era. Marxism has exerted major influence on socialist thought and political movements, with schools such as Marxism–Leninism becoming guiding ideologies of revolutions that formed communist states in many countries during the 20th century. His work in economics has strongly influenced modern heterodox theories of labour and capital, and he is often cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology.

Did You Know?

• Marx was born at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
• He earned a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Jena in 1841.
• Marx co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848) with Friedrich Engels.
• He was buried in Highgate Cemetery in London.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell." — Karl Marx "The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles." — Karl Marx "The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie." — Karl Marx "As quoted in The Communist Manifesto (21 February 1848), p19-20." — Karl Marx