Biography of Karl Marx Essay -- Karl Marx Communism Biographies essays

Biography of Karl Marx Karl Marx, the author of the Communist Manifesto, is viewed to be one of the greatest social thinkers of his time. His social, political and economical thoughts are still highly regarded today. The life of this man is stamped with many accomplishments and ideas that have been adopted by many prominent figures. As a historian, philosopher, and revolutionary, Karl Marx has helped shaped the society of the past, present and future. Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany on May 5, 1818. He was born to Heinrich Marx and his wife, Henrietta who had a total of seven children. They were a middle class family who came from a long lineage of rabbis. However, his family was baptized Protestant in order for his dad to keep his job as a practicing lawyer.[1] At an early age, Marx’s next-door neighbor became an influential model for Marx and eventually a future father-in-law.[2] Marx’s intellectual career began in 1835 at the age of seventeen at the University of Boon where he was to study law. Not more than a year after his arrival at Boon he was arrested for drunkenness and was injured in a brawl.[3] Also at this time he became secretly engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Jenny Von Westphalen. Outraged by his actions, his father forced him to transfer and begin a more serious academic career at the University of Berlin. His father voiced his opinion in a letter to Marx â€Å" degeneration in a learned dressing-gown with uncombed hair has replaced degeneration with a drinking glass.[4] On October 22, 1837, he became officially engaged to Jenny and would ritually write her a letter telling about his life at school.[5] Shortly after his arrival at Berlin he... ...ree in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think†¦Just as Darwin discovered the law of development or organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history.†[17] Notes [1] Peter Singer, Marx (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980), 2. [2] Allen W. Wood, Karl Marx (London: Routledge & Kegan Ltd, 1981), xii. [3] Singer,2 [4] Singer,2 [5] â€Å"A Revolutionary Thinker,† (12 March 2002). [6] â€Å"A Revolutionary Thinker† [7] Wood, xii [8] Steven Kreis, â€Å"Karl Marx,† The History Guide: Lectures On Modern Intellectual History, 10 February 2002, [9] Singer, 3 [10] Singer, 3 [11] Singer, 3 [12] Kreis [13] Wood, xiii [14] Singer, 4,5 [15] Wood, xiii [16] Wood, xiii, xiv [17] Kreis