The life of Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was born and raised in Trier, in what was then Prussia. His father was a lawyer. Marx showed intellectual promise in school and went to the University of Bonn in 1835 to study law. The next year, he transferred to the University of Berlin. There he became much more interested in philosophy, a highly political subject in Prussia, where citizens were not permitted to participate directly in public affairs. Marx joined a group of radical leftist students and professors whose philosophic views implied strong criticism of the severe way in which Prussia was governed.

In 1841, Marx obtained his doctorate in philosophy from the university in Jena. He tried to get a teaching position but failed because of his opposition to the Prussian government. He became a free-lance journalist and helped create and manage several radical journals. After his marriage in 1843, he and his wife moved to Paris. There they met Friedrich Engels, a young German radical, who became Marx's best friend and worked with him on several articles and books. Marx lived in Brussels, Belgium, from 1845 to 1848, when he returned to Germany. He edited the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which was published in Cologne during the German revolution of 1848. This journal made Marx known throughout Germany as a spokesman for radical democratic reform. After the collapse of the 1848 revolution, Marx fled from Prussia. He spent the rest of his life as a political exile in London.

Marx led a hand-to-mouth existence because he was too proud--or too much a professional revolutionary--to work for a living. He did write some articles for newspapers. His most regular job of this kind was that of political reporter for the New York Tribune. But generally, Marx, his wife, and their six children survived only because Engels sent them money. In 1864, Marx founded The International Workingmen's Association, an organization dedicated to improving the life of the working classes and preparing for a socialist revolution.

Marx suffered from frequent illnesses, many of which may have been psychological. Even when physically healthy, he suffered from long periods of apathy and depression and could not work. Marx was learned and sophisticated, but he was often opinionated and arrogant. He had many admirers but few friends. Except for Engels, he lost most of his friends--and many of them became his enemies.