preview

Essay on Karl Marx

Decent Essays

Akhil Chawla

English 10 Honors

Mr. Immler

May 17, 2000

The Life of Karl Marx

Karl Marx was one of the greatest thinkers ever. Studying law and philosophy, he became an important social philosopher and revolutionary. He influenced the lives of millions of people in generations well past his. A man of mystery in the democratic societies, Karl Marx led an interesting life of new ideas that would influence millions in the future.

Karl Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 (Karl Marx). He was the eldest son of Heinrich and Hennrietta Marx. He was born in Trier, Germany. Karl was the oldest surviving boy of nine children (Coser). Heinrich Marx was a very successful and well-educated lawyer ("Marx, Karl", Britannica). Both parents were …show more content…

On October 15th, 1842, Marx became editor of the Rheinische Zeitung. He was required to write many editorials from a variety of social issues. He also wrote about the new phenomenon of communism ("Marx, Karl", Grolier).

On June 19th, 1843, Karl Heinrich Marx was wedded to Jenny von Westphalen. The marriage took place seven years after their engagement (Marx). Jenny was an attractive, intelligent, and much-admired woman. She was four years older than Karl ("Marx, Karl", Britannica). Karl Marx's wife was the sister of the women who later became the Prussian Minister of the Interior (Walmsley). Jenny gave birth to seven children, one dying at birth, leaving six. Their names were Jenny, Laura, Edgar, Heinrich, Franziska, and Eleanor. Only Jenny, Laura, and Eleanor survived into their teens (Basgen).

After much writing on social problems Karl began to take much interest in communism, which was a new idea being spread (Walmsley). Marx decided to summarize these ideas into his own book. He would change the way people lived for years to come. In late 1847 Karl Marx wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party, commonly called the Communist Manfesto ("Marx, Karl", Grolier). It covers all aspects of communism. All communist governments were based off of the Communist Manifesto ("Marx, Karl", Encarta). It consists of four parts; they are "Bourgeois and Proletarians", "Proletarians and Communists", "Socialist and

Get Access