Marx

Contemporary philosophy

Marx was a German philosopher of the nineteenth century (1818-1883). Born in Trier, he studied law at the University of Bonn, then history and philosophy at the University of Berlin. He was awarded a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Jena. He became editor-in-chief of the Rhenish Newspaper, a journal deemed subversive by the authorities. He fled to Paris, met Engels, and together they published The Holy Family, The German Ideology, and others. Driven out, they joined the League of Communists in Brussels. He died in London.

The Works of Marx Summarised on This Site

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The Communist Manifesto

Marx develops here an acerbic critique of the capitalist system and the bourgeoisie, the social class that owns the means of production.

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Bibliography

Here are the essential books if you wish to better understand this author's thought:

Mehring, Franz. Karl Marx: The Story of His Life (Routledge, 2003)
Bottomore, Tom, ed. A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998
Harvey, David. A Companion to Marx's Capital. London: Verso Books, 2010.
Saad-Filho, Alfredo. The Value of Marx: Political Economy for Contemporary Capitalism. London: Routledge, 2002.
Little, Daniel. The Scientific Marx, (University of Minnesota Press, 1986

Biography: Life of Marx

Youth

Karl Marx was born in Trier, in southwest Germany, in 1818. His father, a lawyer, was Jewish but converted to Protestantism in order to practise his profession. Karl Marx, the second of eight siblings, was baptised in the Protestant rite.

At the age of twelve, he entered the Gymnasium in his home town.

He studied law at the University of Bonn, then history and philosophy at the University of Berlin.

In 1841, Marx defended his thesis The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature at the University of Jena.

Politically, he was at this stage a Left Hegelian, seeking to draw revolutionary conclusions from Hegel's writings.

He hoped to become a professor, but quickly abandoned this ambition when he witnessed the persecution of Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer — fellow members of this political movement — by the Prussian government.

In 1842, Marx wrote several articles for the Rhenish Newspaper, an opposition paper founded in Cologne, before becoming its editor-in-chief. The newspaper was swiftly censored and eventually banned, even after his resignation.

In 1843, he married Jenny von Westphalen, with whom he had seven children.

He wrote the celebrated Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, consisting largely of notes from his reading of economists such as Ricardo, Adam Smith and Say — gaps in knowledge he had become aware of during his time as a journalist.

In France and Belgium

Marx did not abandon his career in journalism. He moved to Paris, where censorship was expected to be less severe, and launched the German–French Annals — only one issue of which appeared, following disagreements with his collaborators.

There he met Engels, and the two men struck up a deep friendship.

Brought together by their reading of Feuerbach's recently published works, they resolved to write a book of their own: The Holy Family. This was soon followed by The German Ideology and The Poverty of Philosophy.

Through these three works, Marx and Engels distanced themselves from Feuerbach, Max Stirner and Proudhon, as well as from other conceptions of materialism and revolutionary left-wing thought.

Deemed dangerous, Marx was expelled from France and took refuge in Belgium, in Brussels. There, in 1847, he organised a network of revolutionary groups scattered across Europe, which he headed: the Communist Committees of Correspondence.

These merged under the name of the Communist League, and Marx and Engels were invited to write its manifesto: the celebrated Communist Manifesto.

the statue of Marx in Kaliningrad — The bust of Marx in Russia, in Kaliningrad

In London

The 1848 Revolution broke out in France and quickly spread to Germany. Marx followed its course: he settled first in Paris, then in Cologne, where he founded a new paper, the New Rhenish Newspaper, whose front page championed the Parisian workers. Marx was arrested, tried and deported. After a brief stay in Paris, from which he was again expelled, he finally settled in London, where he remained until his death.

Living in poverty, despite financial support from Engels, he began work on Capital. The project spanned twenty years; the first volume appeared in 1867, while two further volumes were left unfinished.

During this period, Marx wrote articles for the New York Tribune and pursued research in history, economics and politics. Though in contact with revolutionaries across Europe, he was in many respects isolated, working largely alone.

The International Working Men's Association was founded in 1864 — the "First International" — with the aim of uniting the various strands of the European workers' movement. Marx had the distinction of writing its inaugural address, and later a text adopted by the International in the wake of the crushing of the Paris Commune: The Civil War in France. This publication brought him considerable renown within the workers' movement.

Conflicts between Marx and Bakunin, however, steadily undermined the First International; Bakunin's supporters were expelled, which weakened the Association itself, and it gradually ceased its activities before being dissolved.

Marx continued working on the remaining two volumes of Capital. Left unfinished at his death, they were edited and completed by Engels.

His ideas began to spread in progressive intellectual circles, and his reputation grew. Some began to call themselves Marxists — though he remained wary of such disciples, whom he often found caught up in a naive revolutionary messianism. If this is Marxism, what is certain is that I am not a Marxist, he would say.

In reality, Marx's name only became truly famous after his death, with the rise of the workers' movement. His thought — often reduced to superficial slogans — then spread far and wide.

In his final years, Marx was afflicted by a series of physical ailments. Following the death of his wife and a trip to Algiers undertaken for health reasons, he died in London in 1883.

Main Works

The Holy Family
The German Ideology
Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Theses on Feuerbach
Capital