Biography of Karl Marx
Karl Marx's birth took place at the city of Treves in Germany on May 5, 1818. His father, a Jew, followed Protestantism. He was lawyer by profession. He belong to a middle class cultured family. He completed his graduation from gymnasium in Treves, Marx entered the University of Bonn. After that he joined the University of Berlin. He mainly studied there Philosophy, history and jurisprudence or the theory of law. After completion his course in 1841 he submitted the dissertation of his doctoral degree based on Epicurus. In Berlin Marx came in contact with Hegelian philosophy and he joined a radical group called the Young Hegelians (Mclellan,2016).
His Education
In 1842 a radical paper "Rheinische Zeitung" ( Mclellan,2016) was started in Cologne. Marx was invited to be one of the main writer . In the year 1842 he became its main editor and shifted from Bonn to Cologne. Under the editorship of Marx this paper became more popular. In order to control the revolutionary articles in the paper the government sent to censorship. Though Marx resigned from the editorship in 1843 but even after that , the paper was not saved and was closed in 1843. Marx then married Jenny Von Westphalen who was a childhood friend to whom he was engaged since student life. In the year 1843 Marx shifted to Paris in order to publish a revolutionary magazine abroad.
Economic Works
In Paris he met Friedirch Engels and their friendship was a lifelong one. The collaboration in their work was so close that it is difficult to distinguish their separate contributions. Marx was impressed by the work of Engels's Outlines of a critique of Political economy which was published in 1844. His work turned Marx attention to economic studies. His early economic works were "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts"(1844), "Poverty of Philosophy" (1847) ( Mclellan,2016), "The Communist Manifesto"(1848) with Engels ; "The Grundrisse" and "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" (1859). During the year 1845 on the persistent demand of the government of Prussia he was deported from Paris as a threatening revolutionist. He then moved to Brussels. In 1847 Marx and Engels joined a secret society called the Communist League( Mclellan,2016). They were in a leading role in the second Congress of the League held in London in November 1847. During the revolution of 1848 Marx was deported from Belgium. He then moved to Paris from there he again moved to Germany (Mclellan,2016). He was deported from Germany in 1849. He again moved to Paris where he was banished in June 1849 and then moved to London and this was the place where he spent rest of his life till death in 1883. For ten years Marx withdrew from political activities. During this period he devoted himself to the study of the rich treasures offered by the British Museum in the sphere of political economy. During this period he also wrote articles regularly for "New York Daily Tribune". The first book on the study of economics for many years that papered in 1859 was "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy". This work contains the first coherent exposition of the Marxian theory of value. The first volume of capital was published in 1869. The second and third volumes edited by Engels but after Marx's death from manuscripts. Volume II appeared in 1885 and Volume III in 1894. The theory of surplus value written in 1861-63 was the fourth volume of Capital was edited by Karl Kautsky and was published in three parts between 1905 and 1910.
He returned to political activity in 1864 when International Working Men's Association the famous international was founded in London. He was the leader of the organization . He drafted almost all the documents issued by the General Council of this association. "Wages, Price and Profit" a lecture given by Marx to the International Working Men's association and first published in 1898 provides an introduction to Marxian economics(Kreis, 2008). . His health deteriorated during this period and he was unable to finish "Capital" though he collected the raw materials for the book. On March 14, 1883 Marx passed away peacefully (BBC - History - Historic Figures: Karl Marx (1818 - 1883),2014).
References
BBC - History - Historic Figures: Karl Marx (1818 - 1883). (2014). Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/marx_karl.shtml.
Mclellan, D. (2016). Britinica.com. Retrieved from http://www.britinica.com/biography/Karl-Marx
Kreis, S. (2008). Karl Marx, 1818-1883- The History Guide. Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.HTML
