Who was Karl Marx?

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian and journalist who is best known for his work as a radical political theorist and socialist revolutionary. In collaboration with fellow theorist and benefactor Friedrich Engels, Marx published "The Communist Manifesto" in 1848, which became the basis for communism(opens in new tab). His writings remain widely studied but also controversial, and they have influenced revolutionary movements and political regimes across the decades, particularly during the 20th century.

The third of nine children, Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in what is now Trier, Germany but at that time was a city in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Though ethnically Jewish,

Marx's father Heinrich had converted to Christianity, and the young Karl was baptized as a Lutheran in 1824. However, his upbringing was largely non-religious. In 1843 Marx married Jenny von Westphalen, and while their marriage was happy, there were rumors of infidelity. According to Gavin Kitching, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales, Marx had an affair with the family servant, Helena Demuth, which produced a child named Freddy. "Terrified that his wife would find out,

he managed to get Friedrich Engels to claim Freddy's paternity... The truth only emerged on Engel's deathbed," Kitching told Live Science in an email.

In 1843, the Marx and Jenny moved to Paris, where he became influenced by a group of German intellectuals called the Young Hegelians

who studied the work of the philosopher Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). Through reading Hegel, Marx adopted socialist ideas as well as a revolutionary view of the European political system. Although he was a humanist, meaning he centered his beliefs on all human interests equally,

he came to believe that society could only function by the destruction of the privileged upper class, and the rise of the working class — Marx referred to these classes as the proletariat and bourgeoisie, respectively. While in Paris Marx co-edited the short-lived political journal Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (meaning "German-French Yearbooks") with Arnold Ruge, a fellow member of the Young Helegians. The journal was aimed at French and German socialists, to "mark the commencement and continuance of the new era that we are entering," (according to Deutsche-Französische Jahrbücher(opens in new tab)) referring to Marx's predicted socialist revolutions in Europe. Many of Marx's articles in the journal discussed ideas that would later be expanded upon in "The Communist Manifesto."

Similar to Hegel, Marx was strongly influenced by economists such as David Ricardo (1772-1823)

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

said Allen Wood, professor of philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington. "As a historian of the 19th century,

he was also influenced by French historians of the 1789 revolution,[François] Guizot," (1787-1874) Wood told Live Science in an email.

Another influence on Marx was his friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels. "Engels was a fine historian (in my view, better than Marx), and because he lived in Manchester and actually ran a cotton factory, he knew far more about labour conditions and working-class life generally, than Marx himself," Kitching said. "I therefore think he influenced Marx… at least as much as Hegel and Ricardo."

Marx and Engels first met in Cologne in 1842, (Note Here this city look nothing like you see it today) ( World War II: The Blitz on Cologne)

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while the latter was traveling to England, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Marx visited England three years later. after reading Engels' report, "The Condition of the Working-Class in England.

"There, he met leaders of the Chartists, a socialist, working-class movement that campaigned for universal male suffrage

Marx spent much of his time studying in the libraries of London and Manchester, and he eventually moved to the British capital in 1849.

He remained in London for the rest of his life with his family, financially supported by Engels who sent him "up to £50 a year — equivalent to around $7,500 now," Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Between 1852 and 1862, Marx wrote almost 500 articles for the New York Daily Tribune newspaper as one of its European correspondents.

These included reports on political events in Europe, as well as pieces on civil rights, economics and the Crimean War. During this time,

an important resource for his work was the British Museum's Reading Room, which was the precursor to the British Library. The Reading Room housed an enormous collection of books on history, politics and economics, newspapers from around the world, and government documents and official reports, according to historian Thomas C. Jones, writing for the Migration Museum in London. This vast archive provided information for Marx's newspaper articles and for his book "Das Kapital."

The Reading Room's collection was so important to Marx's work, that "it is difficult to imagine Marx's thinking or oeuvre developing in any city other than London," Jones wrote. Read More At https://www.livescience.com/who-was-karl-marx.html