The works of Marx, the famous German political thinker and economist, remain popular to this day, despite the fact that this man lived from 1818 to 1883. Together with F. Engels, he laid the foundations of Marxism.
Interesting facts from life
Karl Marx's work brought this person to the lively attention of people around the world. Some interesting details about the writer:
- He was born into the family of a lawyer, of Jewish origin.
- Baptism of the boy took place in the Church of the Evangelists. His father insisted on this, which for him meant giving up the faith of the family.
- The family originally had seven children, but four of them died before reaching adulthood. The other two, except for the philosopher, killed themselves, so that he was the sole heir.
- During his revolutionary activities, he was considered an "undesirable person" in Belgium, France and Germany.
- The last 34 years of his life were spent in London.
- Looking at his tombstone, one can see a call for the unification of the proletarians in all countries.
- Karl Marx, whose biography and books are still of interest to many people, is unique at least in thatin 2013 alone, on the territory of the Russian Federation, 1,343 thousand objects were named after him in various cities of the country.
- Although it was he who gave impetus to the development of communism, the writer himself never came to Russia.
- Capital became his main work.
- The life of K. Marx ended on May 14, 1883. He was buried at the Highgate cemetery.
Digging into the works of the philosopher, people show a desire to study his biography in more detail.
Biography of young years
He was born on 1818-05-05 in the German city of Trier. Parents, father G. Marx and mother G. Pressburg, were from rabbinic families. In 1824 they joined the Lutheran faith. The writer's father had a good education. His worldview was largely shaped by the philosophical ideas of Kant and the theories that arose during the Enlightenment.
In 1835, Karl entered the law faculty of the University of Bonn, and then transferred to Berlin. During his school years, the young man was fond of history and the decisions put forward by Fichte. He was impressed by the system formed by Hegel.
The philosopher sympathized with the ideas set forth by Feuerbach, A. Smith, D. Ricardo, Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen, Weitling, Desami and Cabet.
Training completed in 1841. In the spring of 1842, he received his doctorate after writing a dissertation comparing and criticizing the natural philosophy of Epicurus and Democritus.
Life path and political activities
In 1843, the marriage of Marx and Jenny von Westphalen, the daughter of their close friendfamily.
After that, he worked in the publication "Rheinskaya Gazeta" as an editor. In 1843 he moved to the territory of Paris, made acquaintance with the democrats and socialists. It was then that he met Engels. From 1845 he lived in Brussels. In 1847 he was a member of the secret "Union of the Just". Then the work of Marx, Engels "Manifesto of the Communist Party" was written. He acted as a member of the "Union of Communists" in the period from 1848 to 1849. Revolutionary actions turned into a defeat. Then the philosopher returned to Paris. In 1849, his last move took place - to London.
In the 50s, he began to develop his own theory of economics. The philosopher often stayed in the library complex of the British Museum, where he collected information for his works.
Companion
Friendship with Engels, which began in 1844, lasted for forty years. Marx occupied the leading position in this duet. It was he who considered history from a materialistic point of view, developed the theory of value added. However, his friend turned out to be an excellent expert in commerce.
As a friend, he supported his colleague creatively and morally. Most likely, if it were not for this union of like-minded people, the works that appeared at that time would not have gained such popularity. Together they went through the revolution and emigrated to England after its defeat.
Main Ideas
Companion Engels financially supported his companion, so Marx's works continued to be published. In 1864 he organized the First International. In 1876 there was an exit inthe light of the 1st volume of Capital. The sequel was already published by Engels.
During the last years of his life, the philosopher took an active part in organizing the joint work of the proletarians. 40s - a period when the biography of Karl Marx and work changed dramatically due to his transition from democratic and revolutionary ideas to communism. The theory of materialism in history was developed.
Marx's work contains an emphasis on added value. The writer studied the path of the formation of capitalism, made an assumption about the inevitable transition to the communist construction of the system of functioning of society and substantiated his point of view. The main factor stimulating this turn was the proletarian revolution. At the end of XIX and XX centuries. the main works of Marx had a huge impact on the course of development of society and people's thoughts.
Works
The most complete view of the philosopher's view of the economy can be judged by reading the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts", written in 1844. During the same period, he analyzed Hegel's view of the legal structure in the country. In 1845, The Holy Family was published, and a year later, The German Ideology, co-authored by Engels.
In 1847, the philosopher wrote The Poverty of Philosophy. He also studied the features of the French class struggle in the period 1848-1850, the civil war, and criticized the Goth program.
Most of the life and work of K. Marx was devoted to political economy. In this area, he managed to most fully develop and convey to readers hisideas.
In "Capital" there is a strict and clear structure. The philosopher reworked the main ideas of Hegel and presented them in a more complex and detailed form. It describes what capital is, how it is represented in scientific thought and everyday life. The reader receives information about how it is produced. Engels in the 2nd volume supplemented the work with data on how to enrich it, and in the 3rd volume he added a description of the forms of combining the circulation of finance with creation.
Result of labor activity
Marx's work encouraged people to make drastic changes. In September 1864, he organized the 1st International, the purpose of which was to unite workers in various states.
In his "Capital" he explained in an accessible language how capitalism developed and what factors contributed to this. "Critique of the Gotha Program" (1875) was aimed at analyzing the mistakes of the leadership of the German democrats and socialists. The philosopher revealed two phases of communism.
When the 1st International was dissolved in 1876, a new task appeared before the thinker - the creation of proletarian parties in the countries of the world. These ideas were adopted by V. Lenin. He developed them in later times.
Legacy
Over time after the death of Marx, many of his views were confirmed in practice. There were also those predictions that did not justify themselves. There were suggestions that turned out to be unfounded.
As the philosopher suggested, industrial production is entirelydepends on the progress of technology and science. There has been an increase in the activity of economic lands, capital has become transnational, almost all states are present on the international market. Although Marx believed that the revolution would take place in the leading countries of the world market, it took place in Russia, which at that time was semi-backward. During the conflicts and hostilities of the twentieth century, nuances that were underestimated in the works of the philosopher came to light, but in most of his ideas he was right.
