Interesting and Controversial Theorists

Karl Marx

One of the most interesting and controversial theorists I have come across is Karl Marx. He was a political thinker from Germany, who wrote about economics and politics and he thought that there would always be a class struggle if a place working together ran on labor wage. Marx felt that workers would take power if there was a class struggle, and it prompted him to write his famous book Communist Manifesto' with Friedrich Engles in 1848. The book became one of the most celebrated pamphlets in the history of socially (Fuer 1), and it speaks of Marxism (Marx's ideas) and the ideas of communism.

Karl Marx was the oldest of nine children. His mother was from Holland and his father was a prominent lawyer. They were both Jewish until about a year before Karl was born; his father became baptised as an Evangelist. Although Marx was not influenced to much by religion, his Jewish background led him to question society as a whole and the role religion played in it. This would later lead him to want to make social change.

Growing up Marx attended a high school that was closely monitored by the police as the teachers and the students were thought to be too liberal. He was a Christian during this time and wrote a lot about sacrificing of one's self for the sake of humanity. He graduated when he was 17 years old, and began attending Bonn University in Germany, in 1835. After wasting a year partying and piling up debt, he was taken out of Bonn University by his father and put into the University of Berlin.

This University focused on challenging topics like Religion and Philosophy and Marx ended up joining a radical group called Young Hegelians,' led by a German philosopher by the name of D.W Hegel. Marx became fascinated with Hegel and his views on society and civilization. The group that Marx befriended had very radical views on politics on religion. Among the group was Bruno Bauer, a colleague who believed that Christianity was just a way to alienate us, and did not care for liberalism. (Sperber, 23). During this time, Marx also got engaged to a woman by the name of Jenny Von Westphalen who happened to be four years older than he was, while his father became increasingly concerned about his son's views, calling them his demons.'

He was also worried about Marx's decision to marry a woman that was of a higher class, and he wanted him to think things through a little more. Marx however, continued to pursue his passions in politics (radical). His views would prevent him from getting a job as a teacher, so after graduating University, he began to support himself by writing articles and editing for the Rheinische Zeitung, a liberal newspaper. However, the government of Berlin would not publish his article as they did not agree with his philosophies, and the newspaper was shut down about a year later. Marx went on to marry Jenny, and they moved to Paris.

Paris was the place to be in 1843 when it came to politics! After moving there, Marx met a gentleman by the name of Arnold Ruge, and together they founded the Deutsch Franz Jahrbücher. This was a journal based on their political views, but it was eventually shut down after Ruge and Marx began to have different views philosophically. Only one of their articles was published, but it allowed for the meeting of Marx and Friedrich Engels, one of it's contributors. Engels and Marx became friends and began to write articles together. Their first work was called The Holy Family and it criticised Bruno Bauer, Marx's old friend and colleague from university.

The article was published in 1845, but Marx was kicked out of France, again because of his views and political ideas. He moved to Brussels where he was then introduced to the idea of socialism, and he began to move away from his previous views founded by Hegel. Whereas Hegel saw dialectical process (thesis/antithesis/synthesis) as one of ideas, for Marx it was one of class struggle. (Barry, 2013) He wrote The German Ideology (which was basically the opposition of German idealists and materialists), and he founded a communist committee. The goal of his committee was to bring socialists together, and those inspired by this idea decided to form the Communist League.

Marx and Engles then wrote the Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei, also known as The Communist Manifesto' after being asked to do so by the league (this article would become Marx's most well-known piece of work). Once again, Marx was asked to leave the country, and after getting expelled from France and getting denied citizenship by Prussia, he went back to London.

After arriving in London Marx continued to pursue his writing and he eventually began working for the New York Daily Tribune from 1852-1862. However, although he worked for the tribune and wrote several other articles, his work was not getting published. Engels was supporting him financially, as he (Marx) was not earning an income. Marx began to focus completely on the economy and on Capitalism, and by 1867, the very first volume of Das Kapital was published.

This volume spoke of the process of capitalism, and spoke of value of labor. The following volumes were not published until after his death, along with several other pamphlets and articles written by Marx.
Karl Marx became the founder of the First International', an organization that united working class socialists and communists, but in 1862 he decided to close down the organization to prevent Mikhail Bakunin (an anarchist) from taking it over. After the death of his wife Karl Marx's health seemed to be on the decline as well. It is said that he never recovered from her death, and after falling ill, he died in 1883, just a little while (two months) before turning 65 years old.

Karl Marx was a huge contributor to modern day socialism. As a lot of well-known artists/ writers/ musicians, etc his true work and efforts were not really appreciated and respected until after his death. His first pieces of work focused on the Hegel ideas and thoughts, and then he later began to write pieces about political revolution. He wrote so many articles but only a few were every published. His ideas regarding politics and history, are what make him such an important socialist. He believed that our relationships and actions were the driving force behind every change in our history.

He felt that our environment shaped who we are and his work has help us to understand the relationship between capitalism and laborers. He felt that there could be an uprising from the poor against the rich if they were being pushed too much, or an uprising of the oppressed or overworked. I can contribute this to modern day feminism, as well as racism, including the #metoo movement and the fight against the wrong-doings that are going on now. Many people are starting to fight back against a strong population of society that does not do what is right, as well as those who strike against hard labour and unfair work deals.

Karl Marx's ideas and theories prove to be true in our modern day, and he also made very valid points, however I found it interesting that his life was not a little better because of his views. It seemed like he spent all his life focusing on his work and berating the higher class, while his family suffered.

According to the author Steve Byas, Marx lived in horrible conditions in a small 2 bedroom flat. He stated It is hard to imagine that this was the home of a man who ostensibly on his own invented communism, a revolutionary belief that has led to totalitarian regimes and continues to inspire political turmoil in our own country. His wife had 7 children, but he was unable to care for his children when they were young due to the fact that he was so poor, resulting in their deaths. Out of all his children, only 3 survived with two of his daughters committing suicide. It is interesting to me that a man with such passion and strong opinions on the working class would have lived his life in such a way.

Work Citied

EFSC Database. Barry, Thomas F. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2013. 3p. Research Starters
EFSC Database: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Marx, Karl
Mclellan, David. Karl Marx: a Biography. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
Wood, Allen W. Karl Marx. Routledge, 2012

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