Karl Marx
Karl Marx | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Karl Marx. | |
| Born |
Karl Heinrich Marx 5 May 1818 Trier, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation |
| Died |
14 March 1883 London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality |
Prussian Stateless (after 1845) |
| Known for | Founder of Marxism |
| Field of study | Philosophy, science, political economy, history |
Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, journalist and communist revolutionary who, with the assistance of his friend Friedrich Engels, enumerated upon the societal trends and laws, refined a materialist conception of history, and developed the framework known as Marxism. He is considered the founder and first classic of Marxism.
Biography
Early life
Karl Heinreich Marx was born in Trier, Rhenish Prussia (present-day Germany), on May 5, 1818, the son of Heinrich Marx, a lawyer, and Henriette Presburg Marx, a semi-illiterate Dutchwoman, as one of 8 children (Henriette Marx, Eduard Marx, Mauritz David Marx, Hermann Marx, Emilie Conradi, Caroline Marx, and Louise Juta). He became the oldest son when his brother Mauritz died in 1819.
Both Heinrich and Henriette were descendants of a long line of rabbis. The Prussian authorities barred him from the practice of law because he was Jewish following an anti-Semitic law passed in 1815. Heinrich Marx converted to Lutheranism in about 1817. Yet he was largely irreligious and also a passionate liberal activist, being an admirer of the works of Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. However, he was still fiercely patriotic and monarchistic, and educated his family as liberal Lutherans rather than atheists. Karl was baptized in the same church in 1824 at the age of six.