Mudabicara.com– Hello, Mudabicara, this time we will discuss about Karl Marx. Who is this real father of socialism? This one figure is famous for his revolutionary thoughts, especially regarding his socialism and communism.
No wonder he is known as the Father of Socialism and the Founding Father of Communism, along with his friend Friedrich Engels. Karl Marx is a teacher of communism whose teachings are still useful as a system of government in several countries in the world.
This can happen, because Marx’s ideas began to show a great influence in the development of the world of work after he died. This influence continued to grow after the victory of the Marxist Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution.
Read Also : Autocratic Political System, Definition, Factors and Characteristics
However, did you know that the figure of Karl Marx is very unique because of his thoughts. Even so, in the history of his life, he is famous as a philosopher, sociologist, political economist and social theorist. For more, see our review below:
Karl Marx’s Childhood
Born on May 5, 1818 in the City of Trier, southeastern Germany which was then still part of the Lower Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia. Marx was born into a Jewish family with a middle-class economic condition.
He is the third of nine children of Heinrich Marx and Henrietta Marx. Despite coming from a family of Jewish descent, his father in 1816 decided to baptize him into a Christian at the age of 36.
Heinrich was a fairly successful lawyer in Prussia. Marx’s father was also a reform activist of his time. His father’s decision to convert to Christianity was because in 1815, there was a law prohibiting Jews from occupying crucial positions in society.
Even so, his father was a Lutheran, not a Catholic which was the main faith in Trier. The reason is that Marx’s father was someone with beliefs that equated Protestantism with intellectual freedom.
Karl Marx himself was baptized when he was 6 years old, along with his brothers. While his mother was only baptized after his father died.
Read Also : 10 Benefits of Studying Psychology for Young People
Although Trier was famous as one of the Catholic cities in Germany at that time. However, the influence of liberal ideas is easier to enter because of its location on the border with France.
Until the age of 12, Karl Marx studied at home. However, eventually he continued his education at the Jesuit school, Trier which was then known as the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium.
Marx attended school for 5 years, from 1830 to 1835. During school, Marx himself was just an ordinary student, like most students in general.
One thing that was unexpected from his new school. It turned out that the principal at the time was a friend of his father’s who was a liberal.
The principal of the school is a Kantian who is favored by the Rhinelanders, but is suspected by the authorities. Because of the suspicions that exist. Eventually the school came under scrutiny and was forced to close in 1832.
The Youth of Karl Marx
Marx continued his studies at the University of Bonn, Germany. He is an active student in academic life on campus but is also known as a rebel.
During the first two semesters, Marx spent his days getting drunk and fighting. His father forced Marx to transfer to another, more serious school. He transferred to the University of Berlin to study philosophy and law.
It was here that Marx learned about philosophy from GWF Hegel, a professor in Berlin. Although initially not so enamored with Hegel’s theory, he was still heavily involved with Hegelian youth groups.
Marx’s friends were Bruno Bauer and Ludwig Feuerbach. They usually criticize the problems of political and religious progress at that time.
In 1836, when Marx became more and more eager to get involved politically. Marx is secretly engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, a woman from a respectable Trier family who is four years his senior.
Read Also : 10 Benefits of Studying International Relations for Young People
Seeing his son’s behavior, his father rebuked him for not taking the responsibilities of marriage seriously enough, especially since his future wife came from an upper-class family. His father also asked Marx to stop his marriage to Jenny.
5 years later, Marx finally received his doctorate from the University of Jena in 1841. Unfortunately, due to radical politics, he did not get a teaching position.
He also turned to look for a new job. In 1842, he began working as a journalist, and within 10 months he became editor-in-chief of a liberal newspaper in Cologne, the Rheinische Zeitung.
Not long after, one year later, Marx resigned on March 18, 1843. After his resignation, as a coincidence, the local government ordered the closure of all newspapers starting April 1, 1843.
Three months later, exactly 7 years after Karl Marx was secretly engaged to Jenny von Westphalen. In June 1843, Marx married her and in October, they moved to Paris.
Marx’s life in Paris
In Paris, Marx met Arnold Ruge who was also active in politics. They even established a political journal entitled Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher . Unfortunately, both have different philosophies from each other. Even so, the journal actually brought Marx with Friedrich Engels in August 1844 in a famous Parisian cafe at that time. Bringing them together as collaborators and lifelong friends.
Friedrich Engels was the son of a textile factory owner who became a socialist and criticized the living conditions faced by working class people. Much of Marx’s pity, the misery of the working class stems from his exposure to Engels as well as his own ideas.
Read Also : Getting to know Auguste Comte’s Three-Stage Law Theory
The two began to write critiques of the philosopher Bruno Bauer, a Young Hegelian and a former friend of Marx’s while studying in Berlin. The first collaboration between Marx and Engels was published in 1845 as The Holy Family.
That same year, he was caught writing for the radical newspaper Vorwärts. Marx was expelled from France and moved to Belgium. Vorwärts itself had strong ties to the organization that became the Communist League.
Marx’s life in Brussels
Change country, change philosophy. Karl Marx again met another figure who introduced him to socialism experts, until he completely broke away from Young Hegelian philosophy. That figure was Moses Hess.
While in Brussels, Marx wrote The German Ideology and first developed his theory of historical materialism. However, he could not find a publisher willing to publish his work. Until his death, the German Ideology manuscript was never published.
Then early in 1846, Marx founded the Communist Correspondence Committee in an attempt to connect socialists from all over Europe. Inspired by his ideas, especially from his writings in the radical newspaper Vorwärts. The socialists in England also held conferences and formed the Communist League.
Read Also : Get to know Ibn Khaldun’s Theory of Social Change
A year later, the Communist League finally convened a centralized meeting in London in 1847. The organization asked Marx and Engels to write the Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (Manifesto of the Communist Party) which was published in 1848.
Again, in 1849 Marx was expelled from Belgium. Anticipating a socialist revolution, he returned to France, but he was also subject to deportation. His hometown, Prussia, also refused to naturalize Karl Marx. He eventually moved to London. Although England denied him citizenship, Marx remained in London until his death.
Marx’s life in London
Although not a good new start. In London, Marx helped found the German Workers’ Educational Society and the new headquarters of the Communist League.
He continued to work as a journalist, including a 10-year stint as a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune from 1852 to 1862. However, he never earned a decent wage and was largely supported by Engels. Marx became increasingly focused on capitalism and economic theory, until in 1867, he published the first volume of Das Kapital.
He spent the rest of his life writing and revising manuscripts for additional volumes of Das Kapital, which were not completed. The remaining two volumes were collected and published posthumously by Engels.
Read Also : 7 Principles How to Treat People Right
The Works of Karl Marx during his Life
During his lifetime, even though Karl Marx from year to year experienced deportation from various countries. He still regularly writes down his thoughts and publishes them through journals, the newspaper where he works, to publishing a book.
Not infrequently Karl Marx also worked with his friend, Friedrich Engels. The following are some of the important works of Karl Marx himself and the work with Engels.
- Thesis on Feuerbach (Marx, 1845)
- The Poverty of Philosophy (Marx, 1847)
- Wage Labor and Capital (Marx, 1847)
- Principles of Communism (Engels, 1847)
- Manifesto of the Communist Party (Marx and Engels, 1848)
- Wages Price and Profit (Marx, 1865)
- The Housing Problem (Engels, 1872)
- Capital I, Capital II, Capital III (Marx, 1867 – 1894)
Marx and His Factory School Ideas
After the problems that occurred as a result of his Communist Party Manifesto. In spending time in London. Karl Marx was also very active in establishing a better curriculum for the children of the workers there.
At that time, children aged 9-12 years were obliged to work in factories. Therefore, Marx put his ideas into creating a part-time system for the children of workers in his book entitled Kapital. Marx hoped that the children would be able to work, but still be able to continue their studies.
But unfortunately, the capitalists and governments at that time were not indifferent to this part-time idea of Marx. They said it would cost more just to hire 2 shifts of child laborers. As a result, many children of workers are fired if they are caught working while attending school.
Read Also : Definition of Government System, Types and Examples
The curriculum proposed by Marx at that time was actually not much different from conventional schools. Starting with mental education, physical education (a combination of gymnastics and military training), and there is also a polytechnic education that teaches general principles of all production processes.
In essence, Marx wants to emphasize the education of children and youth workers, so that they can develop into individuals who are able to make social changes around them. Marx was more in favor of a combination of education and work rather than an education system that required children to study all day long.
According to Marx, with this part-time work and school system, children and youth workers can practice directly. They also know what has been the cause of the production system errors so far. It can also make them individuals who want to make changes for the sake of their people.
Death of Karl Marx
Not many people know that in fact, Marx spent his life with many health problems. The problem is related to insomnia, rheumatism, headaches, toothache, and even heart disease.
Marx also died of pleurisy on March 14, 1883. He was buried in London and marked only with a simple stone. Then in 1954, the British Communist Party erected a large monument decorated with a statue of Marx.
Read Also : 10 Benefits of Studying Philosophy for Young Children
Until now, there is a large headstone that you can see if you visit England. The tombstone contains a complementary sentence from the Communist Manifesto, namely “ The Workers of the World Unite ”, as well as a quote from the Thesis on Feuerbach.
Now, let’s talk, that’s a brief history of the biography of Karl Marx and his works. It turns out that Karl Marx’s life at that time was also the same as other scientists, yes. Even though Karl Marx was just an ordinary man, it was his thoughts that made him extraordinary, like a scientist.