Karl Marx Essay

Karl Heinrich Marx, who is often called the father of communism, was a philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. Karl Marx addressed a wide range of issues and is most famous for his analysis of history.

Karl Heinrich Marx was born one of seven children in a Jewish family on May 5th, 1818. His family had resided in Trier, Prussia (That is now Germany). His father Heinrich Marx was a lawyer, who would later be a key factor in Karl’s education, had descended from a long line of rabbis, but had to convert to Christianity because the Prussian authorities would not allow Heinrich to continue practicing law as a Jew. That is when he joined the official denomination of the Prussian state which allowed him to stay and raise his family in Trier. His mother was born in Holland and did not like the culture well enough to learn the language well, which had effected the communication in the household.

Karl Marx has been thought to have been educated hat home until the age of thirteen. Then from 1830-1835 Marx attended and graduated a secondary school called Trier Gymnasium where he applied the train of thought that he has picked up from his father. Surprisingly, Marx’s weakest subject in secondary school was history.

In 1835, after graduating secondary school, Karl Marx enrolled in the University of Bonn where he was to study law. There, he joined a group called the Trier Drinking Club society which resulted in large debts that had to be paid off by his father and lower grades. Because of the lower grades, Karl Marx’s father had him transferred to a more serious and academically orientated university in Berlin. During this period of time Karl Marx wrote many poems and essays concerning life, once again using the theory that he had acquired from his father.

In 1841, Karl Marx earned a doctorate for an essay that he had written. Marx had a bad reception in Berlin so he decided to hand in all of his further work to Jena University. That same year he graduated Jena University and earned a degree in Philosophy. This degree would help him to write his future creations of independent thought.

Karl Marx met Fredrich Engels, the man who would help him in his writings, in Paris. They both had similar ways of thinking so they decided to work together on making communism known. In January 1846, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels set up a Communist Correspondence Committee that was made to be a tool to co-ordinate the theory and practice of communism in the capitals of Europe. In June 1847, Karl Marx changed the name to the “Communist League”. The league was still a secret society and would stay that way until the member knew that it was safe to state their opinions.