Karl Marx - A basic history and outline

Essay by the_nut20A-, June 2003

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Question: Give a basic history of Karl Marx and his ideals.

This essay gives a brief ouline of Karl Marx's life and history, including his long life friendship with Frederick Engels. It lists some of his works, and contains quoting from the communist manefesto - Marx and Engels most inspiring work.

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Karl Marx is the most definitive socialist thinker to emerge from the 19th Century. His extremely contentious and controversial views were rejected in many countries throughout Europe by the various governments and political autocracies because of the manner in which he challenged their form of governance. His views were also regarded by other countries and regimes to be the basis of the perfect political system, and Marx being the founder would be embellished as a demi-god as a result. His various works on labour and revolution provide a strong basis to understanding the true elements and ideals of Marx himself.

Marx was born on the river Moselle in Germany on May 5, 1818. His education can only be described as first class, attending the University of Berlin where he joined the Hegelian movement and developed his first real conceptual ideals. His ideas were soon noticed publically, resulting in him moving to Cologne to work for a contentious newspaper named the "Rheinische Zeitung." The newspaper soon was producing the early conceptual Marxist ideals, resulting in high levels of censorship being placed on his articles. "The newspapers revolutionary-democratic trend became more and more pronounced under Marx's editorship" and on January 1st 1843 the Prussian government "decided to suppress it completely."

The closure of the paper resulted in Marx's emigration to France. It was here in September 1844 that he met Frederick Engels who became both a fellow theoretician and life-long friend. "They both took a most active part in...