Karl Marx

Most people think of communism as a bad thing. Karl Marx would disagree. He formed the basic ideas of communism in his writings. He argued that communism was the eventual government that formed out of many unsuccessful governments. Many modern communists either use his ideas or use parts of his ideas to form their own. Karl Marx is the true father of communism.

Marx was born in Trier, Prussia on May 5, 1818 (Beales). His family was Jewish, but his father converted the family to Protestantism when Marx was born. When he was seventeen, he went to the University of Bonn to earn his degree in law (Kreis). He left and attended the University of Berlin where he studied philosophy and earned his doctorate in 1841. His first job was writing articles for the radical paper, Rheinische Zeitung. In October of 1842 he became the manager of the paper and moved to Cologne. The government did not approve of the paper and put it under double and then triple censorship (a government official looked over the paper before it was printed). Finally they decided to forbid printing of the paper and Marx was forced to flee to Paris in 1843 (Engels).

In Paris, he was married to Jenny von Westphalen, and they arrived at Paris in the fall of 1843 (Engels). He became involved with organized German and French radical groups and edited a short lived paper. While in Paris, he became a communist and wrote his views and ideas in a series of writings called the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. While in Paris, he met and developed a friendship with Frederick Engels. He and Engels were kicked out of Paris for their radical ideas in 1844 and moved to Brussels (Kreis).

While in Brussels, he wrote The German Ideology. This was a result ...

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...hips people faced with communism in the past, the world would not know how to deal with communism in the future. If his theory is correct, then no matter what, each country will have to face communism or socialism. The countries that have already faced communism have been relatively old. The United States are new compared to other countries. If Marx is right, then that means that the U.S.A. will slowly progress toward a classless society.

Works Cited

Beales, Janet. "Karl Marx (1818-83)." The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. 2002. Liberty Fund. 27 Mar. 2007 .

Engels, Frederick. "Biography of Marx." Marxists Internet Archive. 1 Apr. 2007. 9 Apr. 2007 .

Kreis, Steven. "Karl Marx, 1818-1883." The History Guide. 28 Feb. 2006. 27 Mar. 2007 .

Schaff, Marta. "Communism." Communism (2005): 1-2. Middle Search Plus. EBSCO. Johnsburg High School. 27 Mar. 2007 .