Karl Marx : biography

Owing to theoretical analysis of historical experience of class struggle I became obvious for Marx and Engels that only revolutionary party of workers could be a center, that would lead workers’ class for a struggle with the old world. In the first days of 1846 Karl Marx organized a correspondent communistic committee in Brussels, which supported relationships with such organizations in France, Great Britain and Germany.

The first congress of the new Union of communists took place in London in summer of 1847. this famous congress was the base of all history of revolutionary movement of workers. The second London congress charged Marx and Engels with writing a program of communistic movement, and “The manifesto of Communistic party” appeared in February of 1848. Soon the first historic inspection of Marxism took place – it was the French revolution (1848 – 1849). Overthrow of the last French king Louis Philipp aroused rejoicing of Brussels communists. The Brussels authorities became frightened of disorders among people, who crowded streets, and ordered to bring up armies closer to the city. Some time before Karl Marx got an inheritance, and immediately remitted several thousand francs to workers’ armory. Such revolutionary activity aroused Belgian police’s dissatisfaction, and Karl Marx was deported from the country to France. But all Marx’ thoughts were about his motherland.

In March struggles on barricades started in Berlin, and when reactionaries’ positions became weaker, German emigrants managed to return to the motherland from Paris. At the beginning of April of 1848 Marx went to Cologne and began to publish “The New Rhine newspaper”. The program of the newspapers and the course to combine Prussian and Austrian countries in one republican Germany. Marx was soon called “the soul of editorial staff”. He not only defined the newspaper’s strategy, but also distributed tasks among workers and edited texts, made a wide correspondence and was charged in finances. When the edition had financial problems, Karl Marx without any doubt donated a significant sum of money, which was left after his father’s inheritance. He was the head of the Cologne “Democratic society” and the member of the Rhine district committee of democrats. In June Marx went to France again, but he had to cross the English Channel and settle in Great Britain because of the government’s chase.

Many theoretical developments of Karl Marx were made in London, but the most important thing was a start of the main work of his life – “Das Kapital”. He studied political economy of capitalism in detail, perfectly understanding that it could only give him possibility to understand laws of capitalism and discover the structure of civil society in details. But such active work, about which he wrote to Engels in a letter in 1857, undermined his health, and a month later he wrote to his friend that he had abused work at night. But at the beginning of 1859 Karl Marx finished his work on the manuscript “Critics of political economy”. Though the author didn’t have money to send it to the publisher. Franz Mering, Marx’ biographer, wrote about this situation that the classic of money circulation’s theory didn’t have his own money. It should be said, that finances were always Marx’ Achilles heel. Without Engels’ and Jenny’s relatives help, the family would live in want. Constant visits of creditors made Marx to teach his children that they should answer everybody that “Marx had just gone”.

Friedrich Engels helped Marx to send the manuscript “Critics of political economy” to the publisher, and soon the book was published. But Marx thought that he was only at the beginning of this topic which demanded full investigation. The continuation of the manuscript about economics was “Das Kapital”. Opposing Hegel’s philosophy to Feuerbach’s ideas, Marx rejected Hegel’s conception of absolute spirit and made human’s mind the main. He was the first who started to study social relationships, connected with production, trade, job and money, as forces, which defined development of humanity history. Marx made a conclusion that practically all sides of life were defined by financial factors.