Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, journalist, and economist whose social, economic, and political theories would become known as Marxist socialism. Marx argued that the working class ("proletariat") would eventually overthrow the greedy capitalist ruling class and create a socialist society, with people sharing wealth and owning the means of production. Marx and fellow journalist Friedrich Engels outlined the theory of Marxism with The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848 for the Communist League, and they are often seen as the first socialists and communists.
Biography[]
Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 in Trier, Prussia, the son of a Protestant father of Jewish ancestry and a Jewish mother; his father had converted to Christianity and changed his first name from "Herschel" to "Heinrich" to avoid anti-Semitism. Marx studied in Berlin and Bonn and wrote for the radical newspaper Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne, becoming involved with the revolutionary movement in Germany. In 1843, he moved to Paris to write for another revolutionary newspaper, and he was forced to move again in 1845, this time to Belgium. While in Brussels, he wrote The Communist Manifesto with fellow revolutionary Friedrich Engels, outlining the views and demands of the Communist League of Germany. Marx's views included the abolition of capitalism and wage labor, the establishment of a workers' state, giving workers control of the means of production, using surplus value to increase workers' pay rather than keep it for profit, and putting an end to nationalism and racism. These goals could only be achieved through revolution, according to Marx; he immediately became a threat to every monarchy and conservative government in Europe. Marx would move to London in 1850, and he made London a home for himself and his family; there, he became involved in workers' movements and spread socialist messages to the laborers of the city. Marx was not finished writing his second major work, Das Kapital, when he died in 1883 from bronchitis.
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