MARX, KARL

born May 5, 1818, Trier, Rhine province, Prussia died March 14, 1883, London in full Karl Heinrich Marx revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist. He published (with Friedrich Engels) Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848), commonly known as The Communist Manifesto, the most celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement. He also was the author of the movement's most important book, Das Kapital. These writings and others by Marx and Engels form the basis of the body of thought and belief known as Marxism. See the articles socialism and Communism for full treatment of those ideologies. born May 5, 1818, Trier, Rhine Province, Prussia died March 14, 1883, London, Eng. in full Karl Heinrich Marx political theorist, sociologist, and economist, from whom the movement known as Marxism derives its name and many of its ideas. He published (with Friedrich Engels) The Communist Manifesto (1848) and wrote the classic Das Kapital (1867, 1885, 1894). During his student days at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, Marx studied history and philosophy and was strongly influenced by the works of G.W.F. Hegel. In 1841 he received a doctor's degree from the University of Jena. His liberal political views led him to consider journalism as a career and in 1842 he became an editor of the Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne; one of his colleagues in the editorial office, Moses Hess, contributed much to the growth of socialist ideas harboured by Marx. Hess was a philosophical idealist, with great concern for the dignity and freedom of the individual. The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, which Marx wrote in 1844, show an aversion to everything that impairs man's liberty, a tendency that did not survive with the same strength in his later writings. In 1843 Marx married Jenny von Westphalen, a close friend of his boyhood and the daughter of a high government official. This marriage survived the vicissitudes of all the subsequent years. Shortly after his marriage, Marx's newspaper was suppressed and he emigrated to Paris with his wife. There he became acquainted with French socialist writers and established his lifelong friendship with Engels. In 1847, at a new place of exile in Brussels, Marx wrote Misre de la philosophie (1847; The Poverty of Philosophy), in which he developed the fundamental propositions of his economic interpretation of history. Against the utopian socialists' quest for the most morally desirable social order he put his own search for a system that would inevitably and by necessity result from the operation of historical forces. Another even more important document originated from Marx's (and Engels') pen during the stay in BrusselsManifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848), commonly known as The Communist Manifesto, which contains a summary of his whole social philosophy. It was written to serve as the platform of the Communist League. The Communist Manifesto appeared at a moment most favourable to its effectiveness: on the eve of the February (1848) revolution in France during which socialism showed its power. The revolutionary atmosphere in Germany in 1848 enabled Marx to return to Cologne and revive his newspaper, now under the title of Neue Rheinische Zeitung, but in 1849 he was expelled. He then settled in London, where he spent most of the remainder of his life, studying in the British Museum. His most important theoretical work was Das Kapital (1867), an analysis of the economics of capitalism. He also became the leading spirit of the International Working Men's Association, subsequently known as the First International. Most of Marx's life was spent in poverty that was only partially alleviated by the benefactions of friends and relatives. After his death his unpublished writings were edited by Engels. His works were the intellectual basis of much of late 19th-century European socialism and 20th-century communism. Additional reading The most comprehensive biography of Marx is David McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought (1973, reissued 1987). The classic biography of Marx, somewhat too partisan in his favour, is Franz Mehring, Karl Marx: The Story of His Life (1935, reissued 1981; originally published in German, 1918). Marx's personal life is discussed in Saul K. Padover, Karl Marx, an Intimate Biography (1978). Jerrold Seigel, Marx's Fate: The Shape of a Life (1978), is a psychological biography. Yvonne Kapp, Eleanor Marx, 2 vol. (197276), contains informative material on Marx's family life. Two good short biographies are Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, 4th ed. (1978, reprinted with corrections, 1982); and Werner Blumenberg, Portrait of Marx: An Illustrated Biography (1972; originally published in German, 1962).For introductory analysis and commentaries of Marx's works, see David McLellan, The Thought of Karl Marx, 2nd ed. (1980); Bruce Mazlish, The Meaning of Karl Marx (1984); W.A. Suchting, Marx, an Introduction (1983), and Marx and Philosophy: Three Studies (1986); and Richard Schmitt, Introduction to Marx and Engels: A Critical Reconstruction (1987). Terrell Carver, A Marx Dictionary (1987), provides brief definitions of Marxian concepts without interpretative deviations from the original. For more detailed studies, see Roman Rosdolsky, The Making of Marx's Capital' (1977, reissued 1980; originally published in German, 1968); Derek Sayer, Marx's Method: Ideology, Science and Critique in Capital, 2nd ed. (1983); Robert Paul Wolff, Understanding Marx: A Reconstruction and Critique of Capital (1984); Hal Draper, Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, 3 vol. (197786); D. Ross Gandy, Marx and History: From Primitive Society to the Communist Future (1979); Murray Wolfson, Marx: Economist, Philosopher, Jew: Steps in the Development of a Doctrine (1982); Daniel Little, The Scientific Marx (1986); Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics (1985); and John Cunningham Wood (ed.), Karl Marx's Economics: Critical Assessments, 4 vol. (1987). A particularly acute summary of the difficulties in Marx's work is Jon Elster, Making Sense of Marx (1985). Many monographs explore Marx's political and ideological development: Carol C. Gould, Marx's Social Ontology: Individuality and Community in Marx's Theory of Social Reality (1978, reprinted 1980), a study based on Marx's Grundrisse; Richard E. Olsen, Karl Marx (1978); S.S. Prawer, Karl Marx and World Literature (1976); Paul Thomas, Karl Marx and the Anarchists (1980); and Allen W. Wood, Karl Marx (1981). David T. McLellan Major Works: Misre de la philosophie (1847; The Poverty of Philosophy, 1900); Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848; Manifesto of the Communists, 1883); Die Klassenkmpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850 (1850; The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850, 1924); Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon (1852; The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1898); Zur Kritik der politischen konomie (1859; A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1904); and Das Kapital (vol. 1, 1867; vol. 23 published by Engels in 1885 and 1894; Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, vol. 1 trans. by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, 1886; vol. 23 trans. by Ernest Untermann, 1907 and 1909).Recommended later translations of these works include Manifesto of the Communist Party, trans. by Samuel Moore (1888, reprinted 1952); The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, with an introduction and explanatory notes by D. Ryazanoff, trans. by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul (1930); and The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, trans. by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul (1926). Selections from Marx's writings are available in the following: David McLellan (ed.), Selected Writings (1977); Robert C. Tucker (ed.), The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed. (1978); and Jon Elster (ed.), Karl Marx: A Reader (1986).A major English-language edition, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels: Collected Works, trans. by Richard Dixon et al. (1975 ), is in progress. Planned to consist of 50 volumes and to include the correspondence, it is being prepared by an international editorial committee. Forty-one volumes had been published by 1992.