The Greatest Individual

Karl Marx is the greatest ideological thinker of the 19^th century. He created an ideology that would lead to numerous revolutions, the creation of many countries, and great tensions, all of which would start from the time he  published his first work up through to the modern day. That creation of this ideology, Communism, is perhaps the main reason why he is the greatest individual in history, though he does have other factors that contribute to himself being the ”Greatest Individual in History” (his facial hair, for example, is another good reasonJ.)

Biography

Yet, the man himself was also an interesting character. He was born on May 5^th, 1818, to Hirschel and Henrietta Marx. His parents were both of the Jewish faith (a stark contrast to Marx’s statement that religion was the “opiate of the people”), yet his father, due to public discontent with the Jewish population in Trier, Germany (where Marx was born), “abandoned his Jewish faith”, and converted to Protestant Christianity (as did the rest of the Marx family.) By the time Marx was seventeen, he was already enrolled at Bonn University, where he hoped to make a career out of something relating to law. However, Marx was far from the hard-working, dedicated student (at first.) He goofed off, ran up debts, and got himself injured in a duel. However, after his father paid off his debts (what a nice dad) and sent him to Berlin University, Marx became a much more serious student. At Berlin University, his life would change forever, and the man known to the world as Karl Marx would be born.

At Berlin University, Marx met Bruno Bauer, a radical and atheist professor who helped Marx develop his own feelings regarding his view on the world. However, Hirschel Marx died in 1838 (which meant that his main source of income died as well), and Marx’s attempts to gain a lecturing position at Berlin University, in order to obtain a job (and pay his bills), failed mainly because the man whom he thought would help him gain a position there (Bauer) was fired, due to his radical beliefs.

Marx later found a semi-stable job as a journalist; however, his views and works, alongside the works of Moses Hess (a prominent socialist) and Bauer, drew the ire of the then Prussian government, which promptly banned the paper that Marx was part of (The Rhenish Gazette), and the potential of arrest drove Marx and his new wife, Jenny von Westphalen, to France.

When Marx arrived in Paris, France, in 1843, he quickly returned to what he previously had done in Prussia/Germany. He became a journalist as a part of another newspaper/ journal, The Franco German Annals, and declared himself a communist.  He also tried to unite French socialists and German radicals with his book Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, though it seemed to fail in its attempt. Marx also became friends with Friedrich Engels, a certain someone who would help Marx spread his communist belief. Finally, in Paris, Marx outlined the most important concept of the birth of communism, the idea of the overthrow of bourgeoisie by the proletariat (i.e., the idea that history is made up of class struggles.) Marx’s status again got him into trouble. In 1845, two years after he arrived in Paris, Marx was exiled from the city, and fled to Brussels, Belgium.

After writing several other works, such as The Poverty of Philosophy, Marx published the Communist Manifesto in 1848.

Shortly after that work’s publication, it seemed like Marx’s dream of Communism would come true (or at least begin to come true). In Austria, revolutionaries, or democrats as they were called, seized power, and the Austrian king fled the country. However, by 1849, the Austrian government had regained its power and crushed the rebellion. The once promising look of Communism seemed to fade a great deal.

After those seemingly devastating losses for Communism, Marx’s life took a turn for the worse. Marx and his wife, along with his numerous children (he had up to six children but only three of them survived) lived in a three bedroom apartment in London (After arriving in Belgium, Marx was expelled a short time later, and only England, with its strong ideals regarding freedom of speech, allowed Marx to remain.) Marx’s main source of income was Friedrich Engels (who sent him cut up £1 and £5 notes; an interesting way to send money) and Marx himself, whenever was able to publish articles in the local newspaper. Although Marx continued to publish many of his works, such as Capital, most of his work never fully saw the light of day, for most governments did not like the look of Marx’s Communism (weird, huh? A government disliking something that called for the end of all controlled governments.)

In 1871, Marx was revitalized at the sight of Parisian revolutionaries revolting against the French government. He was devastated again, however, when the French government brutally and quickly suppressed the revolt.

By 1881, Marx’s will to live had been, for the most part, sapped. His hopes for a great Communist arrival had died, and he himself was also dying. His wife, Jenny, and his eldest daughter, also named Jenny, died shortly before Marx, which probably contributed to his already declining health. On March 14, 1883, Marx passed away, and the greatest philosopher of the 19^th century ceased to be.

Why?

Though his life was fraught with troubles, and although he never managed to have even a resemblance of a stable life, Marx is one of the greatest individuals in society. Not greatest, with regards to his “good” nature, but great with regards to how he shaped the world around him. Within forty years of his death, V.I. Lenin had overthrown the tsarist state in Russia, and created the U.S.S.R.. Marx’s philosophy was at the base of Lenin’s ideology, even though Lenin’s philosophy differed from that of Marx’s. Less than eighty years after his death, Mao Zedong drove Chinese Nationalists from China, and established the People’s Republic of China. Mao’s philosophy, like Lenin’s, had been born from Marx’s philosophy, even though Mao’s philosophy was different than Marx’s (Marx, however, impacted both.) Aside from Marx’s philosophy leading to the creation of several new governments/nations (aside from the above, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Poland also became Communist governments), Marx’s philosophy can also be attributed to numerous revolutions fought in the name of Communism. The revolutions which took place in Austria and Paris (mentioned above), alongside the Chinese and Russian Revolutions (which resulted in the formation of the U.S.S.R and The People’s Republic of China) were fought for in the name of Communism, and in the name of Marx. Even the major tension between the Soviets and the Americans, which occurred during the Cold War, was mainly in part because this cold war was a battle between the ideas of Capitalism and Communism (though great leaders kept the tension alive, it was the ideology which started and helped to continue the war.) Another item of notice about Karl Marx, which adds to his status of being the greatest individual in history, is the fact that he created a theory that, at least in name, was already being used in many countries at a rate which was surprising for its age. For example, a large percentage of the eastern part of Asia, within one hundred years of its birth, was Communist (such as the countries of China, Russia, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, etc.) It is remarkable that a socioeconomic theory, a mere century after its birth, had spread to encompass such a large amount of the globe. Even more surprising that this quick spreading theory was created by only a few people, the most prominent of those people being Karl Marx himself. His ability to help spread this idea is only another testament to his role as being the greatest individual in history. One could also cite the fact that from Marx’s idea of Communism, modern day Socialism was born, meaning that Marx continues to have a profound impact on the day to day matters which happen in the United States (and any other country that uses socialism, such as Great Britain, Australia, Sweeden, etc). Just think of such socialist programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These programs play a big part in American (as well as the countries mentioned above) life, and they are hotly debated as to whether or not they should even exist, which further adds to Marx’s credit as being able to influence the world, despite his physical death.

 Marx is the greatest individual in history. Not for his savoir-faire, or for his good intentions, but because of his ability to create, and the resulting socioeconomic philosophy which was born from it.

Red Countries were/are countries that utilize(d) a Lenin-Marxism Ideology, Yellow Countries use(d) Maoism, and Black countries used another form of Communism. (Picture represents countries during the Cold War).

Thanks to these sites for the information:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUmarx.htm

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0555631/bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

http://www.amarxica.com/pages/programs.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_security

Thanks to the following sites for the pictures:

http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/poli/images/Karl_Marx.jpg

http://gryphonscry.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/karlmarx.jpg

http://kenbaker.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the_cold_war.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/CommunistSplit.png