Brief Overview Of Biography And Legacy Of Karl Marx

Early life

Karl Marx was born in a Jewish family with nine children in Prussia May 5, 1818. His dad was a Lutheranism, but he decided to become an atheist and materialist instead.

Education

He was an average student and was being educated at home until 12. In October 1835, he began studying at the University of Bonn, but he wasn't paying any effort. He father insisted on him to go to another university and study seriously this time, and he went to the University of Berlin. He studied law and philosophy and eventually received his doctorate in 1814 from the University of Jena. He was also fluent in a lot of other languages, such as French, Latin, Spanish, Dutch, Scandinavian, Russian, and English.

Theory

Marx's theory was that capitalism should be replaced by socialism as it is a system that would only bring benefits to the bourgeoisie as the proletariat can only work for them in order to earn incomes. As time goes on, it will only be the bourgeoisie that can get richer and richer, as the proletariat can only get poorer and poorer and experience alienation. Marx thinks that this is not fair, and the proletariat should also be given a chance, therefore capitalism should be replaced by a socialist system that can meet everybody's needs.

Contributions

Marx own branch of economics, Marxian economics had brought a huge impact on our societies. For example, countries like USSR, China, and Cuba, countries that had been using the communist projects. Marx is still very influential these days in fields such as sociology, political economy and part of heterodox economics too.

Publications

Marx is quite famous for his publication of The Communist Manifesto. This book was mainly about the theory of how Marx and Engels think that capitalist society that they had at that time wasn't stable and it would soon enough be replaced by a socialist one instead. Das Kapital was also a famous book that he wrote, it is filled with critiques of capitalism.

Family life

Marx married Jenny von Westphalen, his childhood sweetheart on June 19, 1843. Sadly, she died because of cancer by the age of sixty-seven. They still had seven children altogether, but four of them died during infancy or childhood. Two of his surviving daughters were married to Frenchman, and the last one remained active as a British labor organizer.

Death

Marx died on March 14, 1883, on his armchair in London. It was also the day roughly two months before his sixty-fifth birthday. The reason for his death was because of Bronchitis caused by his habits of smoking, wine drinking, and love for spicy foods. His body is now buried in London's Highgate Cemetery along with a bust of him on his grave.

Legacy

Nowadays, nearly four out of ten people live under the government of Marxism. We can see that after 200 years, the legacy of his is still going on. The theory of his changed our life as it helps us understand what is going on in the world and the arrangements that shaped our lives. Including inequality and ultimately, human misery and unhappiness.