Bao Huo Lao Biographies Library · Giants 100 Biographies Series -- Marx

Author: Luo Fanyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-10-01
Features: We are pleased to recommend the "Giant Biographies Series" to young friends. At the turn of the century, having such a fine series as company is a joy for the mind. We believe that from the footsteps of these giants and masters, one can learn how to properly handle success and failure, comfort and hardship, joy and pain, smoothness and tribulation, and understand how to face life, how to learn to be a person, how to pursue knowledge, how to shape oneself, and how to shape the future.
Principal of Peking University, Zhao Yulin Secretary, Dong Lingsheng
Every great figure with global influence holds a deeply moving story within them. Their rich experiences and life lessons, their spirit of struggle and elements of success, their character for pursuing excellence and their ability to seize opportunities, undoubtedly have a great inspirational and educational role for today's youth.
Principal of Tsinghua University, Zhao Qinggang
Giants are the elite of humanity, they have made outstanding contributions to the progress and civilization of human society, their spirit of struggle and superhuman achievements are deeply admired by people, becoming models for others to learn from. Giants are human, not gods, they come from ordinary people but are above ordinary people. Their lofty ideals, the belief in serving the motherland and humanity, are the driving force behind their relentless pursuit and fearlessness of difficulties.
Principal of Tianjin Nankai, Kang Xiuyan
To carefully read this series of books is like seeing their appearance, speech, and actions, feeling their ideals, beliefs, ambitions, and moral character, which will help you learn to be a person, learn to pursue knowledge, and learn to build a career.
Principal of Fudan University, Cao Tianren
Karl Marx (Karl Heinrich Marx, 1818–1883)
Founder of Marxism and the founder of the international communist movement, the revolutionary guide for the proletariat and working people all over the world.
Family and Student Life
Born on May 5, 1818, in Trier, Rhine Province, Germany. His father, Heinrich Marx, was a lawyer and a Jew. His mother, Henriette Pressburg, was a housewife and of Dutch descent. From 1830 to 1835, Marx studied at the Trier Gymnasium, influenced by bourgeois enlightenment ideas, and resolved to serve humanity. In October 1835, he entered the law department of Bonn University and in October 1836 transferred to the law department of Berlin University. During his university years, he initially studied law but later focused mainly on history and philosophy. From 1837, he began studying Hegel's philosophy, joined the Young Hegelians, and became a rather influential member of their "Doctor's Club." In early 1841, he completed his doctoral dissertation, "The Difference Between the Natural Philosophy of Democritus and the Natural Philosophy of Epicurus," and submitted it to the University of Jena for review. At that time, he had not yet completely freed himself from G.W.F. Hegel's idealism, but this dissertation was quite innovative. Marx praised the thoughts of these two ancient materialist philosophers in the text and elaborated on the dialectical unity of philosophy and life, openly declaring himself an atheist who was irreconcilably opposed to religion. On April 15, 1841, he received his philosophy doctorate without a defense.
Turning to Materialism and Communism
After completing his university studies, Marx planned to teach philosophy at Bonn University. However, due to the Prussian authorities' increasing persecution of progressive intellectuals, he abandoned this plan and began engaging in political activities against the Prussian autocracy. In 1842, he wrote the political essay "The Critique of the Prussian Censorship of the Press," exposing the reactionary nature of the Prussian state system through a critique of the press censorship system. In April 1842, he began contributing articles to the bourgeois democratic newspaper "The Rhine Newspaper," and on October 15 of the same year, he was appointed as an editor. Subsequently, the revolutionary democratic tendencies of "The Rhine Newspaper" became increasingly pronounced, and the reactionary authorities decided to close the newspaper on April 1, 1843, beginning with double censorship before the closure. On March 17, Marx opposed the compromising stance of the shareholders and withdrew from the editorial board. In "The Rhine Newspaper," Marx published a series of articles such as "The Debate on the Forestry Law" and "The Defense of the Moselle Journalists," fiercely criticizing the Prussian feudal autocracy and openly upholding the interests of the impoverished masses who were politically and socially oppressed. During this period, L.A. Feuerbach's works, such as "The Essence of Christianity," "The Provisional Outline of the Critique of Philosophy," and "The Principles of Future Philosophy," played a positive role in Marx's turn to materialism.