Karl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the city of Trier inPrussia, now, Germany. He was one of seven children of JewishParents. His father was fairly liberal, taking part in demonstrationsfor a constitution for Prussia and reading such authors as Voltaireand Kant, known for their social commentary. His mother, Henrietta,was originally from Holland and never became a German at heart, noteven learning to speak the language properly. Shortly before KarlMarx was born, his father converted the family to the EvangelicalEstablished Church, Karl being baptized at the age of six.Marx attended high school in his home town (1830-1835) where severalteachers and pupils were under suspicion of harboring liberal ideals.Marx himself seemed to be a devoted Christian with a "longing forself-sacrifice on behalf of humanity." In October of 1835, he startedattendance at the University of Bonn, enrolling innon-socialistic-related classes like Greek and Roman mythology and thehistory of art. During this time, he spent a day in jail for being"drunk and disorderly-the only imprisonment he suffered" in thecourse of his life. The student culture at Bonn included, as a majorpart, being politically rebellious and Marx was involved, presidingover the Tavern Club and joining a club for poets that included somepolitically active students. However, he left Bonn after a year andenrolled at the University of Berlin to study law and philosophy.Marx's experience in Berlin was crucial to his introduction to Hegel'sphilosophy and to his "adherence to the Young Hegelians." Hegel'sphilosophy was crucial to the development of his own ideas andtheories. Upon his first introduction to Hegel's beliefs, Marx felt arepugnance and wrote his father that when he felt sick, it waspartially "from intense vexation at having to make an idol of a view[he] detested." The Hegelian doctrines exerted considerable pressurein the "revolutionary student culture" that Marx was immersed in,however, and Marx eventually joined a society called the Doctor Club,involved mainly in the "new literary and philosophical movement"who's chief figure was Bruno Bauer, a lecturer in theology who thoughtthat the Gospels were not a record of History but that they came from"human fantasies arising from man's emotional needs" and he alsohypothesized that Jesus had not existed as a person. Bauer was laterdismissed from his position by the Prussian government. By 1841,Marx's studies were lacking and, at the suggestion of a friend, hesubmitted a doctoral dissertation to the university at Jena, known forhaving lax acceptance requirements. Unsurprisingly, he got in, andfinally received his degree in 1841. His thesis "analyzed in aHegelian fashion the difference between the natural philosophies ofDemocritus and Epicurus" using his knowledge of mythology and themyth of Prometheus in his chains.In October of 1842, Marx became the editor of the paper RheinischeZeitung, and, as the editor, wrote editorials on socio-economic...
