by Kim Sharpe

Created on: July 16, 2008

There are those out there that will argue this topic to death. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and voice my own personal beliefs. I feel that anyone who accuses Karl Marx of being an anti semite in any of his writings or beliefs has not truly read and understood Mr Marx's writings and they seek to only see his gruff manner and not take into consideration that he tended to say exactly what he thought and felt so he was not a man that beat around the bush. If he did have anti semitic feelings then he would not have feared coming right out and saying them. Yes, some people will argue that his writings do in fact contain anti semtic undertones but I disagree and I don't think anyone who reads his works and see's this in his writings has truly grasped them if they feel this way.

Karl Marx was not afraid to go against the popular or the normal of the day. In his era there was strong anti semitic feelings that existed all around him and yet he never voiced these feelings with those who were anti semitic.

In Karl Marx's essay On the Jewish Question he actually steps right out and defends the Jews rights to all political and civil rights.

Few people probably realize that Karl Marx was, in fact, Jewish. He was born in 1818 in Trier. Both of his parents were Jewish but had accepted the Lutheran religion and become quite devout. Karl Marx's ancestors were actually quite impressive in the Jewish world. He could count several Rabbi's in his family line. Both of his grandfathers were dedicated Rabbi's. Many people don't realize this about Marx. But we have only to do our research to learn these simple facts about him.

Many times Adolph Hitler himself would refer to Karl Marx and every time he did this he would simply say, "that Jew Marx". It is well known to anyone who wishes to indepthly research Marx.

So did he actually hate himself and his own ancestors? I feel that the answer to this question is a resounding "No". Karl Marx said and wrote what he felt and thought with little or not problem. He came right out many times with very direct and to the point statements. I feel that if he had been an anti semite then we would not be sitting here wondering if this was how he felt or not. If he had truly been an anti semitic then there is no doubt that Karl Marx would have been open and honest about it.

We can read his work and twist his words all we want. But the truth is that if we don't read everything he has to say and accept it all as a whole then it can all easily be twisted and misunderstood. But once you partake of all his work then you find that you can better understand Karl Marx and you will realize that he was in fact NOT an anti semite.

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