If you live in the United States, you'll know that communists have always been the brunt of many attacks, both public and private. However, who was the man that united millions, disturbed even more, and changed the world forever? That man was Karl Marx, and this is his story.
Karl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 in Trier, Prussia. He was the third eldest in a family of seven children. His parents were Heinrich (1777-1838) as well as Henrietta (1788-1863). The other 6 members of Karl's family were Sophie, Hermann, Louise, Emilie and Caroline.
For thirteen years, Karl Marx spent his years at home, being schooled at home by his parents. He enrolled in the University of Bonn in the year 1835 when he was seventeen, studying law. What many people don't know about this would-be revolutionary is that he quickly joined the Trier Tavern Club drinking society, and the famous Communist even served at the helm of this organization as president. Needless to say, his school grades suffered during this time. His true passion was philosophy and literature, but has father believed that there would not be a need for his skills as a scholar.
After Heinrich Marx discovered his son's drinking habits, he enrolled him at the far more serious and academically-oriented Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt in Berlin. In 1841, as a result of his higher quality of education, he was conferred upon a doctorate for his thesis, The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature.
On August 28th, 1844, the growing Karl's travels had brought him to Paris. There he made what was probably the most important acquaintance. This man, Marx's "partner-in-crime," if you will, was Friedrich Engels. Engels presented him with a piece of his own work, "The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844."
Marx wrote articles for many radical German newspapers, and through his readers, came to initiate the League of the Just, a secret society that specialized in rather radical ideals.
Finally on February 21st, 1848 Marx and Engels produced The Communist Manifesto, their most notable work, as a manifesto for small group of European communists known as the Communist League.
In December 1881, Marx contracted bronchitis, and he died a few months later on March 14, 1883. He was (and remains) buried in Highgate Cemetery, in London.