"What is your impression of Marx?"
A celebrity?
A statue?
A doctrine?
Or is it a mandatory exam question in the student era?
Marx
The name is thunderous to everyone
But actually
We may know very little about him
Today marks the 139th anniversary of Marx's death
Flesh and blood, real,
Grounded "Marx"
Was Marx the "second generation of the rich"?
Textbooks often say that Marx was poor all his life and his life was miserable, how could he be a "rich second generation"? In fact, Marx's family was quite well off as a child.
Karl Marx was born into a wealthy bourgeois family in Trier, Germany, the third in line to a family (with nine children). In the year of Marx's birth, the eldest son of the family unfortunately died, so Karl became the de facto eldest son of the family, loved by his parents.
Karl Marx's father, Henrich Marx, was a brilliant Jewish lawyer, fluent in many languages and knowledgeable.
Her mother, Hélida Pühlersburg, was a Dutch-Jewish aristocrat. Hanlida's sister Sophia married businessman Leon Philips in the Netherlands. Few people probably know that he is the founder of Philips, and the Philips razor we often use is produced by The family business of Uncle Marx. The material basis of Marx's family also came from the generous dowry brought by his mother.
Therefore, before Marx stepped into society, although he was not the "second generation of the rich" as we often call it today, he could at least be regarded as having a rich life and no worries about food and clothing.
Marx's first job: media man
In 1835, at the age of 17, Marx followed his father's arrangement and entered the law department of the University of Bonn in Germany, intending to succeed his father as a lawyer after graduation. However, due to frequent disputes with students, his father then arranged for Marx to transfer to the University of Berlin.
Coming to the University of Berlin, Marx suddenly changed from "hot-blooded and angry" to "academic otaku". At this stage, Marx read a wide range of books, taught himself English and Italian, and translated famous works such as the Germania of tacitus and the lamentations of Ovitius, the ancient Roman historian Tacitus who proposed the famous "Tacitus Trap". At this moment, Marx changed from a "problem boy" to a scholar and immersed himself in the study of Hegel's philosophy.
Before Marx graduated, his father Heinrich died, his mother had no job, and the family was in a deteriorating situation.
His mother blamed Marx for not seeking the high-ranking official Houlu to support the family, but for indulging in various political activities, and in a fit of rage, deprived him of the right to inherit his inheritance (in 1848, Marx received a copy of his father's inheritance). After graduation, Marx quarreled with his mother again, and was deprived of all financial assistance for the family.
Today's "post-90s" have finished their jobs, their jobs have not been settled, they are impatient and helpless, and the same is true of Marx at that time. Although he has decided to burn for ideals, which is the pressure of life or the dignity of life? Marx was desperate to find a job to earn a living.
In October 1842, a full year and a half after receiving his doctorate, the 24-year-old Marx finally found a job and became a newspaper editor and writer for the Rheinische Zeitung.
Marx joined the Rheinische Zeitung, which can be described as a fish in the water. On the one hand, this job shows Marx's clear political stance and outstanding talent; on the other hand, the profession of journalism gave Marx his first extensive contact with society, prompting him to move from pure study to social reality.
Rheinische Zeitung
In his work, Marx began to come into contact with the living conditions of peasants and poor people. Marx found that in the face of practical problems, the "internal work method" practiced in universities, Hegel's philosophy, was not good.
Since then, he has continued to write articles condemning authoritarianism, exposing social darkness, and defending poor people. When he first took over as editor of the Rheinische Zeitung, the number of newspaper subscribers was more than 800, rising to more than 1,800 in just one month, and more than 3,400 two months later, and the influence of the newspaper was not limited to the Rhine province, but even expanded to the whole country.
It was this experience of working in a newspaper that made Marx soberly realize that hegel's theory did not conform to reality! To reveal the true relationship between material interests and national legislation, there is nothing that can be done by Hegel's philosophy alone. Marx began to dabble in the field of economics, which became the germ of his later study of economic relations and his turn to communism.
Under Marx's auspices, the Rheinische Zeitung became more and more influential, and the conflict with the authorities intensified. Eventually, the Rheinische Zeitung was asked to shut down. Marx's first job came to an end.
In March 1843, Marx left his final farewell in the soon-to-be-shut down Rheinische Zeitung:
"Due to the current censorship system of books and newspapers, I have withdrawn from the editorial board of the Rheinische Zeitung with immediate effect, and hereby declare.
Dr. Marx, 17 March 1843 in Cologne. ”
Not "love" at first sight
Marx initially looked down on Engels
In Marx's life, the most loyal friend was Engels. However, do not think that Engels is only Marx's "gold lord", two people are "heroes cherish heroes", mutual achievement, is the friendship of gentlemen, the friendship of Bao Bao, and even the friendship of life and death.
Two years younger than Marx, Engels was born in 1820 in Bamen, Rhine, the eldest son of a wealthy local factory owner whose family had a great business. Engels was set by the capitalist father as his successor very early on, asking him to drop out of school to do business, And Engels agreed verbally, but had a higher spiritual pursuit in his heart.
△ Young Engels
When Engels was a soldier in Berlin, he joined an organization called the "Free Men", and that was when Engels began to contribute to the Rheinische Zeitung. Marx somewhat despised the "free men" organization, believing that different Tao did not conspire with each other, and he had little enthusiasm for Engels. In fact, at that time, Engels had just severed relations with that organization, and the two people misunderstood, and the Mane CP did not succeed in merging for the first time.
The second sight is the same
Manne introduced each other as confidants
So why did the two brothers of Marne get hot again?
It turned out that when Marx came to Paris and edited the German-French Almanac, he read a lot of Engels's articles. Among them, an article called "Outline of Criticism of Political Economy" impressed Marx. At that time, Marx had just begun to think about the problems of economics, and Engels had already written some criticisms of capitalism in his article, which made Marx particularly appreciative of Engels.
On August 28, 1844, Marx and Engels met at the famous Café Regent in Paris. The two people saw each other and hated each other late, and they hit it off and drank happily for ten days. They denounced social, political, and economic injustices, and Engels described industrial civilization as "the misery of a patchwork of dirty matter," and they found each other "completely in agreement in all theoretical fields." ”
△ Paris Regency Café
After spending more than ten days together, Marne decided to write a book together to liquidate the ideas of his former young Hegelians, to defend the materialist and communist views they had collectively recognized, which led to the first step in their co-writing book, The Holy Family.
△ "Holy Family"
This collaboration heralds the successful integration of the famous Manne CP (supergroup) in history. In the years that followed, Marx and Engels collaborated on the German Ideology and the Communist Manifesto, which systematically expounded the basic viewpoints of historical materialism and proclaimed the birth of Marxism.
△ The only surviving manuscript of the Communist Manifesto
Engels, who has no match for friendship
Friends walk together all their lives. Marx and Engels achieved each other in their careers, and they also cared for each other in life, and they were in step with each other.
We know that Marx was rich in thought and poor in life. In Marx's eyes, what kind of promotion and money temptation, it is all floating clouds. Not accepted by the authorities, Lao Ma carried his communist ideals into exile. Although his wife Yanni is very supportive of Marx, in the end she is from an aristocratic lady and will not run the family, and the family's life is overstretched and cannot make ends meet.
Engels was a true righteous man, saving money and giving Marx all the money he saved.
One year, Marx's family really couldn't open the pot, and he thought about letting the two girls find a place to work. When Engels knew, he exploded and said what is your old horse going to do? If you don't have money, you can't say, there's something you can't do! I sent him the money right away.
In 1870, the German philosopher Karl Marx took a group photo with Engels, his wife Yanni, and his daughters Laura and Eleanor.
Suffering sees the truth. Engels is so righteous, and Marx is not ambiguous.
When he encountered Engels in distress, Marx also drew his sword to help. Once, Engels fled to Switzerland, and was in a hurry to go out, without even paying for food. Marx was ill when he knew about this, but he sent all the money in the family to Engels without any delay.
As the saying goes, between friends, don't borrow money until you have to. It seems that those who say this are not real friends.
In the letters between Marx and Engels, posterity often saw the following words: "The 10 pounds sent have been received, and I am deeply grateful." "15 pounds received, thank you very much." The friendship between Marne has nothing to do with money, and it is purely from the high degree of harmony between faith and outlook on life and worldview. It is precisely because of this tacit understanding that the impoverished Marx was able to devote himself wholeheartedly to a great study, and only then did he have the great work "Capital".
In the face of the generous Engels, Marx often fell into a deep sense of guilt and guilt. For he knew that Engels also had the genius ability to engage in research, and for the sake of the life of Marx's family, he had to do the business work that he himself was unwilling to do.
Marx: "Frankly speaking to you, my conscience often feels as heavy as if it were oppressed by a dream demon, because your outstanding talents are wasted mainly for me in business, they are wasted, and you have to share all my trivial troubles." ”
Engels: "Karl, you don't have to think so..."
Engels did only one thing in 11 years
For their own brothers
With engels's long-term selfless support, Marx devoted himself to the study of political economy and created the most important "Capital" in his life. Late on the night of the completion of the proofreading of the first volume of Capital, Marx wrote excitedly to Engels: "I can only thank you!" Without the sacrifices you have made for me, I would never have been able to accomplish the enormous work of these three books. ”
In 1883, Marx died. This deeply saddened Engels. Friends advised him to travel and relax. But he thought that the "Capital" that Marx had devoted his life to writing had not yet been completed, so he refused the persuasion of his friends and began to organize and publish the last two volumes of Capital.
He copied, sorted, supplemented, and arranged day and night, and several times he became sick from exhaustion. It took him a full 11 years to complete this great work. In order to help Marx sort out the unfinished Capital, he put down his "Dialectics of Nature", which eventually led to the unfinished work, leaving only a draft for posterity.
In a letter to a friend, Engels said: "It takes a great deal of labor to sort out the manuscripts left by a man like Marx, whose every word is as precious as gold. But I love this kind of labor because I'm with my old friends again. ”
Do you think so?
Marx was around
Isn't it out of reach?
Great men are people too
Same with each of us
They also have their own families
There is marriage, there is affection, there is happiness
There are troubles and there are pains
Since their experience
It's no different from us
Then they act as thinkers
Awareness of life
It may bring us
Reflections on the philosophy of life
Editor: Dong Juncheng, Little Master
Reviewer: Qian Chengcan