German-Jewish communist and philosopher who developed the theory of socialism. Along with Engels, he presented both “The Communist Manifesto,” 1847 and “Das Capital,” 1848. Marx also, as a dialectic materialist, founded the Social Democratic Labor Party in 1869. In his younger years, he studied law and worked as a newspaper editor.
In 1849 he settled in London. Unable to support his family by journalism and improvident by nature, he was reduced to living on an endless series of small loans. He was a prolific writer, but irregular working hours, cheap cigars and the highly seasoned food of which he was fond exacerbated his liver and gallbladder. The strain of poverty was lifted from Marx and his wife, Jenny von Westphalen, in 1870 when his benefactor, Friedrich Engels, retired from manufacturing and supplied them with a regular income.
The first volume of “Das Kapital” was published in 1867 but failing health and other preoccupations prevented publication of the remaining two volumes during Marx’s lifetime. Late in 1881 he and his wife both lay ill in their row house south of Hampstead Heath. He was stricken with “bronchitis” and Jenny had liver cancer, dying on 2 December 1881. Marx never recovered from her death. When his daughter Jenny died in Paris in January 1883, it was a final blow.
Marx died at age 64 intestate and stateless of TB on 14 March 1883 in London, England.
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