Karl Marx: Life, Political Action, and the Hegelian Legacy

Karl Marx: Biography, Major Works, and Political Action

In Paris, in the fall of 1844, Marx met **Friedrich Engels**. Under pressure from the Prussian government, Marx was soon ousted from Paris and directed to Brussels. In Brussels, Marx and Engels wrote the extensive work, ***The German Ideology***. Although unpublished at the time, this text clarified their ideas on German philosophy, positioning themselves against idealism and establishing the foundations of historical materialism.

The Revolutions of 1848 and Permanent Exile

In 1848, revolutionary movements erupted across Europe, spanning from Switzerland and Italy to France (where the Second Republic was proclaimed), Prussia, the rest of Germany, and the Austrian Empire. Marx intervened politically in this context but was expelled from Brussels.

He traveled to Cologne with the intention of extending the revolution, and then back to Paris, where he founded the **Club of the German Workers**. In 1849, following the failure of the revolutions, Marx made his permanent home in London.

Studying Capitalism and Founding the IWA

After the revolutionary events of 1848, Marx believed that popular movements had failed because there was no unified labor party grouping all workers. In London, he dedicated himself to studying the political economy of his time, gaining firsthand knowledge of the capitalist system.

Marx significantly influenced the labor movement, culminating in the creation of the **International Workingmen's Association (IWA)** in 1864. During this period, he was writing the first volume of his seminal work, ***Das Kapital*** (*Capital*).

His major political writings include:

• ***The German Ideology*** (1845–46, unpublished)
• ***Das Kapital*** (Volume I published 1867)
• ***The Civil War in France*** (1871), written to support the revolutionary movement of the Paris Commune.

Karl Marx died in London in 1883.

The Inheritance of Hegel

Followers of the Hegelian system differed greatly in their conception of the state. Some sought to maintain the state as it was, thereby legitimizing the Prussian regime, while others criticized it. This division led to two distinct philosophical camps:

The Hegelian Right

The Hegelian Right defended the state as the culmination of the Spirit and the objective space in which freedom realizes itself. This position, which often aligned with the religious freedom of Christianity, was viewed with complacency by the ruling power, but its impact was limited.

Key Representatives of the Hegelian Right:

• Gabler
• Erdmann
• Fischer

The Hegelian Left (Young Hegelians)

The Hegelian Left did not justify the existing political situation because they understood that the dialectical movement had not been completed. They argued that the current state did not embody Hegel's proposal for rationality.

Key Representatives of the Hegelian Left:

• Bruno Bauer
• David Strauss
• **Karl Marx**