20. The Radical German Philosopher
German philosopher and radical socialist Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) penned the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, both of which formed the basis of Marxism and revolutionized the world for better and for worse. Born in Prussia, he experimented with social and political theories in university, and by the 1840s had become a radical journalist. His writings were viewed as dangerous by the authorities, and in the span of a few years, he was expelled from Germany, France, Belgium, then Germany again.
Marx eventually found a final refuge in London, where he settled and lived for the remainder of his life. Karl Marx’s father was a successful lawyer, a man of the Enlightenment, and was a passionate advocate for Prussian reform. He had converted from Judaism to Lutheranism to avoid legal restrictions that barred Jews from high society. He saw to it that his son Karl received a liberal education in a school whose enlightened leanings made it suspect in the eyes of the reactionary authorities.
