Karl Marx/Timelines

1818

Born of middle-class Jewish parents in the Prussian city of Trier.

1830

Attends Trier High School.

1835

Enrols in the University of Berlin, reading law, history and philosophy.

Becomes a Hegelian idealist.

1841

Graduates with a doctorate in philosophy.

1842

Moves to Cologne.

Is influenced by the humanist philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach[1].

1843

Marries Jenny von Westphalen[2].

Moves to Paris.

Writes Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right[3] "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

1844

Birth of daughter, Jenny.

Meets Friedrich Engels[4] author of "The Conditions of the Working Class in England"[5].

Writes The Paris Manuscripts[6],

1845

Is expelled from France and moves to Brussels.

Writes Theses on Feuerbach[7]

1846

Sets up the Communist Correspondence Committee (with Engels).

1847

Lectures to the German Workers' Society[8]

Launch of the Communist League[9] (formerly the "League of the Just") with the motto "Workers of the World Unite!"

Writes The Poverty of Philosophy[10].

1848

French revolution of 1848 [11]

Returns to France.

Starts writing political pamphlets on The class struggles in France[12] "there appeared the bold slogan of revolutionary struggle: Overthrow of the bourgeoisie! Dictatorship of the Working class!."

Publishes the Communist Manifesto[13] (written jointly with Engels) that starts with "A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism", and ends with "Workers of the World Unite!".

1849

Moves to Cologne. Writes articles in the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung"[14] Moves to London.

1850

Writes (with Engels) the Address to the Communist League[15].

1852

Writes The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte[16].

1864

Supports the launch of the International Workingmen’s Association (the first International)[17]

1867

Publication of Das Kapital[18]

1869

Writes A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy[19].

1872

Attends The Hague Congress of the First International,[20]

1875

Writes Critique of the Gotha Programme[21], in which he coins the slogan "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need".

1881

His wife dies.

1883

Death and burial in London's Highgate Cemetery.