Karl Marx/Timelines

(links to the works cited are available on the Works subpage)

1818

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

1835

Enrols in the University of Berlin, reading law, history and philosophy. Becomes a Hegelian idealist.

1841

Graduates with a doctorate in philosophy.

1842

Is influenced by the humanist philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach.

1843

Marries Jenny von Westphalen. Moves to Paris. Writes "Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right"

1844

Meets Friedrich Engels. Writes "the Paris Manuscripts", setting out his conception of communism and his proposal for the "dictatorship of the proletariat".

1845

Is expelled from France and moves to Brussels. Writes "Theses on Feuerbach".

1847

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

Writes "The Poverty of Philosophy".

1848

French revolution of 1848

Returns to France. Starts writing political pamphlets on "the class struggles in France". Publishes the "Communist Manifesto" (written jointly with Engels)

1849

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

1850

Writes (with Engels) the "Address to the Communist League".

1852

Writes "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte".

1864

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

1867

Publication of "Capital".

1869

Writes "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy".

1875

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

1883

Death and burial in London's Highgate Cemetery.