How modern was Karl Marx? An exhibition at the German Historical Museum shows how he became one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century, whose work is read and studied a century and a half after his death.1. Married a partner at your level
Without Jenny Marx (1814-1881), the work of Karl Marx would not have been possible: born Johanna Bertha Julie Jenny von Westphalen, she was not only a journalist, but also the first critical reader of the thinker, who debated with him and the editor and philosopher Friedrich Engels and worked on the Communist Party Manifesto. In the only surviving handwritten version of the manifesto, the first few lines are written by her.
As a journalist, he wrote about Germany’s March Revolution and reviews of William Shakespeare for the renowned Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper. She also negotiated with publishers and spoke several foreign languages – better than her husband. That was good, because the Marx family had to spend most of their lives in exile. Engels considered her and her husband “two highly gifted natures”. After Jenny’s death, he commented that from now on, he would bitterly miss “her bold and intelligent advice”.
2. Helped make the eight-hour journey a reality
In 1866, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels helped make the eight-hour workday an official requirement of the International Workingmen’s Association. As early as the 1810s, the Welshman Robert Owen is said to have coined the slogan that is also depicted on a pocket watch in the UK: “Work eight hours, sleep eight hours and eight hours of leisure and relaxation”.
In the UK, however, the eight-hour working day for permanent employees has never been enshrined in law. In Canada, on the other hand, this has been the case since 1899; in France, since 1919; and in the US since 1938. The eight-hour day was also introduced in Germany in 1918, but the law was relaxed. The six-hour workday is now being tested in several European countries.
3. It is the “Occupy” movement icon
On September 17, 2011, under the slogan “Occupy Wall Street”, protesters occupied Zuccotti Park in New York’s financial district. They were protesting an economic system in which some were getting richer while the vast majority are getting poorer, and they called for more political control of the banking and finance sector. The “Occupy” movement soon spread around the world and appropriated a portrait of Karl Marx, with the catchy slogan “I said I was right”, which catapulted him to the status of a modern icon.
Especially since the banking crisis in the 21st century, Marxist writings have regained worldwide attention. He is still considered one of the most important critics of capitalism, but his legacy is ambivalent: the economist Marx was repeatedly appropriated by socialist dictatorships, such as the Soviet Union or East Germany, to justify an unjust state. His attitude towards other Jews is also controversial. His essay On the Jewish Question (first published in 1844) was used for anti-Semitic propaganda purposes, for example by the Communist Party of Germany in the 1920s.
4. Conducted research at the highest level − and still inspires today
Many economists around the world still today refer to the writings of Karl Marx. For example, French economist Thomas Piketty published his book Capital in the 21st Century in 2013, with direct reference to Karl Marx’s pioneering 1867 study Capital.
In his book, Piketty builds on Marx’s analysis and concludes that, since the mid-20th century, a few characters in the industrialized world have accumulated more and more wealth. He concludes that increasing inequality is inherent in capitalism and that this increase threatens democracy. The book sparked global debates about the future of capitalism.
The original first edition of Marx’s Possessed Capital, with its handwritten annotations, has been on UNESCO’s Memory of the World list since 2013, a joint suggestion by the Dutch and German governments.
5. Marx, citizen of the world
Karl Marx was a citizen of the world, who influenced the political debate in many countries, such as France, UK, USA, India and Russia – and also lived in some of them, being expelled several times for riots. The pioneer of a “proletarian revolution” spent almost his entire life as a stateless person in exile. After their marriage, he went to Paris with Jenny Marx, and there he began working with Friedrich Engels, the son of a wealthy industrialist.
When the Prussian government demanded their expulsion, the couple moved to Brussels, followed by Engels. There, they began work on a programmatic document that would become the Communist Manifesto. Ending with the now world-famous call: “Proletarians of all countries unite!”
The Marxs were also expelled from Belgium, until, finally, in 1849, they found refuge in London, where they lived until their death: Jenny, on December 2, 1881, Karl, on March 14, 1883. Almost 150 years after his death , his work still sells very well.
The exhibition Karl Marx and Capitalism can be visited from 10 February 2022 to 21 August 2022 at the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
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