Karl Marx's birth anniversary: Lesser known facts about German philosopher & famous quotes

German philosopher, historian, economist, sociologist, and revolutionist, Karl Karl Heinrich Marx, was born today, i.e., May 5, in 1818. He was born in Trier, Rhine province of Germany that was under the rule of Prussia at the time. Today he is known as the revolutionary thinker who published Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei, also known as The Communist Manifesto, along with Friedrich Engels.

Lesser known facts and famous quotes 

Mark was born into a Jewish family but later he was forced to convert to Christianity. He promoted the ideology of communism and tried to push for a proletarian revolution that would bring in a more egalitarian society. He is also known for his profound work of research that was dedicated to the socialistic movement, Das Kapital. 

As today we mark his 203rd birth anniversary, here are some of the lesser-known facts about Marx, who is still considered as one of the most influential characters in the history of mankind. 

1. Marx was the grandchild of rabbis both from his maternal and paternal side. Even though he was into an orthodox Jewish family, at the age of six he was baptized. However, religion did not play a major role in shaping his ideology. 
2. He was a student of humanities at the University of Bonn. he studies Greek and Roman mythology and the history of art. He even actively participated in customary student activities, fought a duel and also spent a day in jail for being drunk and disorderly. 
3. Marx presided at the Tavern Club, which was at odds with the more aristocratic student associations, and joined a poets’ club that included some political activists. During the same period of time, the culture of politically rebellious students was part of life at Bonn.
4. He advocated for freedom of the press and was critical of censorship. He worked for the newspaper Rheinische Zeitung, which was the liberal democratic branch of a group of young merchants, bankers, and industrialists. 
5. Then in 1849, he founded Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which urged a constitutional democracy and war with Russia. Marx even called for arms and men to help the resistance when the king of Prussia dissolved the Prussian Assembly in Berlin. Later, Marx was banished from his home country and spent later years of his life in London.

Marx’s work gained recognition after the Russian leader, Vladimir Lenin, incorporated the teachings from the Communist Manifesto in his governance. Today he has become synonymous with a school of thought known as Marxism, which advocates that human societies develop through class conflict and suggests a way of organising society where workers own the means of production. Here are some of his most famous quotes;

• Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.
• The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
• Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed.
• Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form
• History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
• The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.
• Machines were, it may be said, the weapon employed by the capitalists to quell the revolt of specialized labor