The Life and Work of Karl Marx.

Outstanding Dates

May 5, 1818

A son Karl is born to barrister Heinrich Marx and his wife, Henriette, in Trier

November 28, 1820

A son Frederick is born to textile manufacturer Friedrich Engels and his wife, Elisabeth, in Barmen

July 27-29, 1830

Revolution in France

September

Revolution in Belgium

1830-31

Uprisings in Poland

October 1830

Karl Marx is enrolled at the Trier Gymnasium

1831, 1834

Uprisings of Lyons weavers in France

May 27, 1832

The Hambach festivities, a mass political demonstration in the Palatinate demanding the unification of Germany and political freedoms

Late 1830s

Chartism, the first mass revolutionary workers’ movement, emerges in England

August-September 24, 1835

Marx graduates from the Trier Gymnasium and receives his school-leaving certificate

October

Marx enrols at Bonn University as a law student

Summer 1836

Marx is engaged to Jenny von Westphalen in Trier

Mid-October

Marx moves to Berlin. On October 22, he enrols at Berlin University as a law student and soon becomes a member of the Young Hegelian Doctors’ Club

Spring 1837

When on vacation in Stralow, a suburb of Berlin, Marx begins a serious study of Hegel’s philosophy

May 10, 1838

Marx’s father dies

1839-41

Marx studies the history of philosophy, mainly in Antiquity. Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature is the subject of his Doctoral Dissertation

March 30-early April 1841

Marx graduates from Berlin University, and submits his dissertation to the University of Jena

April 15

The University of Jena confers on him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

January-February 1842

Marx writes Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction, a critique of the Prussian feudal-absolutist system. That was Marx’s first piece of journalism

May 1842

Marx begins to contribute to the Rheinische Zeitung founded in Cologne by the liberal bourgeoisie of the Rhine Province. His articles stress the need to protect the rights of the toiling masses

October 15, 1842-March 18, 1843

Marx becomes editor-in-chief of the Rheinische Zeitung. Under his direction the paper’s line becomes increasingly more revolutionary and democratic. Marx’s articles denoted a shift from revolutionary democracy to communist ideas

Latter half of November 1842

Marx first meets Engels, who visits the Rheinische Zeitung offices in Cologne on his way to England

January 19, 1843

The Prussian Government decides to ban the Rheinische Zeitung as of April 1, and introduces an especially stringent censorship for it in the interim

March 18

Police reprisals launched by Prussian authorities made further publication of the paper impossible. Marx is forced to resign

May-October

Marx stays at Kreuznach, a small resort town, where Jenny; von Westphalen and her mother were staying at the time. There, Marx begins critical revision of Hegel’s doctrine of the state and law. The outcome of this work is an unfinished manuscript, published for the first time in 1927 in the Soviet Union under the title, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law.

Simultaneously, Marx studies world history, concentrating on analysis of socioeconomic and sociopolitical processes.

Seeing that political activity in Germany is impossible, Marx decides to move to France. He negotiates the publication in Paris of a magazine, Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher

June 19, 1843

Marx marries Jenny von Westphalen

Late October

Marx and his bride move to Paris, where he takes up the history of the French Revolution, studies the work of utopian socialists and English an French economists. In Paris, Marx attends workers’ meetings, gets in touch with the leaders of the secret League of the Just, and meets member of clandestine French workers’ societies

Late December

Marx meets Heinrich Heine

Late February 1844

The first and last, and double, issue of the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher comes out in Paris. Marx’s articles in it show his final acceptance of materialism and communism

April-August

Marx works on Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, in which he criticises bourgeois political economy for the first time

May 1, 1844

A daughter, Jenny, is born to Karl and Jenny Marx

June 4-6

The uprising of the Silesian weavers

August 7 and 10

Vorwärts!, a German-language newspaper in Paris, publishes Marx’s article, Critical Marginal Notes on the Article ‘The King of Prussia and Social Reform. By a Prussian’. It underscores the tremendous significance of the Silesian uprising as an intimation of the power of the working class

August 28

Marx and Engels meet in Paris; this is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and joint work.

They embark on their first joint venture, The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Company

Early September

After staying with Marx for ten days, Engels returns to Barmen, Germany, where he becomes involved in socialist propaganda, speaking at workers’ meetings. He also works on the book, The Condition of the Working-Class in England

January 16, 1845

Under pressure of the Prussian government, Marx is ordered to leave France

Early February

Marx moves to Brussels, where his family joins him in mid-February

Late February

Marx’s and Engels’s book, The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Company, appears in Frankfort on the Main. It expounds the foundations of the revolutionary materialist outlook

Spring, c. April

Marx writes Theses on Feuerbach which Engels describes as “the first document in which is deposited the brilliant germ of the new world outlook”

Early April

Engels moves from Barmen to join Marx in Brussels

April-December

Marx and Engels establish contacts with Belgian democrats and socialists

Late May

Engels’s The Condition of the Working Class in England, which, as Lenin put it, “was a terrible indictment of capitalism and the bourgeoisie”, is published in Leipzig

July 12-August 21

Marx and Engels visit England to study the latest English books on economics and also to gain insight into England’s economic and political life and the English working-class movement. In London, Marx and Engels get in touch with Chartist leaders and heads of the London communities of the League of the Just

September 26

Marx’s daughter Laura is born

September 1845-summer 1846

Marx and Engels work on The German Ideology, developing the principles of historical materialism and criticising Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner, as well as the theory of the “true socialists”. The book’s publication in Germany was made impossible due to the terms of the censorship. The book first appeared in the Soviet Union in 1932

December 1, 1845

Marx renounces his Prussian citizenship due to mounting persecution by the Prussian police

Early 1846

Marx and Engels set up the Communist Correspondence Committee in Brussels with a view to ideologically and organisationally uniting the socialists and the more politically aware workers of different countries, and paving the way for the establishment of an international proletarian organisation

May 5

The Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee adopts the Circular against Kriege, criticising the sentimental preaching of the “true socialists”

Early 1847

Marx’s son Edgar is born

Late January 1847

The London Committee of the League of the Just sends its representative, Joseph Moll, to Marx and Engels with a proposal that they join the League, take part in its reorganisation and draw up a new programme. Marx and Engels accept the proposal

January-June 15

Marx is working on The Poverty of Philosophy. Answer to the ‘Philosophy of Poverty’ by M. Proudhon

June 2-9

A congress of the League of the Just, in which Engels takes part, is held in London. The League of the Just is renamed the Communist League. The congress lays the foundation for an entirely new organisation with new ideological principles and structure. Engels participates in drawing up the new Rules subject to approval by the next congress. The congress also adopts the new motto of the League suggested by Marx and Engels, “Working Men of All Countries, Unite!”

Early July

Marx’s Poverty of Philosophy is published in French in Brussels. Lenin regarded it as one of the first works of mature Marxism

August 5

On Marx’s suggestion a community and district organisation of the Communist League are set up in Brussels

August-September

The Westphälische Dampfboot journal prints one of the chapters of The German Ideology containing criticism of “true socialism”

Late August

On Marx’s and Engels’s initiative, a German Workers’ Society is established in Brussels; it unites mostly German working-class refugees

September 1847-February 1848

Marx and Engels contribute to the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung which, up to its last issue published on February 27, 1848, was, to all intents and purposes, the organ of the Communist League

September-November 1847

Marx helps set up the Brussels Democratic Association which unites proletarian revolutionaries and bourgeois and petty-bourgeois democrats

November 15

Marx is elected Vice-President of the Brussels Democratic Association

November 29-December 8

London is the venue of the Second Congress of the Communist League, with Marx and Engels taking part in it. The congress supports their stand, and instructs them to draft the programme of the League in the form of a manifesto. The congress approves the Rules of the Communist League

Latter half of December

Marx delivers lectures on political economy at the German Workers’ Society. They come to be known as Wage Labour and Capital

Early January 1848

Revolutionary events begin to brew in Italy. Revolution in Palermo

February 22-24

Revolution in France

Late February

Marx’s and Engels’s Manifesto of the Communist Party, the first programme document of scientific communism, is published in London

February 28

On behalf of the Brussels Democratic Association, Marx signs a greeting to the Provisional Government of the French Republic

March 1

Ferdinand Flocon, a member of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, invites Marx to France

March 3

The King of Belgium orders Marx out of the country within 24 hours. The Brussels Central Authority of the Communist League announces its dissolution and transfers its scat to Paris. Marx is authorised to form a new Central Authority there

March 4

Marx and his wife are kept under arrest for 18 hours by the Brussels police. They and the children leave Brussels and head for France

March 5

Marx arrives in Paris where, on the instruction received from the Central Authority, he forms a new central body of the Communist League

Early March

On Marx’s suggestion, a German Workers’ Club is set up in Paris. At its meetings, Marx opposes the adventurist “export of revolution” planned by the petty-bourgeois leaders of the German émigrés in Paris

March 13

Revolutionary events flare up in Vienna

March 15

Revolution begins in Hungary

March 18

Barricade fighting in Berlin

March 21

Engels arrives in Paris

Late March

In view of the revolution in Germany, Marx and Engels draw up the Communist League’s political platform in the revolution: the Demands of the Communist Party in Germany

Early April

Marx and Engels go to Germany to take part in the revolution

April 11

On arrival in Cologne, Marx and Engels endeavour to start a daily paper

May 31

The first issue of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung dated June 1 is published in Cologne, its subtitle being Organ der Demokratie. Marx is its editor-in-chief, and Engels an editor.

Marx and Engels use the paper to campaign for a unified democratic German state and support the peasants’ and workers’ struggle and the national liberation movement in Bohemia, Italy, Poland, and other countries

June 23-26

Rising of the Paris proletariat

June 29

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung carries Marx’s article The June Revolution on the heroic effort of Paris workers

August 23-September

Marx goes to Vienna and Berlin to establish contacts with democratic and workers’ organisations, and to collect money for the publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung

August 30

Marx speaks at the first Vienna Workers’ Association on social relations in Europe and the place of the proletariat in the revolutionary struggle

September 2

Marx speaks at the first Vienna Workers’ Association on wage labour and capital

September 13

On the initiative of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, a mass public meeting is held in Cologne to rebuff counter-revolution. It elects a Committee of Public Safety, including Marx, Engels and other editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. The Committee is to be the organising centre for the revolutionary struggle

September 25

Due to the defeat of the Frankfurt uprising and the declaration of a state of siege in Cologne, publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung is suspended

October 3

Publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung is resumed

October 6-31

Uprising in Vienna ending in victory for the counter-revolution

November 7

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung prints Marx’s article, The Victory of the Counter-Revolution in Vienna

November 8

Counter-revolutionary coup in Prussia

November 11

In view of the Prussian counter revolutionary coup, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung campaigned for refusal to pay taxes to undermine the finances of the counter-revolution and rally the masses

December

Marx publishes a series of articles, The Bourgeoisie and the Counter-Revolution, analysing specific aspects and the main stages of the revolution in Germany

February 7 and 8, 1849

Trials of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, and Marx as its editor-in-chief, on charges of insulting the authorities. At the trials, Marx and Engels defend their newspaper and freedom of the press in Germany.

The jury brings in a verdict of not guilty

April 5-8 and 11

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung prints Marx’s Wage Labour and Capital

Early May

Armed uprisings flare up in Dresden, the Palatinate, Baden and Rhenish Prussia in defence of the Imperial Constitution adopted by the National Assembly on March 28, 1849.

The Neue Rheinische Zeitung takes the side of the insurgents and urges them to close their ranks

May 10-15

Engels takes part in the Elberfeld uprising

May 16

The Prussian authorities hand Marx a government order to leave Prussia. Legal proceedings are instituted against Engels for participating in the Elberfeld uprising

May 19

The last, “red” issue of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung is published. Marx and Engels go to South-Western Germany, where the revolutionary events are still in progress. Engels is involved in the Baden-Palatinate uprising

Early June

Marx comes to Paris, where a major revolutionary outburst is expected. However, democratic petty-bourgeois leaders fail to direct the struggle of the people, and an attempted uprising fails

August 23

Marx is ordered by the French authorities to leave Paris within 24 hours

August 26

After being deported from Paris, Marx arrives in London, where his family joins him on September 17.

In London, he helps organise the work of the Communist League’s Central Authority, and sets up a Committee of Support for German Political Refugees

Early September

Marx joins the London German Workers’ Educational Society closely associated with the Communist League

November 5

A fourth child, son Heinrich Guido, is born to the Marxes

c. November 10

Engels arrives in London

November 1849-autumn 1850

Marx lectures on political economy and the Manifesto of the Communist Party at the Educational Society

March 1850

Marx and Engels draw up the “Address of the Central Authority to the League, March 1850”, one of the first documents summing up the experience of the proletariat in the past revolution and outlining the action programme of Communists for the future

March 6-November 29

Marx and Engels publish six issues of the magazine, Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue, which prints Marx’s The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 and Engels’s The German Campaign for the Imperial Constitution and The Peasant War in Germany, as well as a number of international and other jointly written reviews

Spring

Marx resumes his study of political economy

Early June

Marx and Engels write the second “Address of the Central Authority to the League, June 1850”, with tactical and organisational advice and instructions to local branches

November 19

Heinrich Guido Marx dies

November

On the proposal of the London District of the Communist League, the Cologne Central Authority expels the Willich Schapper faction for disruptive activities.

Engels moves to Manchester and joins the Ermen & Engels firm. This enables him to offer regular financial assistance to the Marx family

March 28, 1851

Marx’s daughter Franziska is born

June 1851-1862

Marx and Engels contribute to the Chartist papers Notes to the People and The People’s Paper, and generally assist the Chartist movement

August 1851-March 1862

Marx and Engels contribute articles to the New York Daily Tribune on national liberation movements, international affairs, and the economics and politics of leading capitalist states

December 1851-March 1852

Marx writes The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, developing on the theory of revolution. In May 1852, it was printed in New York by the journal Die Revolution; publisher Joseph Weydemeyer

April 14, 1852

Marx’s daughter Franziska dies

May-June

Marx and Engels write a pamphlet, The Great Men of the Exile, exposing the ambitions of petty-bourgeois refugee leaders, their pursuit of popularity and adventurist plans of revolution in a situation that was not yet ripe

October 4-November 12

The Cologne trial of Communist League members

October-December

Marx and Engels expose the Prussian government’s frame-up in letters, articles and statements to the press.

Between late October and December, Marx writes a pamphlet, Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne, in which he offers documentary evidence of fabrications by the Prussian police and judiciary.

In January 1853 the pamphlet was published in Switzerland and in April in the United States

November 17

As reaction gains ground on the European continent and many active members of the Communist League are arrested, a meeting of the League’s London District assents to Marx’s proposal to dissolve its branches and recommends the branches on the continent to close down as well

October 22-December 24, 1853

The Chartist People’s Paper prints a series of Marx’s articles, Lord Palmerston, a satirical portrayal of that prominent English politician.

Also published in the New York Daily Tribune and, later, as a separate pamphlet

March 1854

Marx covers the Labour Parliament for the New York Daily Tribune.

In an open letter to the Labour Parliament in The People’s Paper of March 18, 1854, Marx calls for the establishment of a mass working-class political party in England

August-December

The New-York Daily Tribune runs Marx’s series of articles, “Revolutionary Spain”, with an in-depth examination of the train of events in the light of the revolutionary history of the Spanish people

January 16, 1855

Marx’s daughter Eleanor is born

January-December

Marx contributes to the democratic Neue Oder-Zeitung, which prints his articles on the Crimean War and the economic and political situation in Britain and France

April 6

Marx’s eight-year-old son Edgar dies

1857

Worldwide economic crisis.

Marx’s articles on the progress of the crisis in Europe and the USA appear in the American, British, and German press

July 1857-March 1859

Marx sums up his economic studies. He hastens to complete his study of political economy

July 1857-November 1860

Marx contributes to The New American Cyclopaedia

June 11, 1859

A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Part One, is published in Berlin

June-August

Marx and Engels examine the proletariat’s revolutionary theory and tactics in the columns of Das Volk

Late January 1860

Slanderous attacks on the proletarian party prompt Marx to start collecting material for a pamphlet, Herr Vogt

December 1

Herr Vogt appears in London, exposing Vogt as a typical underling of the bourgeoisie

April 1861-April 1865

The US Civil War

August 1861-July 1863

Marx works on an economic manuscript containing all parts of the future Capital, including its historical and critical section, Theories of Surplus Value

October 1861-December 1862

Marx contributes to the Viennese liberal newspaper Die Presse, on the US Civil War, economic conditions in Britain, and the foreign policy of Napoleon III

May 23, 1863

The General Association of German Workers is founded in Leipzig

August 1863-December 1865

Marx writes a new version of Capital, with a special interest in the problems dealt with in the future volumes II and III

November 30, 1863

Marx’s mother dies in Trier

May 9, 1864

Wilhelm Wolff, Marx’s close friend and staunch supporter, dies in Manchester. Marx dedicates Capital to him

September 28

At a meeting in St. Martin’s Hall, London, the International Working Men’s Association (the First International) is founded. Marx is elected member of its Provisional Committee, which later became known as the General Council

Late October

Marx drafts the Provisional Rules and Inaugural Address of the IWA

Late 1864-February 1865

Marx and Engels contribute to Der Social-Demokrat, popularising the International and its ideas in Germany

March 19-April 8, 1865

Marx stays with his Dutch relatives in Zalt-Bommel

June 20 and 27

Marx lectures on wages, price and profit at General Council meetings, expounding the fundamental ideas of the future Volume I of Capital

September 25-29

The first conference of the International is held in London. Marx helps to prepare it, and takes part in it

January 1866-April 1867

Marx works on the final version of Volume I of Capital and prepares it for the printer

March 15-April 13, 1866

Marx has a holiday in Margate

July

Marx draws up instructions for delegates to the Geneva Congress of the International, stressing the need for working men’s international unity

September 3-8

The Geneva Congress of the First International gathers to approve the programme documents submitted by the General Council

April 10, 1867

Marx takes the manuscript of Volume I of Capital to publisher Otto Meissner in Hamburg

April 17-May 15

Marx stays with Ludwig Kugelmann in Hanover

September 2-8

The Lausanne Congress of the First International, at which a fight flares up with Proudhonists over the agrarian question (socialisation of land) and the question of struggle for political freedoms

September 14

Volume I of Capital, Marx’s principal economic study, comes off the presses

October 12, 1867-late June 1868

Engels writes reviews of Capital with an eye to popularising it

Spring 1868

Marx goes back to economic manuscripts written before 1865. He works on them until his last day

April 2

Marx’s daughter Laura marries Paul Lafargue, a French socialist

September 6-13

The Brussels Congress of the First International, where the conflict with the Proudhonists comes to a head. Proudhon’s theory is torn to pieces. The Congress passes a resolution confirming the advantages of collective, socialist ownership of the means of production and of land.

It also passes a resolution recommending working men in all countries to study Marx’s Capital

August 7-9, 1869

The Inaugural Congress of the Social-Democratic Workers’ Party of Germany is held in Eisenach

September 6-11

The Basle Congress of the First International is held. It confirms the socialist platform of the International

c. September 10-October 11

Marx and his daughter Jenny visit the Kugelmanns in Hanover

October 2

The first issue of Der Volksstaat, the central newspaper of the Social-Democratic Workers’ Party of Germany, comes out in Leipzig; Marx and Engels become its contributors

November

On Marx’s proposal, the General Council of the First International discusses the Irish people’s national liberation movement

Late November

Volume II of Capital is devoted to landownership. Marx sets out on a close study of Russian economic writings, and starts learning Russian. Six months later, he reads official Russian publications and other literature on the country’s agrarian relations and sociopolitical development

February-April 1870

In collaboration with her father, Jenny, Marx’s eldest daughter, writes eight articles for La Marseillaise, a Paris newspaper, exposing British policies in Ireland

March 24

Responding to the request of the Russian section of the First International, Marx becomes corresponding secretary of the General Council for Russia

July 19

France declares war on Germany. The Franco-Prussian War begins

July 19-23

On the instructions of the General Council, Marx writes the First Address of the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association on the Franco-Prussian War, exposing its true character and urging German workers to prevent the war against Bonapartist France from becoming a war against the French people

July 29, 1870-February 18, 1871

On Marx’s proposal, Engels writes a series of articles on the Franco-Prussian War for the British Pall Mall Gazette

September 1-2, 1870

The Battle of Sedan culminates in the defeat of the French army

September 4

Following the French defeat at Sedan, a revolution breaks out in Paris, resulting in the downfall of the Second Empire and proclaiming the French Republic

September 9

The General Council approves Marx’s Second Address of the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association on the Franco-Prussian War, in which Marx calls on the proletariat to prevent the Prussian militarists from carrying out their expansionist plans

c. September 20

Engels moves from Manchester to London

October 4

Engels is unanimously elected to the General Council of the First International. He is made corresponding secretary for Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Denmark

March 18, 1871

Proletarian revolution in Paris

March 18-May 28, 1871

As the proletarian revolution wins in Paris and the Commune is established, Marx and Engels organise workers’ demonstrations in its support. The General Council discusses the Commune, and sends representatives to Paris. Marx and Engels keep in touch with the Commune, give recommendations to the Communards, and launch a large-scale campaign in defence of the Commune

March 28

Festive proclamation of the Paris Commune

March 29

The Commune passes a decree on the abolition of levies and substitution of the armed people for a standing army

March 30

The Commune passes a decree on the transfer of administrative powers in Paris arrondissements to the Commune

April 2

The Commune passes a decree separating the Church from the State

April 16

A decree on the transfer of inoperative workshops to workers’ production associations

April 18-May 30

Marx works on an address of the General Council, The Civil War in France, which stresses the worldwide significance of the Paris Commune as the first attempt at establishing a proletarian dictatorship

May 30

The General Council unanimously approves the address, The Civil War in France

September 17-23

The London Conference of the First International. Drawing on the lessons of the Paris Commune. Marx and Engels substantiate the need for political struggle by the working class and for independent proletarian parties in each country; these ideas are incorporated in a resolution of the Conference

March 5, 1872

The General Council approves a private circular, Fictitious Splits in the International, written by Marx and Engels, which exposes Bakuninist intrigues and disruptive activity in the International

March 27

Publication of the Russian translation of Volume I of Capital, its first foreign edition

May

Fictitious Splits in the International is published in Geneva as a pamphlet

July 1872-June 1873

The second German edition of Volume I of Capital appears in nine instalments

September 2-7, 1872

Marx and Engels take part in the Hague Congress of the First International, which confirms the principal resolutions of the London Conference and takes to task the anarchists for their divisive activity. It expels their leaders Bakunin and Guillaume from the International, and resolves to move the seat of the General Council to New York

September 17

The first series of five instalments of the French edition of Volume I of Capital is published

October 10

Marx’s daughter Jenny marries French socialist Charles Longuet

Early June 1873

The second German edition of Volume I of Capital appears in Hamburg

December

The Italian annual, Almanacco Repubblicano, carries Marx’s article Political Indifferentism and Engels’s On Authority, which show the harm of anarchist theories

August 19-early October 1874

Marx accompanied by his daughter Eleanor takes a cure in Karlsbad. On his way to London, he stops over at Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg and meets Liebknecht and Blos to discuss the situation in the Party and the need to combat Lassalleanism

May 5, 1875

Marx despatches to Germany his marginal notes on the draft programme drawn up for the forthcoming unity congress of Eisenachers and Lassalleans in Gotha. Subsequently, it came to be known as the Critique of the Gotha Programme which was first published in 1891 on Engels’s initiative

May 22-27

The unity congress in Gotha. The foundation of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany

August 15-September 11

Marx takes a cure in Karlsbad. Meets Maxim Kovalevsky, a Russian ethnographer, historian and lawyer

August 16-September 15, 1876

Marx is accompanied by Eleanor on a cure in Karlsbad

1877

Marx works on Chapter X of Part II of Engels’s Anti-Dühring. Herr Eugen Dühring’s Revolution in Science originally published in instalments by Vorwärts!

August 8-c. September 27

Marx, accompanied by his wife and daughter Eleanor, takes a cure in Neuenahr (Germany) and Scotland

1878-1882

Marx studies mathematics, and continues his research into mathematical analysis begun in the 1860s

Late May-June 1878

Marx studies agrochemistry and geology

October 19

The German Reichstag passes a law against “the harmful and dangerous aspirations” of social-democrats (the Anti-Socialist Law)

January-December 1879

Marx continues his political and economic work and sends Circular Letter” to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and otherc research, drawing on Russian and American sources

Mid-September

Marx and Engels write a “ German social-democratic leaders, criticising opportunism

September 28, 1879

The first issue of Der Sozialdemokrat, central organ of the German socialdemocrats who continue their struggle underground, is published in Zurich. Marx and Engels contribute to it

c. October 1879-October 1880

Making a special study of the ground rent and agrarian relations, Marx reads up on the village commune (Maxim Kovalevsky’s Communal Landownership, and the Causes, Course and Consequences of Its Disintegration)

January-December 1880

Marx works on volumes II and III of Capital

April

Marx draws up a Workers’ Questionnaire for the monthly La Revue socialists, elucidating the economic demands of the working class

May

Marx writes Engels’s biography as a preface to a separate edition of three chapters of Anti-Dühring prepared by Engels for French readers under the title, Socialism: Utopian & Scientific

January-June 1881

Marx studies material, monographs and other writings on Russia’s social and economic development after the peasant reform of 1861

July 26-August 16

Marx and his wife visit their daughter Jenny in Argenteuil near Paris

December 2

Marx’s wife Jenny dies in London after a long illness

January 21, 1882

Marx and Engels write a preface to the Russian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party, stating that “Russia forms the vanguard of revolutionary action in Europe”

February-October

With his health deteriorating, Marx goes to Algeria, the south of France and Switzerland for a rest and cure, and visits his daughter Jenny in Argenteuil

June 1882-January 1883

Marx studies organic and inorganic chemistry

January 11, 1883

Marx’s eldest daughter Jenny dies in Paris

March 14

Marx dies in London

March 17

Marx is buried at Highgate Cemetery, London