Marx as a Migrant – A digital narrative

Karl Marx lived a long life as a migrant. Fleeing from the Prussian state, censorship and possible arrest, important stops on his journey were Paris, Brussels and London. These cities shaped his political activities, his engagement with political fellow-travellers, as well as his intellectual development and thus his entire work.

At the click of a mouse, you can follow Marx as a migrant from city to city. You can not only immerse yourself in his time, but also discover that even today, traces of his life and work continue to be seen in Paris, Brussels and London.

Each station takes about 45 minutes.

Contact: info@marx200.org

Marx as a Migrant

  • Paris
  • Capital of the New World

Paris, October 1843.

A capital of nearly one million inhabitants. Three times as many as in Berlin at that time.

Seventy to eighty thousand are from the states of the German Confederation. Among them: Jenny and Karl Marx, 29 and 25 years old.

They married in June, in Bad Kreuznach, and it is now the middle of October. They decided to move to Paris less than two months ago.

„Criticism of all that exists“
Karl Marx ended his work as editor of the Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne in March 1843, in protest of Prussian censorship.

In the ensuing months he decides to found a new journal with Arnold Ruge. „Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (German-French Yearbooks) “ shall be its name and the relentless criticism of all that exists its objective, writes Marx to Ruge in September.

It should not fear the consequences of its own critiques nor „conflicts with the powers that be“.

It should represent neither dogmatic Communism nor Socialism. It was to be produced in Paris.