Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5,
1818 – March 14, 1883) was an influential German philosopher,
political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the
International Workingmen's Association. Although Marx addressed
a wide range of issues, he is most famous for his analysis of
history in terms of class struggle, summed up in the famous line
from the introduction to the Communist Manifesto: "The history
of all hitherto existing society is the history of class
struggle". Karl Marx was born into a progressive Jewish family
in Prussian Trier (now in Germany). His father Herschel,
descending from a long line of rabbis, was a lawyer and his
brother Samuel was—like many of his ancestors—chief rabbi of
Trier. In 1817 Heinrich Marx converted to the Prussian state
religion of Lutheranism to keep his position as a lawyer, which
he had gained under the Napoleonic regime. The Marx family was
very liberal and the Marx household hosted many visiting
intellectuals and artists during Karl's early li