Ideologies: Karl Marx: Five reasons why the thinker was ahead of his time

1. He married a partner who was his equal

Without his wife Jenny Marx (1814-1881), Marx's accomplishments would not have been possible. Born Johanna Bertha Julie Jenny von Westphalen, Marx's better half was not only a journalist but also his first critical reader. She debated with him and the publicist and philosopher Friedrich Engels and collaborated on the creation of the "Communist Manifesto." In the only handwritten version of the booklet that has survived the years, the first lines are written by her.

As a journalist, she wrote texts about the 1848 March Revolution in Germany and reviews of William Shakespeare for the renowned Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper, negotiated with publishers and spoke a number of foreign languages — better than her husband. Her skills came in handy, since the Marx family was forced to spend most of their lives in exile. Friedrich Engels called her and her husband the two "highly gifted natures" and said of Jenny after her death that "her bold and wise counsel" would be bitterly missed.

Read more at: Karl Marx: Five reasons why the thinker was ahead of his time | Culture | Arts, music and lifestyle reporting from Germany | DW | 11.02.2022