Bob ChipmanVerified account

I'm not sure if "Marx would approve of this" is a good way to determine if something is good. Not because I'm anti-Marxist. Far from it. But as in-depth as what he wrote was, Marx as a person was kind of an entitled, rich asshole. So I'm not sure anyone need to think "WWMD?".

Would you mind explaining how exactly Marx was an asshole? I don’t know that much about his personal life.

(1/2) As a young man, he drank a lot (excessively, from what I've read), got into fights all the time. He married a rich woman. He was allegedly an adulterer. He didn't acknowledge his illegitimate child. He treated people he disagreed with in an arrogant/aggressive/violent way.

(2/2) Marx never held a steady job in his life. He was also apparently more than a little racist and antisemitic. In a letter, he apparently described Ferdinand Lassalle as "a Jewish n*gger" (haven't been able to confirm this one, but I've seen it brought up even by Marxists).

I learned the bare minimum about him and his beliefs in school. Would love to read a good biography of the guy.

I honestly don't think it matters to me one way or another what he was as a person. Many high-profile European thinkers and philosophers were dicks in real life (especially those that were notable in their lifetimes). It doesn't automatically invalidate their ideas, I think.