Socialism: Utopian and Scientific of thousands of copies. Throughout the decade of the 1860s, Karl Marx, close personal friend and political associate of Friedrich Engels, dedicated himself to the study of economics, culminating in the publication of the first volume of "Das Kapital" in 1867. Marx's lengthy and ponderous volume was extremely difficult for the average to penetrate, however, leading Engels to suggest to Marx in a letter of September 16, 1868 that a short popularized version of "Das Kapital" for a working class audience was urgently needed. "If it is not written, some Moses or other will come along and do it and
Karl Marx Year Karl Marx Year Karl Marx Year () was a series of anniversaries of Karl Marx commemorated by East Germany in 1953, 1968, and 1983. The most promininent was in 1953, for the 70th anniversary of Marx's death, and included the renaming of Chemnitz as Karl-Marx Stadt and of Leipzig University as Karl Marx University, the founding of the Order of Karl Marx, and the initiation of the project of Marx and Engels' works. The 1968 commemoration marked the 150th anniversary of his birth, and 1983 the 100th anniversary of his death. West Germany also commemorated Marx in anniversary years, with