#memes #memestr
Discussion
I needed to make a few fact checks.
his was the sad reality...
ChatGPT:
"Partly true but misleading.
Marx had seven children with his wife, Jenny von Westphalen. Only three survived to adulthood. Four died in childhood.
The causes of death were related to poverty, poor living conditions, and diseases common in 19th-century Europe among poor families (like tuberculosis and bronchitis), not literally "starvation to death."
While Marx and his family lived in significant poverty for years, especially in London, it's not accurate to say that his children literally starved to death. But it is accurate that chronic poverty contributed heavily to poor health and child deaths.
Example:
His son, Guido, died of tuberculosis at age 4.
Another daughter, Franziska, died of bronchitis aged under 2.
These deaths were sadly very common in poor families during that time — not unusual, but still tragic.
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Did two of Karl Marx's daughters commit suicide?
Yes, this is sadly true.
Eleanor Marx, his youngest daughter, committed suicide in 1898 by poisoning herself. She was distraught over her partner's betrayal (he secretly married another woman) and other personal issues.
Laura Marx, another daughter, also committed suicide together with her husband, Paul Lafargue, in 1911 in a joint suicide pact. They believed that old age was diminishing their ability to contribute meaningfully to their political causes.
These tragedies happened long after Karl Marx himself had died (he died in 1883), so they were not directly tied to his life situation but rather to their own personal and political struggles.
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Did Karl Marx's wife Jenny von Westphalen support him his whole life?
Yes — but it's complicated.
Jenny was from a wealthy Prussian aristocratic family and sacrificed a comfortable life to marry Marx.
She deeply supported Marx emotionally and intellectually, helping him with editing his works, translating, and political correspondence.
But their marriage faced serious hardships: extreme poverty, the death of their children, and Marx's own flaws (including at least one extramarital affair — his housemaid Helene Demuth is believed to have had Marx's child, though this was hidden for decades).
Despite everything, Jenny stayed with him until her death in 1881, just two years before Marx himself died. Her letters show a mixture of deep love, frustration, suffering, and loyalty.
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Summary:
Claim True/False Explanation
4 children died of starvation ❌ Partly true Died young, from diseases linked to poverty, not literal starvation
2 children committed suicide ✅ True Eleanor (1898) and Laura (1911) died by suicide
Wife supported Marx all his life ✅ True (with hardship) Stayed with him through poverty, child deaths, and personal struggles
Engels supported him financially.
